Bethan wondered if having no magic would impact her wish to make it to the afterlife, if the Trine would grant it for him. She worried that it hadn’t and prayed to herself that someone out there would have wished for him to be in an eternal library with all the knowledge he desired.

After their wishes, the girls stood out on a small ledge, peering at the setting sun against Malia’s skyline.

She glanced behind to seek out Kellan. He was not upset about Lenovik, which was fair because he never knew him, but the murder left him rattled.

It left everyone rattled.

She spotted him, his skin glowing in the light. He looked to be in a deep conversation with Edington.

She questioned what they were discussing when both their heads turned toward her. She cursed and turned back. Circe wrapped her arm around her. She leant into the feeling of being comforted.

Snow crunched behind them. They whirled around to see Edington’s kind face gazing at them.

‘It appears my only friends left are you and Ursula, Circe,’ he said.

Circe choked, staying relatively strong until then, and a tear leaked from her eyes.

‘Oh, I didn’t mean to make you cry,’ Edington muttered sympathetically. ‘He wouldn’t have wanted that.’

He stepped forward again, but his eyes moved from them to the setting sun.

‘We shared a dorm at university. He and I were always close,’ he emphasised, flicking his gaze at Agatha and Circe.

Bethan listened in confusion.

‘You girls had always reminded me of how we all used to be.’

Bethan’s heart fractured even more; Agatha reached for his hand, offering him a kind smile.

He smiled back, nodding.

‘These are dark times; we always need friendships to get us through it.’

‘Are there any suspects? Clues?’ Circe asked.

He turned, gesturing to Julius. ‘He is doing all he can.’

Circe nodded, pleased with that answer.

He faced them again. ‘I know you and Prince Kellan asked for time off for the search. I hope you’re not too discouraged from finding the grimoire.’

Bethan took in a breath. ‘It makes me want to find it even more, but my mind is elsewhere; I don’t think I can focus on it. That’s why we asked for that time off.’

‘I understand, but time is something we don’t really have.’

Kellan had to be back before the summer, and with spring slowly looming, it was only a matter of months.

‘My money is on the Adelian; we can’t let them get the grimoire first,’ Edington said. ‘Whatever they have planned cannot be good.’

Agatha gasped.

‘I think from now on, Bethan,’ he drawled, ‘be careful who you confide in. Trust your friends old and new.’

He turned his head to Kellan, who was alone, leaning against a tree.

‘In these times,’ he looked to Circe, ‘we need to make noise for the people who can’t.’