Magister Threnody shifted away from Oblique. Her fragile sense of herself had taken a blow. She avoided Estie’s gaze. Under other circumstances, she might have fled. Her mouth made a shape that may have been, Yes?

Estie’s power was too close to the surface. She did not trust herself to use it. Instead, she replied aloud.

“While I questioned him, Tak Biondi tried to distract me.” She could not pretend to speak calmly. “He spoke of a book. The author’s name was Lamit Karsolsky. The book is called A Complete System of Gestures for Speech with the Deaf and Dumb.

“Do you know it?”

Grinding his teeth, Magister Rummage translated. His tapping turned the deaf man’s rumpled face pale.

In contrast, the librarian’s first reaction was relief. She had been asked a question that she understood. Without hesitation, she turned in the direction of the library proper. Her eyes shifted from place to place, scanning the shelves in Magister Marrow’s memories.

Estie wanted Crayn. Leaving him behind had been a mistake.

Sensitive to the Queen’s dilemma, Magister Oblique came to her side. With her fingers, she gave Estie’s bruises a light caress. But she wrote nothing while the librarian searched.

Soon, Magister Threnody nodded. At least for a moment, she was sure of herself. Lowering her gaze, she faced Estie. As she spoke, Oblique tapped:

—Yes, Queen. The book is there. It is very old. Why do you ask?

Magister Avail’s chest heaved, panting heavily. The blood was gone from his face. He looked like his heart might fail.

“Then tell me,” demanded Amika’s Queen. “Why has this book been kept from Magister Avail? From Magister Rummage? From the whole Repository?” She felt like shouting. “Why have those poor men been condemned to silence?”

Comprehension struck Beatrix Threnody in an instant. Like Magister Avail, she blanched. Like him, she gasped for air. Her response was a cry.

—I do not know! I did not know the book existed! My memories are too recent! I have spent my efforts on poisons and gunpowder!

—That decision must have been Magister Marrow’s!

Avail’s power rose to a strangled howl.

AH!

It drew Estie away from the librarian. Stricken, she watched an overweight, unkempt, and lonely man break. He crumpled to his knees as if every bone that held him upright had snapped.

Magister Rummage dropped with him, holding his only friend in a fierce hug. Tears streamed down Avail’s face. Silent sobs wrenched the hunchback’s chest.

Rummage was stronger. He had been mute from birth. He had not been made deaf by sorcery.

But both of them had trusted Sirjane Marrow.

Suddenly, Queen Estie’s needs seemed unimportant. They were nothing compared to what those two men had suffered.

Shouts and confusion filled the workroom. Magister Oblique repeated them as well as she could.

—What? How? What is happening? How are they hurt?

And over and over again: