“I hope you at least had someone bring you a chair,” I said, stopping a safe distance from the barrier. I was taking no chances at getting caught up in the curse’s boundary once again.

The illusion fell away to reveal my father. But no chair. I winced in mock sympathy. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“I was admiring the view.”

I glanced back over my shoulder. “A bit limited from here.”

“Not for long.”

I looked back. “How did they react?”

“As expected.” He leaned a forearm against the barrier, his expression amused. He had no intention of giving me any information about what was going on inside Trollus. He knew it would drive me mad to be kept in the dark, and he’d use the knowledge to negotiate. His was still the position of power, and both of us knew it.

“It would seem Anushka knows Cécile is hunting her,” I said. “Last night she murdered the witch Catherine and either burned or absconded with the grimoire, which means we’ve lost any method of tracking her.”

My father’s brow furrowed, and he was silent for a moment. “Why, if she knows who Cécile is, has she not tried to kill her?”

Of course he saw right to the heart of the matter. But I had no intention of revealing Cécile’s familial connection to Anushka just yet. Just as I had no intention of revealing that I knew he controlled Aiden du Chastelier.

“The question crossed my mind,” I admitted. “I might have thought it some moral conscience or allegiance to her kind, but she has demonstrated that she’s no qualms against killing other humans. Which means there is a reason she hasn’t made an attempt against Cécile’s life.”

“There is something important about Cécile,” he said. “The foretelling led us to her, and everything she’s done has demonstrated its accuracy. This is only more proof that there is something about her that is significant, something we don’t know.”

“Something that Anushka does.”

“So it would seem.” He slipped a finger into his pocket and extracted a gold coin, flipping it back and forth across his fingers as he thought. “You have a plan?”

“Of a sort.” I watched the gold flick across his knuckles. “Cécile has explained that the curse is nothing more than an act of Anushka’s will made physical by magic. Its very existence is predicated upon her desire to keep us contained. Her hate.” I tore my gaze away from the gold. “I can only imagine how infuriating it will be for her to discover a troll has broken free of her will. And not just any troll.” I squared my shoulders. “The descendant of the one who provoked her hate in the first place.”

Which was part of my plan, if not all of it.

The gold coin stopped moving. “You intend to use yourself as bait?”

I nodded. “She’ll feel compelled to move against me. I’m certain of it.”

He went very still. Nothing showed in his expression, but that lack of motion betrayed his unease with my proposition. “If you announce what you are to the world, you’ll put the rest of us at risk. We are yet vulnerable.”