“Is my sister all right?” Joss asked. “I’ve been worried about her since I left.”

I didn’t answer. This was Winter trying to ascertain how affective Cécile’s spell was; whether she could use her to lure me out. But the fact of the matter was that I knew Winter wouldn’t risk killing Cécile, so it was a failed gambit. And if the direness of Cécile’s situation came from another source, it wasn’t as though she couldn’t drag me out of the castle whether I willed it or not.

“Cécile got Gran to do a spell to make her forget your name.”

That caught my attention, although I didn’t let her know it. Was it the truth? Maybe. Cécile had been clear in her desire to unknow it, but I’d quietly refused to entertain that option. I’d wanted her to have the failsafe, because while it was one thing to curb my urge to go running to her whenever I believed she was in danger, it was quite another to ignore her call for my help. That, I’d never intended to do. No matter what the risk. But now there was no way for me to know the difference.

Unless Joss was lying.

“That’s fascinating, but I’m rather busy at the moment,” I said. “Perhaps you might find another place to linger.”

“I see,” she said, her face turning bright red. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Waiting until she was out of earshot, I turned to Souris. “Care to go for a walk?”

The dog stayed close to my heels as we trailed Josette through the castle. She continually cast furtive glances over her shoulder, confirming my suspicion she was up to no good. Exiting through a door in the kitchen, she meandered through the outbuildings in the direction of the wall, which Marc and Fred appeared to have manned with half the soldiers at their disposal.

She paused next to the narrow stairs leading to the battlements, but instead of going up, scurried beneath them. The space was full of building material – blocks of stone and sacks of sand – that, judging from the layer of dust coating them, had languished there for some time. Josette squeezed between them, her feet briefly sticking out, and then she disappeared from sight.

Curious, I ducked under the stairs, shifting the materials slightly to reveal a small opening that had been eroded under the wall, probably by the river flooding. Even if I’d been inclined to do so, it was too small for me to fit through. But Josette’s slender frame had clearly managed the task. “The rat has found a hole,” I said. Or more accurately, had been told where to find the hole, given that, to my knowledge, she’d never been to this place.

Souris growled and wove between my feet, lips pulled back to reveal his fangs.

Dropping to my hands and knees, I lowered my head into the opening – careful not to pass the iron barrier above me – and I listened.