When she did speak, her voice was defiant. ‘Galen, I’ve been deceiving you. I’m not what I said. I’m a spy. For the Watch.’

It was out. His face did not flicker, his eyes black and keen. She looked away, but his answer made her jerk her head back in astonishment.

‘I know,’ he said.

Chapter 23

23

Kest’s creatures attacked them. But Flain had a maze built before the House, and the beasts and birds of nightmare wandered in it and howled.

Then Kest arose, and wept. ‘The damage I have done,’ he said, ‘I will make good. The monsters I have made I will destroy.’

And he took up his weapons and walked through them all into the dark.

Book of the Seven Moons

THEY ALL STARED at him in amazement. Then the Sekoi gave a low purr of laughter.

‘You knew?’ Raffi gasped.

‘From the beginning.’ Galen rubbed his leg calmly. ‘From the first time we saw her at the tree.’

Carys was staring at him. ‘You couldn’t have!’

‘And as we went on I grew more certain. She writes an interesting journal, Raffi. You should read it.’

‘You…’ She shook her head, disbelieving. ‘You deciphered it?’

‘A few times.’ He smiled, sourly. ‘I’m sorry, Carys, but you were the one who was deceived. I kept you with us because I knew you’d be useful. You could keep the Watch away from us; get us where we needed to go. So it proved. At the gates, for instance.’

Bewildered, she sat down. The Sekoi was purring in ecstasy, all its fur bristling. ‘Wonderful,’ it murmured. ‘Wonderful.’

‘I made sure you went under the first waggon. I knew there was no real way into the city, but I thought you’d persuade them. I also thought you might be useful if any of us were caught.’ He rubbed his sore neck. ‘Luckily for me.’

There was nothing, nothing she could say. The shock of it was like a cold downpour; it left her shivering. AU this time she thought she had been so clever … She shuddered with the thought of her pride. All that time. Now she knew how Raffi must have felt.

He looked furious. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

Galen glared at him hard. ‘Because I’m the master, boy. I keep the secrets. And besides, you’d have given it away a hundred times. You can’t lie well enough.’

Astounded, Raffi collapsed into silence. Galen leaned forward. ‘But I’m surprised, Carys, that you’ve already told these two. When I saw you in that cell I presumed you’d have pretended to be caught. So whose side are you really on?’

She was silent. They all watched her. Then she said, quietly, ‘I’d only ever known the Watch, Galen, until I met you. I’d never spoken to keepers before. You did some things …’