The room froze as if everyone was doing the calculations. How long had the brown witch been gone? The bedrooms were only a short walk from the dining room. . . .

Bri dropped her fork and pushed up from her chair a split second before the rest. They all bolted down the hall, Talhan falling into stride beside her.

“Maybe he’s just having a shit,” he grumbled.

Bri ignored her twin, the hairs on her arm standing on end. Something didn’t feel right. She was the first to reach the cracked door. She barreled into Cole’s room, the rest of the group stumbling in after her.

The room was empty.

“Curse the Gods,” Talhan snarled.

Cole’s clothes and books were gone, along with his pack. A freshly snuffed-out candle trailed smoke into the air and two silver druni sat on the bedside table. Bri’s stomach plummeted as she stared at the witch coins stamped with the phases of the moon. Leaving them behind was called a witch’s goodbye.

Renwick barked orders down the hall to his guards as the room filled with muttered curses. Bri clenched her fists and kicked over the table. The sound of the silver coins scattering across the floor mocked her with every spinning clink. Those two druni meant Cole was gone.

Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

Bri raced down the halls, the sight of Lina’s carefully tidied room roaring through her mind. The second she spotted the made bed and the missing cloak, she knew what had happened. Bri barreled into the stables, and her eyes quickly landed on Lina saddling one of Renwick’s giant horses.

“Airev strikes again?” she asked, trying to not sound winded. Lina frantically readied the horse. Her cloak hood was pulled to the tip of her nose and her hand axe was strapped to her belt. Gone was the tempered Princess, and in her place once more was the headstrong nighttime thief.

Rain bucketed down, pouring like waterfalls from the windowsills. Bri had to shout above the roar of water to be heard.

“You can’t go charging out into this storm by yourself,” Bri implored. “This isn’t Swifthill.”

“No, so I’ll probably be safer,” Lina gritted out bitterly.

“Lina.” Bri stepped in front of her. Lina moved to duck past her but Bri sidestepped again. “They’ll find him.”

“I want to find him myself and chop his fucking head off,” Lina growled. “I trusted him.”

“In Swifthill, Airev might be able to blend in,” Bri said. “But even glamoured and cloaked, you’re dressed like a Westerner in the Northern Court. You can’t track him down on your own. People will know who you are.” She pulled back Lina’s hood to look into her wrathful eyes. “For all we know, he could be leading you straight into a trap. Please.”

Lina glowered at the word. “Why’d you have to go and say that.”