“I …” She choked on the words. “Xander, I…” Am I even capable of love anymore?

“Don’t despair, Constance. You’ve come so far. Now you have to work … with what you’ve got.” His words came in short, pained snatches.

She raised her head at last. In the half-light she could see he was deathly pale. “Xander? Are you going to be all right?”

“Never mind about me. You know how to destroy the spell.” His breath rattled. “And you’ve worked out who has the spell’s heart. That’s something, isn’t it? The Constance I know would never give up. … No matter what.”

Another tear trickled down her cheek. “Xander…”

“Don’t give up, Constance.”

She drew herself closer against the bars, hating the touch of cold iron separating her from his arms. Instead, raising his hand, she pressed it to her lips.

SEVENTEEN

The Test

Emris pushed the door of the Holy Council open just as the sun broke from behind the clouds, and Lena stepped into a room that looked like it could swallow the lower town of Duke’s Forest twice over. Far above, golden sunlight filtered through the glass ceiling. She stopped dead.

“Oh … ,” she breathed, staring up at the light dappling the glass, refracting in the air. Darts of color shot through the golden sunlight—pinks, blues, reds, purples. Not glass, at least not everywhere. It’s crystal. She felt dizzy at the scale of it all, the impossibly vast distance between her and the ceiling. The butterfly quivered in her pocket as if straining to escape, but she soothed it gently with her hand. Emris had told her to leave it in her room, but she couldn’t bear to—she felt a sense of responsibility for it, brought back to life by her own magic.

The room was occupied by tiers of high-backed, pale wooden benches, simple in design and arranged in a huge semicircle. Long cream banners drooped from the soaring glass ceiling, creating pools of cooler shade. A breeze wafted in from somewhere, rustling the shadows like leaves.

Emris led her forward. Lena’s eyes roved around the room, hungry for sights. The benches were packed with brightly clothed people. Her breath caught in her throat. She had never seen so many people, or so many colors.

It was noisy now, a rumble like thunder or the wheels of heavy carriages. The roar of thousands of whispers, thought Lena, resisting the urge to cover her ears and curl into a ball. Eyes turned upon her, but instead of instinctively reaching for her nonexistent cowl, she drew up taller, squaring her shoulders and inviting their stares. Gradually, the room quieted as, one by one, members of the Council fixed their gaze on the newcomers.

Emris and Lena reached the center of the floor, where two small tables had been set up.