Igniting Darkness (Courting Darkness Duology #2) - Robin LaFevers Page 0,43

I?”

“No, just within the circle, like we do every night.”

While she busies herself kicking the largest stones out of the way, the dove rises and comes to stand beside me, her eyes on Charlotte. “She likes you, you know.”

I blink at her in surprise. “I would not wager my life on that.”

Her eyes are still on the younger girl. “Oh, she would never show such a thing, but she does. You are the only one who treats her as if she is your equal.” Her gaze is warm and soft, and reflects her nature.

“It is how we raise young girls when they find their way to us. When they come to us from a world that sucks the very marrow from their bones, rebuilding from the ground up helps them reclaim their own selves.”

“I think it is the right approach. She needs things to do, to occupy her hands and especially her mind, else it goes to places it’s better she not visit.”

 Chapter 20

Sybella

I do not know how much time passes before I claw my way out of the past back into my body. Perhaps it is the growing heat from the black pebble I still carry, or perhaps it is the voice I hear outside my door that pulls me from my grief.

Fremin’s voice.

He has come. And sooner than I would have thought. Too soon for me to have a plan in place. Guided by sheer instinct, I surge to my feet and reach for my trunklet to retrieve le Poisson’s knife. It is an instinct forged in the same d’Albret household that sent Fremin to Plessis, but honed far more sharply through the convent’s training.

I have just finished tucking the knife into my belt when the door opens. I leap back against the long curtain to shield myself from view. It is not the guards, come to announce Fremin’s arrival, but Fremin himself.

He looks around the room as he shuts the door behind him, his heart beating rapidly, as if he’s been running. Or was poised to fight.

He takes three steps toward the bed, then pauses to glance around the room. He frowns in annoyance, a question forms on his lips. Before he can give voice to that question, I step up behind him and place the sharp edge of le Poisson’s knife at his throat. “To what do I owe this most delightful surprise?”

Beneath the blade, his pulse begins to race. “The king may have exonerated you, but we both know you are guilty of this murder.”

“Oh, not just this murder, but a few others besides. Remove your weapon.”

He swallows once, his throat working against the edge of my blade, then slowly draws a knife from his sleeve and drops it onto the floor. I kick it out of the way. “That still does not explain why you are here. I assumed you would report your suspicions to the king.”

“I am here to encourage your cooperation should you have qualms.”

I laugh. “I have many qualms, Monsieur Fremin, but you are not on that list.” At least, not any longer. By coming to my room, unannounced, with a knife, he has reignited that white flame of anger and seared any doubt from my mind.

“You realize if you harm me, it will only support my assertion that you are behind the disappearance of my men as well as your sisters.”

“Will it? To me it supports that this was your plan all along. Once you’d gained possession of my sisters, you had no intention of remaining behind to face the consequences. And surely no one can question my need for self-defense. Turn around. Slowly.”

If I am to step so fully out of whatever of Mortain’s grace still exists in this world, I will not hide from it. I will look into the eyes of the man who has brought me to this crossroads. For assuredly, it is a crossroads. I will not hide from that either.

Against my leg, the pebble burns like a brand.

Fremin does what I order, the tip of my knife staying in contact with his neck the entire time. This does not feel like a choice rooted in love. Or fear. With the full, visceral memory of the depravity of the d’Albret family still pulsing though my limbs, it feels more like a burning need for justice.

For vengeance. For righting a scale that has been tipped too long in darkness’s favor.

“Why?” I whisper when I can see his face. “Why did you not take the chance to