the one she needed to beseech for help. She did not want to trust him, but she had a greater enemy now.
She nearly collided with the commander on the great threshold, decked in his armor, his helm in the crook of his arm. He looked down at her, a frown creasing his brow, and he was about to speak, but Evadne’s voice overshadowed his.
“My lord, I must speak with you. Now, before you depart.”
Straton sighed. “I do not have time, Evadne. I am late as it is.” And he moved to step around her.
“Lord Straton,” she implored. “Please.”
He continued on his way, descending the stairs, splashing through the puddles.
“Commander, this is about my sister,” Evadne said, and she noticed how he slowed. “I believe she is in peril.”
Straton halted halfway down the stairs and turned to look up at her.
“What do you mean?”
“I cannot say it to you here, Lord.”
He hesitated, glancing to where his horse waited. But then he looked at Evadne and ascended the stairs, motioning for her to follow him up to the privacy of his office.
“Sit, Evadne,” he said, pouring her a cup of barley water. “You do not look well.”
She sat in a chair before his desk, feeling her pulse in her ears. She accepted the water and drained it as Straton leaned on the edge of his desk, watching her.
“Now, then,” he said. “What is this peril you speak of?”
She was shaking when she procured the cipher. It took her a moment to spread the wrinkles from the papyrus, to find her voice, but she told Straton the history of Haleva, of how Macarius had stalked her and invited her into a tavern booth. Of the message and the handwriting and the crooked wing.
“You claim Halcyon did not write this?” the commander said, taking the papyrus when she offered it.
“No, she did not. I know it.”
Straton met Evadne’s gaze. “Then who did?”
“The mage. Macarius.”
“But he is forbidden from the common quarry, Evadne.”
“He has been there, Lord. And he has mind-swept my sister.”
Straton’s face was calm. But his eyes blazed. She saw the fear and the fury within him.
“I know of the mission, Lord,” she whispered, and flinched when he looked at her. “Damon told me. And I swear that I will go with him and recover Acantha’s crown for you. I will finish what Halcyon began, if you will only go to the quarry and ensure my sister is well, that she is not dying as I fear she might be.”
Straton was silent. But he handed the Haleva message back to her and stood, his eyes continuing to smolder.
“Do not worry about your sister,” he finally said. “I will go to the quarry now and ensure she is hale.”
He did not fully believe her, she thought. But it did not matter. Because he was a man of his word, and if he said he would go and check on Halcyon, she knew he would.
Evadne rose and bowed to him, clutching the papyrus to her heart.
The commander left her in his office. She listened to his footsteps until they faded away, and Evadne moved to the windows, parting the linen curtains.
She watched him ride away to the west, where the quarry lay. And only then did Evadne finally let herself melt to her knees, to silently weep into the crook of her arm.
XX
Evadne and Halcyon
Half an hour later, Evadne sat at her desk in Damon’s chambers, rain-damp hair wound back in a braid, tears washed from her face, her body draped in a clean chiton and shawl. The charena scroll was open before her, a new quill in her fingers, and she watched Damon pace the floor, in and out of the waning light. She thought of Halcyon, trying not to worry. The commander would be with her now, and for once, that reassured Evadne. Macarius would not dare harm her sister with Straton present.
She had not told Damon about the meeting with Macarius, about the Haleva message. And yet he sensed something was wrong.
“Are you sure you feel well enough to scribe, Evadne?” he asked. “We can always return to the task tomorrow.”
“I am fine.” She dipped her quill into the ink to express her resolve. “We do not have much time left.”
“I know how I want the rest of the song to sound,” Damon said. “It is not to be an enchantment of fire as I originally thought, but a chorus of stars. The last three stanzas should come swiftly now.”
Evadne remained poised