my next idea,” Wynn said, “you might at least have someplace to run when I end up in a Calm Seatt prison.”
Chane’s eyes narrowed. “What are you up to now?”
“In a moment,” she said, glancing at Shade.
Shade had finished supper and was trying to lick the last taste from the bowl. Wynn snapped her fingers, and Shade raised her head. With one hopeful look at the bowl, the dog padded over to butt Wynn’s hand with her snout.
Wynn slid her fingers over Shade’s head and closed her eyes, passing memories of Duchess Reine. She followed this with bits and pieces of the dripping corridor that she could remember—the one leading to the chamber with the iron grate half-submerged in a pool of seawater.
Shade echoed the image back, and much more clearly.
“I’m seeing through Reine’s memory, through her eyes,” Wynn said quietly for Chane. “She is down so deep the walls are constantly damp and glistening, and the only light I’ve noticed is the glow of minerals coating the walls.”
She began describing all she’d seen: how Reine had gone to the chamber with the pool, how it was locked, and about the side chamber Reine had never entered. She most carefully described the half- filled dark tunnel that stretched outward beyond the iron grate.
Wynn kept her eyes closed, focusing on sharp details that Shade provided. She felt the bed’s stiff, padded layers flex as Chane shifted even closer.
“A pool filled with seawater . . . from a tunnel?” he asked quietly, but his voice was filled with urgency. “Fresh seawater?”
Wynn let herself sink deeper into Shade’s stolen memory. She breathed in as if she were Reine within that moment, and the scent of brine filled her nostrils.
“I think so. The water seems clear and clean, not fetid, though its too dim in the chamber to be certain. It just smells like the sea. Strangely, though the chamber itself is damp, it doesn’t smell moldy.”
With her eyes still closed, she asked, “Do you understand what I’m thinking?”
Chane didn’t answer, and Shade moved forward through the memory.
So deep inside Reine’s recollection, Wynn felt sudden anguish. Again she heard something move in the dark side chamber, as before. She opened her eyes, still holding Shade.
“Clever girl,” she murmured, and then turned to Chane. “This place that the duchess went to . . . it must be in the Stonewalkers’ underworld.”
“Another guess,” he countered, but he rose and began pacing the room. “Wherever it is, the tunnel may connect to the open sea . . . and the shore.”
For comfort’s sake, he’d undressed down to breeches and a white shirt once they’d returned. How he could stand barefoot on the cold floor was beyond her. His feet were so pale . . . paler than his face and hands.
“We have to find that outside entrance,” she said flatly.
Chane shook his head. “If the chamber is in the underworld, I hardly think these Stonewalkers would provide easy access. The tunnel might not be large enough—”
“Then why a grated opening into the pool?” she asked. “One obviously large enough to pass through, though it’s blocked.”
“The entrance could just as easily be underwater. We do not know for certain where below this massive mountain to find such a—”
“Oh, stop it!” she chided. “I know that you know we’re going to try anyway. And . . . you want to.”
Chane fell silent. Finally, he replied, “With all the insurmountable obstacles so far, we should not expect this pursuit to be any better.”
Wynn merely waited—until he sighed. For the first time, she noted how odd that was, considering the dead didn’t need to breathe.
“Clearly the duchess is a liaison between the royals and Stonewalkers,” he said, “as well as between the royals and the guild. It reasons that she also fulfills the third side of that triangle—at least in relation to the texts. We cannot afford to lose track of her if this new endeavor comes to nothing. You stay here and keep watch on her.”
Wynn jumped to her feet.
“You mean you can move faster without me,” she accused. “Or you’re worried it might be dangerous, and I should keep out of the way.”
A flash of guilt on his long, clean features confirmed both.
“It will take some time,” he added. “If I find something, I will return and take you—”
“This is my purpose, Chane,” Wynn cut in. “I left the guild because I was sick of taking orders from people who thought they knew better . . . and didn’t!”
Chane’s