they were silent, waiting for the rest of his reply.
Shadow, however, snorted. “Of course it matters,” he said; he could not let Avandar have the final word while he was in the room. Not on matters about which he had any stray knowledge.
“She lives here. It is easy for her to get lost. She can get lost in her dreams. She can get lost in her forest. She can get lost in the high wilderness. Mortals are stupid. They get lost anywhere.
“But she is not as stupid. She is tangled up in you. In all of you. She is tied down by this house. She needs you to be here. She needs the House. Without it all, she will not be right. In the head,” he added. “And if she is not right in the head, she will make monsters and nightmares. She will make a city that is broken like she is.” He snorted again, and stamped his front paws.
“Tell them,” he said, nudging Jewel hard enough that she almost lost her footing. “Tell them.”
Jewel, having found her footing, let her hands slide to her hips. She glared at the cat. The cat, undaunted, glared back, hissing.
“She is afraid to be broken,” he said, still returning her glare. “She is afraid to be alone. She is afraid she won’t know what is real, and then she will break everything. So, yes, stupid boy, it matters.”
“Thank you, Shadow,” Teller said, as the cat drew another breath. “I think we understand what’s at stake, now.”
Jewel met Finch’s gaze. “I’d transfer the House to you. I’d declare you my heir. But we both know how well that worked last time it was tried in this House.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice; she didn’t even try. “In theory, I’ll be traveling to the Menorans. There will be some significant difficulty with the trade route and the Royal Commission, and it will require my presence.
“But I don’t expect that to stand for long, because the Chosen won’t be coming with me.”
Teller inhaled, and Jewel held up a hand, forestalling him. “I want them here for you. They know the House. They know the guards. They know that in serving you, they best serve my interests. I expect Torvan and I will have the crowning glory of a fight about this, but it doesn’t matter. I want them here, and in the end, they take their orders from me. While I’m gone, they’ll take their orders from Finch. And you, Teller, if you’ve a mind to give orders.
“I might come back quickly. I don’t know how time passes, where we’ll be going. I might come back months from now. There’s nothing I can plan for. All I can give you is the time before my departure. Haval will stay in the West Wing,” she added. “At least part time.
“In my absence, my rooms will be closed. No one except Meralonne is to be granted access to them under any circumstance; Meralonne will reside within the suite.”
“He’s going to be living here?” Finch asked, brows rising.
“Yes. He’ll perform the necessary duties of a House Mage in a crisis. If he gives you strange instructions about the doors in the manse, listen to him. Obey him where it won’t cause bloodshed.”
She resumed her seat. For a brief moment, she lowered her face into her hands, and sat in silence. Then she lifted her head and said, “Carver is still alive.”
* * *
The silence broke with questions, with exclamations, with the beginning of a frenzied kind of hope that could be mistaken, at a distance, for joy. But Jewel’s silence quenched it.
“He’s alive. Shadow says no one will find him; not Snow or Night, not the Winter King. I believe I have some chance of finding him—but I won’t, if I don’t undergo the Oracle’s test. The Kings won’t care about Carver. I’m not sure The Ten will either—not in comparison to the fate of the rest of the city.
“But Carver is somewhere the Sleepers know. Meralonne thinks the doors that opened into unexpected places opened because the Sleepers are restless; they’re almost awake. Carver is somewhere they know.
“Meralonne can’t go. Celleriant can’t. But Meralonne thinks I’m insignificant enough that I might be able to do it safely.”
“What’s unsafe entail?” Jester asked.
“The Sleepers will become aware enough of me that they’ll wake.”
He whistled. “That’s unsafe. You’re not going to mention Carver to the Kings.”
“Not unless they physically torture me, no.” She was silent for