work an illusion to cover it now. “Do you like being the royal diviner?”
“It’s certainly a better job than an orphan from the Pinch’s shores could have gotten normally.” She pulled a pen toward her and started making a list of things for us to do tomorrow. “But I am still serving a crown who cares little for me as a person. It has its own unique problems.”
“You’re the most powerful artist in Demeine,” I said. “You could tell them what to do.”
“Emilie.” She laughed softly and ducked her head. “The king is an excellent noonday artist with endless hacks and chevaliers at his disposal, not including the army he commands. I could, maybe, kill two chevaliers, but more would take their places, and by then, I would have worn my body completely down. Your faith in me is refreshing, but I am still only one very human person. To ‘tell them what to do,’ the court and chevaliers would have to be split up and dealt with only a few at a time.”
Ten minutes later, in my room with Coline and Isabelle, my moth fluttering from one to the other before finally landing on my hand, I shut the door.
“I have a problem,” I said. “I need your help.”
Coline shoved a letter into my hands. “We are all about to have a very big problem—Demeine is declaring war.”
Thirteen
Emilie
It took twelve days for us to reach the Pinch. I tried to scry Annette as she had taught me, but the farther we went, the harder it got. The camp in Segance was large, crowded, and constantly moving, despite the uncertainty of what exactly we were supposed to be doing when. The first day, we settled in, me setting up my sleeping roll a few paces away from the small tent Sébastien, Charles, and Rainier were sharing, and Rainier and I organized the supplies that Laurence would need to run the infirmary. That evening, Laurence told us the first attack on Kalthorne, a surprise, would be the next morning at dawn. Charles and Sébastien were to heal Chevalier Waleran du Ferrant, comte de Champ, the mounted fighting artist who would lead the charge. Rainier would be serving as hack to Sébastien. Laurence, with me to help, would be in charge of keeping everyone else alive.
He made us go to sleep right after dusk. I was half asleep when Sébastien crept from the tent and waved to me.
He tossed a woolen blanket to me. “This is for you.”
“Thank you?” I unrolled it—a very lovely, very warm blanket clearly meant as a gift and not some soldier’s supplies—and spread it out across my legs. “Why?”
“It gets colder here at night than you’re probably used to,” he said, looking anywhere but at me. “It would be embarrassing if a physician’s hack froze to death.”
“Of course.” I smiled. “Thank you.”
He nodded and started walking away. “You’re all right. Don’t die.”
I didn’t freeze to death; though, it was a close call. Laurence woke me well before dawn, and I spent my time scrying Annette as I waited for orders. Rainier stopped by once to kiss my cheek and wish me well, and I hugged him for a bit longer than was probably necessary. I had not ever wanted a brother, but I wouldn’t have minded Rainier.
Charles grinned when he stopped by and saw my new blanket. “Sébastien’s nervous habit strikes again.”
“Did he make it?” I asked, standing with Charles’s help. “It’s very nice.”
“He made a very tiny hat this morning. Couldn’t sleep.” Charles offered me his arm, and I took it. “Did he tell you not to—”
A sliver of a shadow crossed between us. I squeezed Charles’s arm, and he gently let me go. Laurence beckoned us both.
“Now,” he said. “Quickly.”
We took up positions along a stretch of land outside one of the Kalthorne settlements. The area had soldiers stationed about it, common ones and maybe a few artists who were in charge of keeping the peace and acting as town guards. The chevaliers, alchemical armor blots of power on the eastern horizon, motioned for us to move, and I followed after Laurence. The silver bangle on my wrist grew hot, an itch burrowing through my skin. I glanced at it.
Nothing.
I gathered the last dregs of the midnight arts, even though it wasn’t much, and focused on Annette—the determined glare of her brown eyes and excitement over having the chance to study. Her voice rolled down the back of my neck as though she were standing