idea. “So then the question is, who would know that I would question Kordon’s shade? That is a fairly specific skill set and not utilized in Faerie. And from what I’ve seen, the courtiers try to distance themselves as quickly as possible from even the mention of death. How many know I’m a grave witch? Hell, how many know what a shade is?”
Falin tapped a finger against his chin. “In the winter court? The council knows, of course. They have seen you raise shades. Of winter’s citizens? The courtiers are most likely ignorant. It would be less difficult to believe that some of the independents are aware of your grave magic, as some function in the human world in which you work. In the other courts . . . ?” He paused, considering. “Your wyrd abilities are likely completely unknown aside from perhaps in the shadow court.” He glared at Dugan. “And we are back to your court again.”
“It does seem someone did their work quite well,” he said, and sighed. “Even among my people, it is unlikely to be common knowledge, but it would not be hard information to discover.”
There was another player as well. One I hadn’t told either man about. My father had asked me to investigate before Dugan had even stepped into my office. But did I really think my own father would try to kill me? I didn’t, but if the last few months had taught me anything, it was that I understood him less than I thought.
“What if it wasn’t a trap for me?” I asked, a new thought occurring to me. “I mean, I obviously blundered right into it, but I might not be the only one. Do we know if the healer who checked Kordon contracted basmoarte?”
Falin’s eyes widened. “I’ll have to inform the queen and the healer will have to be quarantined.”
“Wouldn’t the healer already know if she has it?” I mean, I’d been in horrible shape.
“Your infection, if you only contracted it yesterday, progressed exceedingly quickly,” Dugan said. “The largest recorded outbreak of basmoarte was due to healers contracting it and spreading it from patient to patient before symptoms ever started.”
I wrapped my arms over my chest. The random assortment of healing charms got in the way of the movement, and I lifted the cobbled-together necklace over my head. The charms in it were exhausted already anyway. “So, if this was targeted at a healer and not me, then it was a calculated attack to cause an outbreak in the winter court.”
Falin shook his head. “If this was an attack against the winter court, it would have been Stiofan who’d been infected. Not Kordon. Had Dugan not been so insistent that we try to restore Kordon, we would have sent the body back to the shadow court without a healer ever touching him.” His gaze bore into Dugan, and I knew he was thinking this was yet another guilty-looking strike against shadow.
A trumpet sounded somewhere outside the tent, making me jump.
“The sun is setting,” the queen’s voice said, and the magic of the revelry made it sound like she could have been in the tent with us. I found myself looking around, even though I knew she was likely speaking from her ice throne on the dais in the center of the clearing. “Our merriment comes to an end. May the roads rise up to meet us all.”
As the last word left her mouth, the very air around us changed. It was more than just the sound of the revelry, but the feel of it as well. The magic changed, the doors shifted, and the truce holding all of Faerie broke.
“We are out of time,” Dugan said, moving toward the tent flap. “We should attempt to approach Lunabella now that the revelry is over.”
“We will never locate her before the light court leaves,” Falin said, frowning.
Dugan only smiled and grabbed the edge of his cloak, spreading it to his side. A shadow unfolded from the darkness, jumping free of the other shadows. It landed prettily on four small paws, tail high. For a moment, I thought it was a black cat, but then I realized it was a shadow of a cat.
Dugan crouched beside the shadow cat and rubbed between her ears, not with his physical hand, but with the shadow of his hand. I watched, fascinated, and I swore the shadow purred.
“Take us to them,” he whispered, and the shadow streaked out of the tent. Dugan stood, glancing back