"What else would it be? You need to find the next key."
"You still want me to find it after the shitty mess I made of the last attempt?" It was a stupid question, but I couldn't help asking it all the same. I mean, miracles did occasionally occur, and there was always the faint hope that my father would decide I was useless and try to find someone else.
And by tomorrow, pigs will have flown.
"You are my only child, and therefore my only option."
Meaning if he'd had another option he probably would have taken it. And as much as I'd always longed for a sibling, I was suddenly glad that I was an only child. It was bad enough risking the lives of my friends; I couldn't imagine doing it to a brother or sister.
"Okay, so hit me with the clues."
"As I said in the book you destroyed, the second key bears the semblance of a dagger. It was sent to the northwest, where the alluvial fields run deep and the soil is stained by rebellion."
He stopped, and I waited. He didn't go on. "That's it? That's all you've got?"
"That's all I dared give my Razan. I could not be more specific in case I was captured—which I was."
I thrust a hand through my hair. "It doesn't give me a lot to go on."
"That was the whole point. But you found the first one; you will find the others."
I was glad someone had confidence in me. Although I wasn't entirely sure I wanted my father's confidence.
"What am I supposed to do when I get it?" Especially now that I knew I couldn't destroy the keys—if my father was telling the truth, that is. He had told me previously that they could be destroyed, and Azriel seemed of the same opinion as well.
"Use this stone to contact me. I will give you further directions."
"What about Azriel?" He wanted the keys destroyed—or at least in Mijai hands, and I had no doubt he'd take it the minute we found it. Especially given what had happened with the first key.