the king can know its contents. Anyone else who reads it will be struck dead.”
I thought I caught Mathis spitting tea back into his cup across from me, trying not to laugh.
“So the whole section was left out of the text?” I asked, brushing the symbol.
Orturio nodded. His eyes looked like a lamp wick catching fire in the dark.
“Does the ram symbolize the four Fallen?”
“Yes. Goats are stubborn, impulsive, malcontent, and devious. Everything the Holies are not.”
I shivered, realizing a draft had crept into the room. Our breaths became visible, and everyone looked at one another in confusion.
A sudden gust of freezing wind rattled the open shutters on their hinges and jiggled the teacups on the lips of their saucers. A few of the cordial glasses toppled and rolled off the table, chiming softly as they broke on the floor.
Viteus jumped up to look out the windows, blocking my view. “It’s snowing.”
“Snowing?” Orturio laughed. “It’s nearly summer.”
Viteus stepped aside so we could see.
The poor grapevines quavered in the mighty wind. Iron-gray clouds swung low and heavy laden. A churning winter storm blew in from fields already cloaked in white snow.
“Impossible.” The table rocked as Orturio stormed to the window. “We didn’t prepare for this. It will ruin the harvest!”
I watched as workers rushed to cover the grapevines. A few recognized that as a fool’s errand and herded bewildered livestock toward the stables.
It made no sense. The weather here was moderate. Snow fell occasionally in the middle of winter, but not at the end of spring. Moreover, it had been pleasant only moments ago, patches of rainclouds the only omen of ill weather to come.
This storm was not at all natural.
It was Glisette. And Glisette would not do this on purpose.
Something had indeed gone terribly wrong.
Stunned, I scampered to my chamber to clear the way for servants frantically lashing down the shutters and hauling firewood stores inside. The icy wind howled through every crack and crevice as I ascended the stairs.
I didn’t notice I was still holding the Book of Belief until I had to drop it on the bed and dash to wrestle my shutters closed.
By the time I succeeded, I was soaked and covered in gooseflesh. Trembling in the cold, dim room, I listened to the distant shouts and orders, the sounds of a household swallowed by pandemonium.
The redheaded Nisseran maid admitted herself, carrying a torch to light the fire across the room.
But she didn’t kneel at the hearth. Instead, she grabbed my elbow, her green eyes wide and flickering with urgency. “You need to escape now, while chaos is your friend. The gate guards left their posts to help the workers.”
“Escape?” I echoed.
“They think I don’t understand Perispi, but I’ve learned more than ‘dust this’ and ‘mop that’ since I arrived,” she whispered, casting a fearful look at the closed door. “Orturio has your elicrin stone. It’s in the cellar.”
I set my jaw and launched off the mattress, ready to demand what belonged to me. With my elicrin stone, I wouldn’t have to wait for the Uprising’s help to search for Glisette. I could go out on my own without fear of dying of cold. I would have fire at my fingertips. Maybe I could find her even faster than they could.
But the maid pushed me back with shocking vehemence, her short curls adhering to her cheeks. “Your elicrin stone isn’t worth it.”
“I need it,” I argued.
“How do I make you understand?” She raked a hand through her wild hair. “My brother and I came here last year to escape the blight disease and started asking about work as soon as we arrived. Within a few days, he was doing some sort of dangerous work for Lord Orturio. All I knew was that I’d be a maid in his household. A few months ago, my brother confided that he knew too much and felt he was in danger. Then he disappeared. He would never have left me with no explanation.” She shook her head. “Never.”
“Are you saying—?”
“Orturio killed him,” she whispered, the shadows on her face deepening in the torchlight. The clouds had darkened the sky so abruptly I could almost believe night had fallen in the middle of the day. “He doesn’t let people walk away. You give him what he wants until you can’t anymore, and then you face his wrath. When the Uprising decided to intercept your kidnapping, I heard him say to the others that he hoped you would be useful to him, but