Phoenix Flame - Sara Holland Page 0,29
specifically metal, at Myr’s university. She may be able to tell us something.”
“Sounds good,” I reply on autopilot. Nerves fill my stomach as we climb the stairs in tense silence.
Brekken’s project this morning was to tell Princess Enetta about our plan to investigate Cadius and ask her to help us locate the Winterkill fortress. Enetta is a good woman as far as I know, but it’s a big ask, and potentially disastrous if she takes it the wrong way. We’re asking her to betray one of her own people, an influential noble at that, to help Solarians.
Graylin and I exchange a nervous glance outside the meeting room’s closed door, then I step forward and push the door open. Brekken, Marcus, and Enetta sit clustered at the center of the long oak table. Their low talk ceases, and all three look up as we come in. Skylights let the afternoon sunlight pour down into the room, illuminating the map of Myr that Brekken has spread over its surface. I half expect to see little carved chess pieces scattered on the aged paper.
“You have quite the undertaking ahead of you,” Enetta says as we sit down.
Her tone is cool, neutral, and I stare into her eyes to try to figure out how she feels. Will she help us? Her eyes flicker over my wrist as I take my seat, and I know what she’s looking for. But I’m not wearing the gauntlet. It’s back in Marcus and Graylin’s room, while Graylin runs a few last tests to make sure it’s not dangerous and to see if he can decipher how it lets its wearer cross the boundaries between worlds.
Before us on the table, Myr sprawls out in blue ink: a dense cluster of hash marks to represent the capital city; wide, flattened upside-down Vs to represent mountains and narrow ones for trees, and small rectangles scattered over the expanse of the map, each labeled with text in a language I don’t read.
“Cadius is one of the wealthiest lords in Myr,” Enetta goes on. “He has gold mines on his property, and that is why he has a private army contracted and stationed on his estate. No wall surrounds it, because everyone knows the soldiers will dispatch any trespassers. That is, if his bears don’t find you first.”
I look at Brekken across the table, but his eyes are downcast. My shoulders slump in discouragement. “So there’s no way in?”
I might be willing to risk my own life, but I don’t want to gamble with Brekken’s or Graylin’s.
“No way that’s not dangerous, no.” Enetta’s cool brown gaze holds mine. “But there may be another option.” She taps her fingers on the map. “He holds feasts every moon, lavish parties to placate the governors and stop them from looking too closely at his business dealings. This is well known. But anyone with morals, myself included, will have nothing to do with his feasts. I didn’t know the whole truth until this loyal soldier came to me.” She looks approvingly at Brekken, whose eyes flicker.
“My loyalty is to what’s right,” he says simply, and my chest warms.
Things might have been weird between us. We might not agree on what the best course of action will be, but I don’t doubt Brekken’s intentions anymore. He’s a lodestone, always pointing to his north star.
After the meeting, he catches up to me in the hall after the adults have dispersed. He lifts a hand to wave me down, and I see with surprise the glitter of gold, reaching up from his shirt cuff to wrap around his palm. He’s wearing the gauntlet.
“Graylin gave it to me,” he says in response to my confused look. “To see that it works. He suggested that we … go somewhere.” He waves vaguely in the direction of the front door.
“Go where?” I echo, confused. Then it clicks. “You mean outside Havenfall?” I take a step back, mildly appalled. I figured Graylin had some sort of test he could run. The scientific method. Not just using Brekken as a guinea pig.
“But what if it doesn’t work?”
Brekken shrugs. “Then better to find out here than in Fiordenkill, don’t you think?” He beckons me toward the door.
He looks way too happy about this, and I can’t help thinking of Marcus’s words earlier. Do you think Brekken will be happy sitting at Havenfall forever?
“Um …” I stall, trying to think. The picture of Mom in Fiordenkill wearing the gauntlet seemed like plenty of proof that it worked,