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Ren nodded. She could feel the heat crawling up her neck. “Of course I know what they do. I was the one who cast that spell.”
Landwin looked surprised by her admission. “You admit to it?”
“Yes. When I went back to visit the room. After everything that had happened. I don’t know. It was silly, really. I was trying to… bind the memory of them all. I cast a coil spell. It didn’t really do anything. Just fizzled in the air. I guess it was more symbolic than anything else. I just didn’t want to forget the people we’d lost. But yes. I was the one who cast the coil spell.”
This was a prepared lie. Ren had performed these actions for precisely this moment—so that she might have an explanation at the ready. Unexpectedly, Landwin began to laugh. She’d never really heard him laugh. It was a brittle and lifeless sound. “See, that’s the best part. According to Pecking, there were two coil spells. Do you know why there would be two coil spells, Ren Monroe?”
She said nothing. Of course she knew why. She always knew the answers to their stupid questions. Landwin was leaning forward in his chair, like a predator preparing to strike.
“Not only were there two coil spells, but they were both cast in the same direction. Both cast in the same general area. Pecking had his theories, but you just provided an even better answer. The final piece of the puzzle, really.” Landwin tapped the documents on the table. “There were two spells because you cast the first coil spell. On the day of the accident. That’s why all of your travel distances merged in the waxways. You know, I looked back at the report. Everything you and Theo said to the authorities. There are descriptions from him about everyone else in the room. Where they were standing. What they said or did. But Theo didn’t describe you at all. He couldn’t stop talking about what you did after landing in the forest. All your brilliant magic. But not a single word about how you behaved in the waxway room on campus.”
Landwin’s eyes were boring into her. Ren was trying to summon explanations, but each one felt less and less likely. She could not possibly trust herself to speak.
“Curious, isn’t it? That he didn’t see what you did. It’s almost like you were smart enough to wait until no one was watching. And then, for some unthinkable reason, you cast a coil spell in a teleportation room. The travel distances merged. You got all of your friends lost. Subsequently, you got most of them killed. And then when you saw the chance to bind yourself to my son, you took it. And ever since then you’ve been tugging on that survivor’s guilt to make sure he stays in love with you. But I have to wonder, Ren Monroe. If he knew about this, what do you think he would say then?”
Distantly, Ren was aware of Theo. There was that familiar pull across their bond. He could probably sense what she was feeling. The numbness that was spreading. A sort of helpless fear. She ignored the pull and focused on the task at hand. She could not risk Theo witnessing this moment.
It would ruin everything.
Landwin Brood looked perfectly satisfied. Ren couldn’t believe he’d actually figured it all out. She thought she’d been so clever to cast the spell again and cover her tracks. That no one could possibly perceive the difference between those two spells, cast as they were, perfectly overlapping each other. She’d made an error, and her professors had always been fond of telling her that errors in the real world had consequences.
“My new proposal,” he said. “You can work for Seminar Shiverian. I’ll write a letter to them myself. In exchange, you will sever your bond with my son. Immediately. And you will get nothing else. If you accept this offer now, you have my sworn goodwill in recommending you for their house.”
Ren sputtered. “But… that’s way less than before.…”
Landwin smiled. “Indeed. That is precisely how a negotiation works. It is called leverage. Maybe they don’t teach this down in the Lower Quarter. But when one person has more power than the other, they are better positioned to negotiate. I hope the alternative to this course is obvious. If you do not accept my terms, I will take all of this information to Theo. I will tell him exactly what happened and the part that you played in it. And then I will ask him to sever the bond himself. You’re right. It’s possible he’ll say no. It’s possible he’ll still trust you. But how much confidence do you have that he’ll keep you around?”
Ren sat there, pretending to be shocked by it all. It wasn’t hard. She actually was a little shocked. True, she was not here to actually sever herself from Theo. It was all a ruse. But now there was a small satchel full of information that could ruin her future. Even if she won today, she might lose tomorrow. Theo could not be allowed to learn any of this. She was trying to figure out what to say when a servant shadowed into view by the entrance. Landwin Brood waved them away, too busy relishing the moment, only to watch his servant ignore the command and enter the room without permission.
“Sir, it is urgent. At the gates.”
He looked annoyed that his victory over her would be interrupted. Ren did not smile. She did not gloat. That part would come later. She was doing her very best to continue to look stricken by this turn of events. Landwin stood impatiently.
“You have until I return to decide what you would like to do.”
Ren nodded, watching as he departed. As soon as he was out of sight, she darted over to the window. In the distance, there was movement. Dust rising over the hill. She could see soldiers running. Great flashes of magic. Could it really have worked? Had Nevelyn actually gotten the army through the gate? Ren’s next duty was to make sure the Brood family didn’t seal themselves in the main houses. It would be hard for them to do it now—they’d already allowed one of the wolves inside the walls.
She started walking toward the hallway, trying to remember the layout of the house, when the bond between her and Theo roared to life. It hammered into her like a two-ton anvil. Ren stumbled sideways, colliding with a bookshelf, and had no choice as she was ripped away from the sitting room.…
No, no, no… Theo… what are you doing?
Her feet set down in snow. She expected to see the castle or maybe Nostra. Instead, she found herself in the heart of a forest. At first, it looked unrecognizable. And then she noticed the tracks in the snow. This was the trail that Theo’s predecessors had built. The same slopes she’d witnessed him sledding down when she’d first visited. But where was he?
Footsteps crunched in the snow behind her. Ren whipped around. Dahl Winters was walking down the trail. The thin girl stalked patiently forward. She looked utterly transformed. This was not the mousy servant girl who always hunched her shoulders and avoided eye contact. Dahl stood tall, walked confidently, and held a wicked-looking wand. Ren could not help feeling like she was watching an ancient huntress stalking its…
Prey. She’s looking for Theo.
The girl walked right past her. Of course. Ren was there but not there. She turned, following, and saw the obvious signs of an accident. One of the sleds had veered off the path. Ren stumbled to the edge at the same time that Dahl arrived there.
Below, through gaps in the trees, she saw Theo. He’d fallen a long way, though the snow where he landed was thick and untouched. Likely it was the only reason he wasn’t dead. He was staring up at the ridge where Ren stood. His eyes looked unfocused, and blood was running from his nose. Dahl made a disgusted noise and then started making her patient way down to him. It was clear that she was not going to help him.
“Hey!” Ren shouted. “What are you doing?”
The girl didn’t hear. Didn’t even turn. Ren felt helpless. She reached for the horseshoe wand on her belt. She took two steps forward and aimed a spell at Dahl’s back, but no magic came.
“Shit.”
She followed Dahl down the hill. What else could she do? It felt the same way that moving through Theo’s memory had—last year, when they’d faced Clyde on that bridge. There was a resistance. A thickening of gravity that made Ren feel like she was walking underwater.
