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Amara and Hayes exchanged a frustrated glance.
“Then it’s possible there isn’t a connection after all,” Amara said. “Grey may have merely been tracking reports of the blight for his own purposes. Perhaps he thought anyone touched by the blight would be more susceptible to his message?”
Nik frowned. “I don’t think that could be the case. When I say we arrived after the fields were burned, they were usually still smoldering. And I heard astonishingly few rumors about the situation on my travels. The crown might not be succeeding in defeating this blight, but they’ve been successful at keeping tight control of the news about it.”
That made sense. With a blight this concerning, I should have already heard about it on the streets of Caltor. But if the winter food supplies were in danger, it was no surprise the crown wanted to keep the news quiet until they had a solution. A scared and angry populace wouldn’t help matters.
“What are you saying?” Amara asked.
Nik frowned. “I can’t be sure, but it felt like we weren’t following the blight itself but something else. Something that arrived at each location just before the blight broke out.”
Amara sucked in a breath. “You think Grey wasn’t causing it, but he knows what—or who—is, and he was following the cause? How is that possible?”
Nik shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m just reporting what I saw.”
“It sounds like you followed him across half the kingdom.” Hayes’s voice was hard to read.
“I did.” Nik glanced at me and then away. “It seemed more important to finally find the location of his base than attempt a lone rescue.”
I now knew why he suddenly wasn’t meeting my eyes. He knew I cared about Miranda and wanted to see her rescued. He thought I would be angry he hadn’t charged in alone and liberated her while Grey was separated from his remaining followers.
But my concern for Miranda didn’t mean I was heedless about the rest of the kingdom. This matter was too big to ignore.
“So you did find the location?” Amara asked. “Where is it?”
“It’s in the desert.”
“The desert?” Everyone in the room exchanged surprised looks.
“Over the border, then?” I asked, trying to imagine how anyone could survive for long in the low dunes of the Calistan desert.
“Yes, which is why we never found any sign of him here in Tartora. But since the desert is on the coast, it barely counts as part of Calista. It’s too barren to support any population, and the coast along that stretch is too treacherous for boats. The Calistans use the rivers to get north to the nomad lands and south to Tartora, so the desert is untouched. It would be a perfect place to hide if it wasn’t so dry and barren.”
“So how is he living there?” Amara asked. “I know he spends much of his time in Tartora, but still…”
“The Calistan shoreline is rocky and steep,” Nik said, “but at one point a crevasse juts into the desert. And given how green it is, it must contain a freshwater oasis. The crevasse isn’t big enough to support a proper settlement, and it’s surrounded by desert on three sides and treacherous rocks and reefs on the fourth, so it doesn’t appear on any maps. I don’t even know if anyone has found it before.”
“So how in the kingdoms did Grey stumble on it?” Luna asked.
“He didn’t happen to mention the matter to me.” Nik’s response made her roll her eyes.
“So that’s where Miranda is now?” My hand tightened around Ember until she squirmed and I forced myself to relax it.
“This news only makes it more imperative that we ride for the capital immediately,” Hayes said. “There can be no question King Marius will support us now. Once we capture Grey, we can find out exactly what is causing this danger to our crops.”
“Perhaps we would find out, and perhaps we wouldn’t,” Nik said. “It would be a chancy business.”
“You don’t think he’d talk?” Clay asked, his expression thoughtful.
“I think he most definitely wouldn’t,” Nik replied promptly. “I might hate the man, but I can recognize his strengths. He has a rare determination and focus. We might be able to tell when he’s lying, but we can’t force him to tell the truth. I’m not convinced anything could.”
“Then what do you suggest? We just leave him be?” Amara gave Nik a disparaging look.
“If we can’t force him to talk, we need to trick him into it. That’s where Delphine comes in.”
“Me?” I gasped. “How could I trick Grey into telling us anything?”
“I overheard him talking about you more than once.” Nik’s voice remained calm, but his hands balled into fists at his sides. “He’s fascinated by you, just like I predicted.” He met my eyes, his gaze steady, clearly concealing some deeper emotion. “He didn’t choose Miranda to take with him by accident. He clearly has an interest in healers, and she’ll be a reasonably strong one once she’s ready to be activated. But you’re on another level. You don’t just have mage level power, but master level.”
