The Ashen Raven's Treason

Chapter 24

I squirm uncomfortably in the rough chair at Cloak's dining table. The uncovered, spindled wood digs into my spine and shoulder blades, and the coarse seat isn't covered with a plump cushion like the chairs in Gustus's chambers. A place I haven't visited in weeks. We haven't spoken much. Even our encounter upon the Panjandrum Corps' arrival had been awkward.

A simple embrace. Cloak had pressed a hand against my back—the first time he has touched me since discovering the truth to my identity—and pushed me into the palace before Gustus could utter a single word. I didn't question his feverish need to go to his chambers, taking me along with him, but I believed he might want to speak to me in private about our friendship.

I thought he hadn't hated me anymore. And I thought we moved fast enough to beat Gav and Keaya to his chambers. Alas, they were already sitting at his dining table, pouring over information from the report Cloak had written up while riding out of Magic of the Wise. That doesn't explain why I'm included in this meeting, or why the Raven Queen sits at the head of the table in someone else's chambers. Cloak sits at her shoulder, Keaya on the other side.

Cloak glares at me from across the table and I stop squirming. We're still in the beginning stages of this meeting with his mother; the servants haven't brought the tea she ordered yet. More importantly, she's still scanning the report with sparkling violet eyes. Excitement casts a sheen over her normally difficult to read features. She wants to know how we made out. Like a fisherman returning with a bounty.

She points a finger at the parchment and singles out a stretch of text in Cloak's handwriting. "This doesn't convey how many Luminaries you discovered," she barks.

I can't count how many times I went to someone's door with Gav at my shoulder. At least twenty. Thirty.

"Fifty-seven," Cloak grunts.

Fifty-seven? I talked to fifty-seven suspected Luminaries? No, there were three on the list that weren't Luminaries; they didn't have a shred of magical ability in their bodies. I don't know where the spies got their information. Each inspection left me searching for more within their bodies, their minds, but they didn't have any obvious secrets I could uncover. Either, they weren't Luminaries, or they were very skilled at hiding knowledge and truth.

Not all of us can detect a lie.

The Raven Queen rubs at her chin and shakes her head. "That's not good enough." She attempts to move her chair back, but it catches on the rug. She ends up shoving the side of the table. Cloak's centerpiece placed there by the servants rattles. A petal flutters from a daisy and lands on the lace doily. "I need more if we're to build our forces fast enough to face her. My sister will not rest until she achieves her goal. Whatever that may be."

"Why not go into the Void Territory?" Cloak asks. "We can chip away at her forces and make her focus on anything other than the palace."

A pointed look at me. He doesn't speak honestly. Instead, Cloak would do anything to get out of this palace so he doesn't have to look at me every day. I won't travel with the Panjandrum Corps, and he'll be left to stew in peace. At least he's not afraid to look at me without steam billowing from his ears.

"No, that wouldn't work." Millicent gnaws on her lip aggressively. "We'll lose more forces than what it's worth to even attempt that approach. Our only plausible chance is to wait for her to strike again."

"I agree," Keaya says.

Cloak jolts upright, straightening in his seat. As his second in command, Keaya isn't supposed to disagree with him. Especially not with his mother. There's a fine line with kissing ass and agreement, and Cloak believes she just crossed it.