Page 97 of Down Comes the Night

Una smiled, mirthless and fit to cut to the bone. “Well, then. Shall we?”

Wren accepted Una’s gloved hand and followed her onto the floor. In the close press of the crowd, the air reeked of cut-onion sweat and cloying gardenia perfume. Despite the tension and hurt between them, it still felt like comfort to have her near. Everything about her was painfully familiar. The judgment in her eyes, the impassive set of her jaw, even the pressure of her gloved hand on her waist. And although Wren’s heart still ached in her presence, something was undeniably different.

One year ago, her love for Una had changed for the worse. Sparked in desperation and kept alive, secret and stifled. It was a hungry, selfish kind of love, never fully satisfied. A love that kept score. Something that flared painfully now and again, like a bone that had never set quite right. Looking at Una now, Wren felt oddly free of it.

She loved Una, she realized, no less fiercely—but with her eyes fully open. She didn’t long for what they could have had: kisses stolen in the dark and whispered promises they’d never be able to keep. She longed for the girl she’d talk with for hours as the rain beat down on their standard-issue tent. The girl who’d throw herself in danger again and again if only it meant her subordinates were safe.

She wanted her friend back.

“So,” Una said, all icy distance. “The queen intends to reinstate you tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“You didn’t know?” Una spun Wren to face the grand staircaseand gestured toward a high, secluded balcony. It was lit by twinkling lights and shrouded in shimmery, gossamer-thin fabrics. It was hard to see from this distance, but the woman watching them all from her wingback chair was unmistakable.

Isabel.

Her blond hair tumbled straight to the floor. Her lips were painted plum. Atop her head was the ceremonial crown, twisting into three branchlike points that were sharp enough to impale. It was preposterous. It was impossible. Isabel had never left Danu. Even though Wren could not see her clearly, she felt the exact moment the queen noticed her. All her blood turned to ice in her veins.

“We arrived earlier this evening,” Una said. “Our future liaison, however, failed to greet us.”

“Lowry neglected to inform me you were coming.”

“I see,” she said skeptically. “Who’s your friend?” Wren didn’t like the way she saidfriend.Like a curse, dripping with scorn.

Una guided her in harsh, sudden angles through the crowd, clearing space with the forcefulness of her footwork, the whip of her long hair. While Una was graceful and fierce, she was not a dancer. She was a soldier through and through. They moved to the rhythm of the music, but this was no dance. This was a fight.

“No one you’d know,” Wren said quickly.

“Of course not. Does he have a name?”

“Yes. It’s Henry.”

“Henry what?”

“Henry…” Every single surname she’d ever known slipped through her fingers like water. “Ca… wart… bark?”

“Henry Cwartbark.” Una looked entirely unamused.

“They’re no family of note, the Cwartbarks. Very minor Cernosian nobles,” Wren said quickly. “So when, exactly, does Her Majesty intend to do me the honor of reinstatement?”

“She’s given me no details. Only that she expects you and Lord Lowry to meet with her and come to an agreement on some matter. Although I’ve heard rumors he’s taken ill.” Her eyes narrowed. “How strange.”

This was bad. Whatever Lowry had planned would come to fruition in the queen’s presence tonight. While the chloral hydrate had bought her time, it wouldn’t last all night. But now that she had the key, she didn’t need to prove anything to Una. She couldshowher.

This nightmare would end here and now.

Wren leaned closer so she could speak softly into Una’s ear. “I’m about to tell you something that may sound mad.”

“And why should I listen to a word you say?”

“Because I’ve solved the case of our missing soldiers.”

Hope softened her features. “Go on.”

Thank the Goddess, she was listening. She was actuallylistening.If there was anything Wren could count on, it was Una’s ability to set aside her feelings for the sake of her country. “Alistair Lowry is responsible. For months, he’s been targeting mages on border patrols. As soon as he isolates them, he poisons them with goddessblood to kidnap them. I don’t yet know why, but—”

Una let out a pressurized sigh.