Trew stroked my side. “Breathe, Minx. You don’t need to be strong right now.”
I leaned into him, drawing comfort from his presence. Pherin landed on the shelf beside me, peeping softly.
Some of the furniture had damage I hadn’t noticed before. A broken chair leg in one room. Torn pages in several books lying open on the bedside table. Gaps where things had been the last time I’d visited.
I decoded it all, piece by piece, while Trew read over my shoulder. His breath warmed my neck, his chest pressing against my back as he leaned in to see each new word. When I pulled one book, I knocked it against the shelf, the thump making me freeze before I continued.
When emotion threatened to overwhelm me, his hand was there. Steadying. Supporting. He kissed my temple mid-decoding, whispering encouragement.
“I’m here for you,” he said, and I believed him.
The complete message revealed itself like stars emerging at dusk: Your sister lives. West tower. Kept her there. Tortured her. Hurt. Very sick. Took her away. Going to your mother’s place south of Syllavar. Sister spoke of doors opening. I don’t understand. Need to help her. Trust yourself. Be careful. I. Am. Proud. Of. The. Warrior. You. Became.
My vision blurred. The book trembled in my hands.
“Isi.” Trew’s arms came around me from behind, and he pulled me back against his chest. His warmth enveloped me as tears spilled down my cheeks.
“He was proud of me,” I whispered.
“Of course he was.” Trew’s voice rumbled against my back. “How could he not be?”
I turned in his arms, burying my face in his chest. All the fear and anger and desperate hope of the last weeks crashed over me at once. Thorne had believed in me. He’d trusted me to find this message, to decode it, and to discover where he’d taken my sister.
He’d seen me as a warrior, not a princess playing at strength.
Trew held me while I cried, one hand cradling the back of my head, the other secure around my waist. He said nothing. Just stood there, holding me close.
Pherin landed on his shoulder and pressed against my cheek, a tiny, fierce reminder that I wasn’t alone.
Relief flooded through me first. Addie was alive. Thorne had her. They were together, and he was protecting her.
Then came the white-hot anger. The west tower? He’d kept my sister prisoner there. Tortured her. Made her so sick that Thorne had risked everything to save her.
Fear came next. Doors opening. What did that mean? What had been done to her?
And my mother’s place south of Syllavar. I’d never known my mother had property anywhere, let alone past our borders.
“South past Syllavar,” Trew said. “That’s?—”
“Now wasteland. They’re heading into the wasteland.” The place spawned by Skathes. Where magic twisted and died. Where nothing grew and few who ventured there returned.
Thorne had taken my dying sister there because it was safer than staying within my court’s reach.
“We’ll find them,” Trew said.
When I could breathe again, I pulled back enough to look up at Trew. “We need to restore everything. Make it look like we were never here.”
He nodded, his hand coming up to wipe the tears from my cheeks.
We returned each book to its proper place and put the furniture in their original positions, removing any sign someone else might find and read.
When everything was restored, I took one last look around. Thorne’s mother had lived here. He’d kept a piece of her here after she died. And he’d used it to leave me a message that could change everything.
“Ready?” Trew asked.
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I’d ever be truly ready for what might come next.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN