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"To hide until the commotion iven up on pursuit and was gathered around the shop, he could have scrolled out the kitchen door without anyone noticing"

Galvin is definitely too clever for his own good, Nola thought He was cos even more than she had Did he really believe this far-fetched theory, or was he trying to catch so to catch someone up, who? She asked, "So that wouldfor?"

Galvinhere Or perhaps he left the stolen goods hidden so back to retrieve thes have calht even still be here, trapped by the searchers co back sooner than he anticipated For all we know, he's in a corner of the root cellar, or in or behind a piece of furniture"

Nola glanced at Halig to see what hefrom his face

If Galvin said tooout of sheer vexation So Nola closed her eyes to indicate that she was tired and that they should leave

When she peeked her eyes open, she saw that Galvin, Halig, and Alan had gone, and only Kirwyn re in the doorway She remembered how he'd looked when she'd seen him in the bespelled water before he had killed Innis He'd been spying in the kitchen atching Brinna, and he'd been wearing an expression of venom and malice Now his expression was only one of irritation "What the hell are you trying to do, Brinna?" he de the others hear

Trying to do? "I fell," she told hilower

Pain and the weariness of habitual fear conspired to make her reckless "I didn't fall intentionally to inconvenience you"

Surprisingly he didn't take offense at her unservant-like brazenness "Is anything a obviously was Even Kirwyn had to see char And solicitude didn't suit hih she was nor sure what exactly he was asking her

"Good," he snapped

"Thank you for your concern," she muttered as he slammed the door shut

What was that all about?

He would bear watching

But of course she had known that already

She waited until the men's voices and their footsteps faded, then she reached for the cup Galvin had left her Since this was Brinna's bed, she had no difficulty finding one of Brinna's hairs Whispering the words that prepared the water, she tossed the hair into the cup

Thespell Instantly Brinna's shadowfor like Nola's mother, she sat, hudcled and miserable, in the corner of what appeared to be a barn Good, Nola thought, happy not over Brinna's distress but because Brinna was being quiet And because she was alone That was safest for both of the, which et out of the house until after everyone had gone to bed

Bur Nola hoped she'd have a chance before that She hoped that Innis was to be buried today - it was, after all, suet the idea that she was safe just because she ay from Nola's presence, Nola concentrated on theto snatch fairies only she could see out of the air "Da fun"

In the cup, Brinna's hand jerked and clawed at the air and her lips twitched

Nola o to her friends to try to convince them of what had happened Then Nola plucked the hair out of the cup There were ain, and she would never, ever, leave bespelled water about again She was determined not to complicate the situation any h of that already

ALAN BROUGHT HER a meal, proof - if she'd needed any - that she'd lost any possibility of returning to the farmer's market stall in time for him to return her to the road to Saint Erioing," Alan replied "Lord Pendaran's rounds They've questioned neighbors" Alan shrugged, possibly indicating he considered much of this a waste of time - which it would have been had Innis really been killed by an intruder

"And Kirwyn?" Nola asked

"Accepting the condolences of allas well as accepting a feork orders" No need of brilliant deduction to guess what Alan thought of that unseeet more information, Nola said, "That Lord Galvin, he makes my head spin"

"Well, yes," Alan said, "he does see woo red "I mean with all his theories, all his questions" She was sure Alan didn't believe her Serves you right, she told herself, after ot me so muddled, I couldn't remember what I'd told him before I couldn't remember what I'd seen before"

Alan patted her hand sy any"

"Exactly," Nola agreed She didn't need syht after she stopped watching in the bespelled water basin "I re in the kitchen when I heard Master Innis cry out" She paused and hugged herself as though too distressed to continue, in case Alan would correct her and say that previously she had clai that had alerted her that so

Alan didn't correct her

"And I re down the hallhere you joinedfrom" She reached for her cup and took a drink of water

"My room," Alan finished for her, which was so to uncover

She nodded, pretending he was saying so she already knew "Then," she continued - Alan had already indicated this in front of Galvin - "I opened the door - "

Alan interrupted with another detail "Because I was slower, being already asleep when the cry awoke ain Nola nodded "And I sawI think I sawa gli, because apparently Brinna had said no such thing last night

"I shouldn't have said anything to Galvin," Nola said, "because I'm not sure Maybe people talked me into it, with all their questions" She tested out that explanation, and Alan seemed to find it reasonable, but that was no assurance Galvin had

"Maybe you saw his shadow," Alan said, a compromise between "I saw hireed "But, you know, after that everything see was confused after that" Alan was just too agreeable But then he continued, "Neighbors shouting and pursuing each other, everybody with opinions and advice, the baker's w:fe co"

Galvin hadand Kirwyn and Alan pursuing Nola said, "So while I was busy screa after the intruder"

"See, you do reain, did Kirwyn come from? Was he behind you in the hall?" That would have made sense if Kirwyn had run out of the shop and circled around the house, entering through the kitchen so that he, too, could say that he had been asleep in his own rooiven him the opportunity to throw the box into his room, to hide more carefully later