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Nola held on to a e before Galvin start quivering like a reflection in a bowl of water that's been jostled She hoped Brinna was alone, for she had nothing to spare forleft for answering Galvins sarcas," Nola said

"Why did your story change after you cah she was so exhausted and frightened she felt close to it Galvin would not be moved by tears

"Either Kirith you or he was not"

"What Ithe floor Kirithher lips; she knew it uilty liar she was, hut she couldn't help herself: Her mouth was so dry "I had my back to the door, and he was behind me So, you see, I didn't exactly see hih I wasn't Because Kiras there, too"

Galvin just sat looking at her

And she sat holding on to the edges of her glamour, which felt ready to fly off like a floppy hat on a windy day

He has kind eyes, Nola re in answer to someone's coray, but cold There was no kindness in the in his expression called her a liar She fought not to flinch, not to glance away guiltily

"Did Kirwyn kill Innis?" Galvin asked

The question took Nola's breath away "Kirwyn?" she asked on half a sigh He suspected Kirwyn after all? Despite all his questions about Alan? About an intruder? She saas studying her, catching the relief that must have flickered across her face And what did he make of chat? "I wasn't there when Innis died," was all she dared say "I was in the kitchen"

Galvin's voice becah his eyes were no warmer "Did Kirwyn have reason to want his father dead?"

Yes! she wanted to shout You're finally asking the right questions But she couldn't get her voice above a whisper "They argued frequently He wouldn't have liked to share an inheritance with the neife" Surely sohbors would have told him this earlier "But if it was Kirould he steal chehe was che culprit if it was found on him Why risk that when it was part of his inheritance?"

Galvin hesitated, though Nola suspected he had worked out an answer already and was si whether to share it with her "To ested

Nola are that her mouth formed a silent "Oh" She felt like a naive child Not that she had ever been a naive child, or at least not in a very long ti her closely "What about Alan? Did he have reason to hate his master?"

Nola closed her eyes in frustration

There was a rattle froht In her panic about Galvin's questions, she had forgotten to concentrate on keeping her mother's form on Brinna, and now Brinna was back to accuse and offer proof -

The kitchen door opened, and the sound of many voices ca

NolaBrinna's

In the meantime, Galvin's attention never wavered He had to have seen the dread on her face and hoas replaced by relief He spoke slowly and calh they had only a few more moments "If you were Kirwyn, and you had killed your father and stolen his money to make it look like the work of an intruder, ould you do with the money?"

"I don't know," Nola said Which was the truth, but Galvin had no way of knowing that after all her lies

And then people were stopping in front of the open door, looking in at her on the bed and Galvin sitting there beside her

Kirwyn sestively "My, my, did we co the knowing grins on lowered It was the look he had worn just before killing his father It was the same look he had turned on Brinna And now here was Nola, trapped in the sa Brinna, as far as anyone knew - and with a leg she couldn't walk on

Don't worry yourself unnecessarily, Nola told herself Even if Kiranted Brinna dead, even if he was actively plotting her ht after he'd killed his father

But ht People would think the intruder had come back Maybe that was exactly the best time to co him at the door "What about the killer?"

She could see him try to work out what she meant, since he had just clearly indicated to her that he suspected Kiras the killer She continued, "What if the killer coeant Halig re the door had to be better than being trapped with Kirith only the too-trustful Alan to protect her

Kirwyn snorted "Timid Brinna Surely that isn't necessary The intruder has had the whole day to put Haymarket behind him while Lord Pendaran's men have squandered away the hours on pointless questions and frivolous searches"

If he hoped to sha, it was athe night"

"This is a house in ," Kirwyn objected " With a useless maid who has a crippled ankle We do not have the ithal to put you up in a suitable manner"

"Then it is fortunate my needs are simple"

The crowd at the door parted for hiave her as he muttered after Galvin, "Such as a useless maid with a crippled ankle?"

Chapter Thirteen

THE LAST OF the people who had crowded around the doorished Nola well and closed the door behind the about Innis Nola hastily put aside the hair she had plucked fro place, at least for now Then she searched the blanket until she found one of Brinna's hairs, which she tossed into the cup of water she'd already bespelled

Apparently all cried out, Brinna was asleep in the barn in which Nola had previously seen her Nola even knehich barn it was, for it was so dilapidated that through the great chinks in the wall Nola could see the millpond It was the barn in which she and her- since it looked abandoned and probably had no one to order them out - when they had first come to Haymarket, before they stopped at the silversmith's house

Brinna - asleep and alone You were lucky, Nola told herself If she had been ahen the glamour wavered

Wavered?

WAVERED?

Nola had abandoned it for long enough that if Brinna had been aware of as happening, she could havethe funeral party before Nola had enough presence ofabout