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Reome shook her head

"You must tell me"

Reome flinched "It will be my death if I do"

"I will protect you Believe that I will take your place and go inside Let o back to Muirwood Please, Reoht at her – along with her will, her intentions, her desire to protect Reome and her child The Medium throbbed in the air and softened the look on Reo "But Lia, you cannot get to her She is guarded day and night by a htens me He said he would kill me if I told anyone she was here They say…he kills hed deeply She clenched her jaw and nodded firmly The Medium would protect her She pulled on the basket "Give me your shawl"

"Lia, I know you are a hunter…"

"You cannot go back there, Reome Muirwood is the only place you can save your child Do you have any o home, Reo? He is a noble He would not abandon me"

Lia stared her in the face "I know Dieyre better than you do, Reome I know about his false proive ency to rescue Marciana burned inside her, co her to act quickly

In the courtyard at the center of the La Maybe the choking air had finally destroyed its growth Perhaps soe and pointed every direction like a sharpened hedgehog burrowing in the rew on one side and cluhs It was a dead thing – a shell of a tree For aMuirwood and a chill went through her heart The scarf covered her hair and she had traded cloaks with Reome to hide her hunter leathers She had no tiiven it to Reome to hold and sent her aith the arrow quiver Lia carried her dirk with the hand supporting the basket beneath and had her unsheathed gladius hilt in the other hand, the blade resting atop the daarments but underneath the wrap to conceal it She wanted teapons ready when she faced the kishion

Martin had trained her well She knew all the locations where to stab a ht only have one chance to kill him It was kill or be the victiely, her life felt as if she were a sh a maze of rocks and rapids It pulled her quickly, no ed to slow it

Her heart beat frantically as the porter opened the door and let her in She did not acknowledge his curt greeting andthe basket to her bosom as she quickly surveyed the courtyard and saw the oak The inner yard was a giant circle, groith sod and ringed with cobblestones She counted three doors giving access to the manor house from the interior, and one directly at the base of the tower Reoht and followed it towards the tower, her heart pounding in her ears She wished she could have checked the Cruciger orb Glancing at the upper s, she noticed the heavy curtains blocking the inside

A raven caw startled her and she noticed the black bird perched atop a flag spike The building was larger than the Aldermaston’s manor house – it o stories coht, the ht was on the edge of the grounds, connecting to an outer ith spikes fastened into the stone like a ridge of teeth She crossed the path to the door and shoved at it with her basket A porter opened the door and looked at her curiously Lia glanced behind hiullet There were no other guards

"Set the basket down by the brazier," the porter told her "I will carry it up later They wish no interruptions"

Lia nodded and carried the basket into the chaladius blade resting in the basket but turned the dirk over in her hand to conceal it froirl" He waved for her to leave the way she had colance outside and look at so that interested hi flowed back to her, filling her with knowledge There was a spot on the back of the skull With the dirk handle, she clubbed hiht him as he fell and laid hilanced up the stairinding its way up within the tower She could hear the murmur of voices, but could not discern any of the words