Page 32 of Skysong

‘There’s no use,’ Andala interrupted.

Oriane frowned. ‘Why not?’

‘Because I’ve already spoken to him about your letters.’

Oriane blinked. How had she known to do so? ‘And?’ she asked warily.112

‘And …’ Andala sighed. Silence pulsed in the room, loud as Oriane’s heartbeat in her ears. She suddenly did not want to hear whatever it was that Andala had to say. ‘And he never delivered them, Oriane. The king asked him not to.’

The words reverberated, the echo of them warping and distorting in her head.

She fell back onto the window seat. She was vaguely aware of Andala standing beside her, but her mind was spinning, her senses whitewashed with shock.

‘So he does not know,’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘All this time I’ve been here, and he does not even know.’

The more she thought about it, the more she cursed her foolishness. They had barely asked for any further detail when she’d told them where to send the letters. She’d assumed they would figure it out by her scant directions; that they made these kinds of things happen as if by magic; that they could betrustedto do so.

Sostupid. She had been so—

‘I’m sorry,’ Andala murmured, bringing Oriane back to the room.

It sounded like she meant it. But Oriane’s brain was still sifting through everything this revelation meant – and she had questions.

‘Were you planning to tell me?’ she asked Andala. ‘That he did not deliver the letters?’

A short pause. ‘What do you mean?’

Oriane dragged her eyes to Andala’s face, suspicion rising like a tide once more. ‘If I had not requested you come here, if I had not asked you directly, would you have told me what you knew? Or would you have left it at the cryptic warning you gave me while you thought I slept?’

‘I—’ Andala started to say something, but changed course mid-word. Again, the hint of some emotion passed over that113ever-composed face like a ripple over water. Again, Oriane could not read it. Then finally Andala asked: ‘How can I help?’

That brought Oriane up short. It was not an explanation, or an apology, but she heard something underlying Andala’s question, clear as birdsong on a summer’s day.

Guilt. Andala felt guilty that she had not immediately shared what she knew. Oriane had learned much about guilt in the weeks since she had left her father. So she knew that Andala would not refuse to do what she asked.

‘I need you to help me escape.’

The words burst from her, too loud in the quiet room. The two women stared at one another, saying nothing. Oriane suspected her own face was not so hard to read. Andala would surely see the plea there, the naked fear rising just beneath the surface. She had to get out of this place. She was a fool for not realising it earlier. But now that she had, every second that passed made her more desperate to leave.

‘Please, Andala,’ Oriane said. ‘Will you help me?’

Andala looked at her a moment more. Dropped her gaze. Closed her eyes and took a breath, then opened them again, and nodded.

114

Chapter 15

At first, Andala said escape was impossible now that Oriane was under stricter guard and could go nowhere unseen. But, Oriane explained, she did not need to go unseen.

She just needed to go uncaught.

Together, they went over the details of her idea in hushed tones, aware of Terault’s presence outside the door. Then Andala rose to leave and share their plan with Kitt.

‘Do you think … We can trust Kitt, can’t we?’ Oriane asked, a tiny kernel of doubt unfurling as she paced the room. Her mood had been swinging wildly all afternoon: exhilaration, indignation, paralysing fear.

‘Yes,’ Andala said simply.

Oriane believed so too – but what if he lost his nerve at the last minute and came clean to the king about what they planned to do?

---