Page 174 of Fortress of Ambrose
Quell
Dlaminaugh is being pummeled with snow the morning of Nore’s funeral. For two days the ancestors’ presence has grown around the estate. But the trees in the forest still shake in the middle of the night, which Nore explained means Ellery hasn’t given up picking off the ancestors one by one.
Dark gray is the color of mourning at House of Ambrose. And it is everywhere and on everyone. Nore hasn’t been seen since the meeting in her office. Letting the entire House in on our secret was too much of a risk. So shortly after the announcement went out, the House went into official mourning.
The last lie my House would ever stand for, she’d called it.
The estate has been scant and silent since. Flowers have been laid all over the grounds. Walls have been graffitied in bright colors in Nore’s honor. Nore’s maid hasn’t eaten in days, inconsolable. And Yagrin has even roamed the halls with Isla, making a good show of their grief.
The night sky glows with the promise of morning over hundreds of chairs arced around a raised dais, where there is a stand for Nore’s body to lie. So many have responded to the post inDebs Dailyrequesting permission to attend. At first we considered saying no, but to keep the veneer of honesty, we had to go along with it fully.
“Are you ready?” It’s Abby, working with Lady Ruby to add the finishingtouches to the cloak so that once the Dragunhead’s wrapped in it, it renders him immovable. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days. Isla and Erla sit beside a window with a view of the funeral setup outside. Erla inspects the artifact from Ruby, a long dagger with an ornate, curved handle. All is in hand. When Nore’s mother isn’t wailing or patrolling the halls, she hasn’t spoken much. I hand her the metal box with the diadem of the Sphere’s proper magic.
“Remember, it stays up here. No matter what.”
“Promise me you will do whatever you can to protect her from him.”
“He won’t touch her.”
Erla hands her a tissue.
“Do you have the rings, too?” I ask her.
Erla nods, showing me the pile she forged the last two days, several dozen. “The minute the Dragunhead is paralyzed, we take his body, and Jordan, to the lab for the blood transfusion and extraction. We will try the rings first, as Jordan wants. But we have the dagger as a backup. We are as ready as we can be.”
“Very good.”
“It will work, Headmistress,” Erla says, and I desperately want to believe her. I leave them there, returning to Jordan, who peers outside the doors to the room where shadows loom. The Ambrose dead have taken a liking to us, particularly Jordan, following him wherever we go.
I check my watch. “Take the cloak to her,” I tell Abby. “We don’t have long before her body is set out at sunrise.”
“You’ve done good,” Ruby says, patting Abby on the back. She hugs me, and I squeeze her back, wondering how we actually pulled this off, so many hands on board, on the same team.
The funeral doesn’t start until noon. But when the sun crests the horizon, the Dragunhead should be there. The cloak will be lying partly over Nore’s body like a mourning blanket, and when he is close enough, she will toss it over him, trapping him in it. Jordan and Yagrin will be waiting to step in and apprehend him in order to take him to the lab. It isn’t a perfect plan, but it is the plan we have.
And the first leg of it depends on me.
Yagrin lingers in the shadows of the room, not speaking to anyone. He watches pensively as Abby folds up the cloak and stuffs it in a bag. He and Jordan haven’t spoken. And what’s even more odd is that until now, anytime we were in the same room, Yagrin would leave.
“What do you make of him?” I jab a thumb back at Yagrin.
“I hurt him,” Jordan says. “He’s angry with me, rightfully so.”
“What did you do?”
“Before they knew the Scroll was a hoax, he and Nore were planning to steal it from under our noses. He wanted to save her.”
“Instead of me.”
“Yes.”
“Can you blame him?”
Jordan sighs. “No, I can’t. But I told him if he was lying, I’d gut Nore myself.”
“Jordan.”
“I know.I knew it was wrong the minute I said it. But knowing isn’t enough. I need to talk to him.”
