Page 139 of Fortress of Ambrose
Nore watched the forest. Then she studied the names on the graves. Her mind was firing, trying to make connections and sense of things that didn’t feel connected. But a nagging at her conscience persisted. Heir sires meant her father’s name was here. Kendall Dorset. The Kendall with no record at the school, no name in the Hall of Shame. She uncovered the faces of the headstones in the ice garden to read each one.
There was a connection between the dead and her mother’s secrecy about her father.
“Nore, it’s cold. What are you doing?”
But Nore moved from one grave to the next, trying to follow the erratic pattern.Abbot. Zempry. Myn. Bradshaw. Grig. Loigre. Carson.Every third grave was the next chronological alphabet. But the rhythm of the names in between made her head hurt.Dorset. Where is Dorset?Isla had only ever told Nore how unworthy she was her entire life. Had her father thought the same? Was he anything like Isla, or did he have Nore’s quirks? Did she get her cleverness from him? Did he have magic? Is that why his name wasn’t anywhere, because he, too, struggled to produce? But what needled her most is why her mother was so uncomfortable here around these graves.
“You were ready tonight when I came to your room. Why?”
“I don’t know what you mean. I— There was just— The noises…”
“You know something about the missing dead.”
Her mother paled.
Nore’s tongue poked her cheek as she kept looking.
“Nore, please. Let this go.”
Frost bit at Nore’s nose. Her throat was drying. She couldn’t feel her limbs. But she kept going until she’d read all eighty-seven headstones in the ice garden.
“His grave is not here,” she said. “He didn’t finish his studies here. Heisn’t in the Hall of Shame.Andif he is dead, he is not buried here.” She planted her hands on her hips. “Whowas he? And why are you determined to hide it from me?”
All the warmth she’d seen in her mother was gone. The tenderness she’d worn since getting her heart back faded to fear. Isla didn’t speak. She only shook her head and tried to retreat inside. But Nore grabbed her.
“Answeryour Headmistress!”
“I refuse to speak on such things until I am sure.” Her mother snatched her arm away and fled back inside. Nore saw red. It was infuriating that she could keep secrets under such circumstances. She fought the urge to chase her mother down and force her to share. That’s what Isla would do. Instead, she bundled up before heading to the stables. She was going to find out where the dead went with or without her mother. The dead were holding her captive as Headmistress, forcing her to be someone she wasn’t. If they were vanishing, she was going to the vault to steal her heart back and get the hell out of there.
She found her horse, Daring, and he met her with a flick of his tail. Her hands were sweaty in her leather gloves as she climbed on top of him. Daring took off, out the front gate, past the Draguns, who stood sentry there. She rode through graveyard after graveyard to the outermost reach of their property, where tangles of naked trees appeared to claw the sky with their branches. Dlaminaugh grew small in the distance. She rode around the perimeter of the property, traversing between the headstones of her most distant relatives. Names she didn’t recognize. When she reached their property line, she turned Daring to the east, to make her way toward the part of the forest overlooked by the ice garden.
A sour smell wafted past. The dead were close.
“Easy.” She pulled back on the reins. Darkness shifted ahead of her. She squinted, willing her eyes to adjust to the moonlight, as she eased her steed closer to the shadows. There were two dead lingering in the forest, barely discernible between the trees.
Leaves rustled.
Something grunted.
And then a familiar voice cut through the night, curdling Nore’s blood.
She swung off her saddle and tied Daring to a tree before hiking up her skirt to keep it from rustling the leaves. Her lungs burned with trapped breath as she slinked closer to the voice. She had to see him to be sure.
Her brother’s auburn hair was pulled back in a long braid. He wore gray leather. Across his chest was a plate of bronze marked with three yew leaves intertwined. Nore flattened firm against the nearest bark, careful to stick to the shadows. She fought the urge to heave. Had he found the last piece of the Scroll? Had he found Yagrin? Was he there to kill her?
The world spun, but she dug her nails into her skin.You are Nore Ambrose, Headmistress of this House and author of your own fate.She forced herself silent as she moved closer for a better look. The dead pair loomed around her as if they were watching, too.
Her brother wasn’t alone. He was speaking privately with a girl. Around them were at least a dozen others. The girl’s back was to her. But she could tell that she boasted a glittering gold diadem with the largest dark jewels Nore had ever seen. Dark hair knotted at the base of her skull. She wore leather pants and a fitted blouse with exaggerated sleeves and collar. She turned to a profile view, and Ellery pulled her in for a kiss. Nore made out a sigil across her chest—House of Perl’s cracked column but wrapped in a vine of thorny roses. She shifted, revealing sleek velvet skin and dark, striking eyes.
Adola Perl.
A twig snapped under Nore’s foot. Adola’s head swiveled, but Ellery marched off, talking to someone. There were others? Nore crept closer. There were several more, nearly thirty that she could count in the dim moonlight, each holding large spades.
Ellery spoke with his hands, giving instructions. Nore was too far to hear, but the masses understood, and each marched in various directions. Adola scanned the forest. Nore ducked beside a thick fir, hugging her knees. SheknewYagrin was a fool for trusting anyone with the last name Perl.
Nore peeked as Ellery drove one of the spades into the ground. She watched as he dug deeper and deeper. Questions flooded her. But when he finished, covered in dirt, Adola lowered herself into the hole in the ground. Ellery helped her back out. She reappeared with something flaccid in her arms.
Suddenly, one of the two lingering shadows contorted, twisting in the air.
