Page 67 of Ocean of Ink
“How are we to conduct ourselves when we don’t know who we can trust?” Soren, a third-year student sitting beside Calypsia, asked.
Calypsia looked amused at his question, her hand on his knee.
“As you always have,” Castien gave his answer with the authority of his title. “These circumstances change little about what goes on here. If any of you truly trust each other, you have made a grave mistake, and likely don’t belong here. Be smart about your connections and agreements. I am confident that most of you are capable of discernment.”
Calypsia patted Soren’s knee in a consoling manner. He relaxed beneath her touch, and Castien wondered if the woman was part cryptura after all. She reminded him of one particular creature, a harpen, that pretended to be a wounded woman in the forest to lure men to their demise.
Castien waited for any other questions to be asked, then made his closing statement.
“To conclude this meeting of the Order, I want to remind you that secrecy is of the utmost importance. You may be pulled into interrogations over the coming days and weeks. Let nothing about this place slip from your mouth.”
He did not finish his command with a threat, but instead let each member form their own idea of the consequences.
“You are dismissed.”
Several members began leaving the room. They would stagger their departures and vary their locations as they always did in order to keep from alerting anyone of their whereabouts. Others stayed behind to engage in hushed discussions.
Finn sauntered up to Castien.
“Excellent speech, dear cousin. One could taste the wrath you exude,” Finn said wryly.
“They need to know where the Order stands on this matter,” Castien replied. “I need to speak with you about something in private. Do you have a moment?”
Finn’s brows raised. “It is unlike you to ask. Something must have shaken you.”
Castien’s mind flashed back to Wren pressed against the wall. Then her words written in the dead of night. How she had pierced his heart with her quill and how he had not yet been able to return her letter for fear of bleeding all over the page.
Instead of responding to his cousin, Castien walked through the parlor. He nodded at a few people as he passed, then slipped out the door into the familiar passageway that he would take to his study. Finn and Castien walked in silence. Their shadows flickered as they passed beneath sconces that lit their way.
Once inside the High Inquisitor’s study, Castien rounded his desk, but did not sit down. He did not share his every thought with Finn, but it was unlike him to conceal this much. Even now, he was only going to give him part of the truth.
“Wren knows about the door through the Wall,” Castien announced without preamble.
Finn sat down slowly. “She told you about it?”
“No, I caught her last night. Though she wouldn’t answer any of my questions, I believe she’s conducting her own investigation, with the help of her brother’s journal.” Castien’s gaze fell to his notes. “That’s the only explanation as to why she knew about the Wall.”
“Perhaps there’s not much to help her in Heron’s journal. One would think that if Heron documented all of the Order’s secrets, she would already have figured us out.”
“Maybe she has,” Castien noted. “She could simply be waiting to use what she knows.”
“Why not just tell the headmaster? Expose us and take the whole organization down?” Finn questioned.
“She’s intelligent. If she thinks we played a role in her brother’s death, then she’s not going to do anything without evidence.”
Finn leaned back in the chair, resting his hands over his abdomen.
“Intelligent? That’s high praise coming from you.”
Castien shook his head. “Don’t start in on this. We don’t have time for your nonsense.”
“Do you think that’s why she went to the Wall? To find evidence?” Finn asked instead of continuing on the path he was headed down.
Heaving a sigh, Castien sat down. He was exhausted. After his encounter with Wren, he didn’t sleep well. And then her letter arrived this morning. It rattled him. All morning his Gift felt more erratic than usual. He couldn’t settle down. This investigation and everything to do with Wren Kalyxi was draining him.
“I don’t know. She said she wasn’t going to leave the grounds. It’s as if she simply wanted to see if she could find it.”
“Perhaps that was it,” Finn said with a shrug. “Her brother might have written about this secret exit, and she wanted to see if he was right.”
