They were back in his room; its circular walls and the orange light from the lamps felt safe and familiar after the eerie depths of the rooms beneath the Hall.
Will spoke with his heart racing. He had barely been able to hold the words back until he and Violet were alone. Now, as she clambered onto the bedcovers where they sat together so often, it spilled out, blurted with urgency.
‘What do you mean?’
‘The reason why Simon’s close to returning the Dark King. Marcus knows. He knows how to conjure a shadow.’
Violet’s eyes went wide. They had spent so many nights together in her room or his, Violet with a sword and him with a candle, practising their separate lessons. It all seemed so naive now that he’d guessed the truth.
Will said, ‘You heard the Elder Steward. She said that conjuring a shadow was the first step to summoning the Dark King. Simon must be trying to get the secret from Marcus.’
Stewards were strong, but how long could they hold up under torture? And if the Stewards couldn’t fight James, how could they fight a shadow that no weapon could pierce? You cannot strike a shadow … But a shadow can strike you.
‘How desperate they all are to get him back,’ said Violet slowly. ‘All of the missions beyond the wall, sacrificing dozens of Stewards—’
Will couldn’t stop seeing that vision of the three Shadow Kings on their thrones, great and terrible creatures, subservient to one greater than all of them, the Dark King, who seemed to tower over their thrones like a god over the heavens.
Simon was the Dark King’s descendant. Simon wanted a shadow army of his own.
And if he learned from Marcus how to conjure it …
He will rise. The final eclipse.
It made sense of all the tense looks, the broken-off conversations, the fear that underlay them. The Stewards were scared. But they were riding out anyway. To their deaths. Their Order had lasted for centuries, guarding the secrets of the old world, so that if the Dark King ever returned, someone would remember, and be there to stop him.
‘They have to get Marcus back. It’s the only way to stop Simon.’ The Stewards believed that they were now in the final days, with Simon right on the cusp of returning the Dark King. ‘But they can’t,’ said Will. ‘They can’t even find him.’
And if they couldn’t get Marcus back, Simon would unleash that terrible darkness, that cold … Will felt it down to his bones.
‘How do you rescue a man you can’t find?’ said Will, looking up at Violet.
Abruptly, Violet pushed herself up off the bed and stalked to the window, which looked out at the gate. It wasn’t dawn yet, so the view was still dark, the only points of light the torches on the battlements and the bright flare of the Final Flame.
‘Violet?’
She seemed to be struggling with something. Her silhouette at the window had changed since their first days here. She was still boyishly slender, but constant training had broadened her shoulders a little. She held her head higher too, and her posture was straighter.
When she turned back to face him, her eyes were very dark, as though she was torn by a painful choice.
‘They can’t find him,’ she said. ‘But maybe I can.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SHE MET WILL in the east courtyard at dusk.
Her stomach was roiling with nerves, her senses on high alert, even as she tried to stay calm. The thought of what she was about to do made her feel sick, nauseous and feverish, as if chills had set her teeth chattering. She forced it down, determined to go through with this. It was her chance to make a difference, to show the Stewards she could do what was right. I can do this.
In the end, it was simple.
The Stewards needed to find Marcus, and she had access to Simon’s inner circle that no one else had.
I can do this. I can prove myself. I can fight for the Light.
The Stewards couldn’t know. She couldn’t tell them, I can find Marcus because I’m a Lion. But if she went home to her Lion family, she could find out where Simon was keeping Marcus before he told Simon how to conjure a shadow.
Will was leading two white Steward horses, beautiful creatures with arched necks and delicate fluted noses. Violet had stolen two sets of Steward whites from the washroom. It had been her idea to sneak out in secret, to keep the Stewards from finding out where she was going.
Will had argued against it. ‘You can’t. You can’t go back to them.’
‘My father’s one of Simon’s closest confidants,’ she had said to him, feeling the ugly truth of it. ‘I know that if I go back home, I can find out where he’s keeping Marcus. I can sneak into my father’s office, get access to his records …’ She had lowered her voice to a whisper. Talking about her father in the Hall made her nervous. She half expected the Stewards to burst in, forcing her to the ground, shouting, Lion.