Usually, they also greeted her and summoned the highest-ranking person they knew. Mercy didn’t have time for that, and their manners tended to delay answers. It took time even to convince them that she meant it when she said they didn’t need to greet her politely at all.
But the same power that they respected was the one she was leaning on to find Lindon, so she couldn’t complain. She could only keep searching.
Which she did until Charity stepped out of the shadows beneath her.
Charity controlled her emotions as she watched Mercy pull Suu to a halt in midair, then swoop down to the streets. Most of the surrounding buildings were boarded and scripted up, but there were still plenty of people out, preparing to defend their homes.
Every one of them bowed at the waist and stayed there.
“Aunt Charity! Have you found him?”
Mercy had sent persistent messages to Charity—almost as many as she’d shouted to her mother. She hadn’t expected them to reach, but she’d had to try.
“I left him in the same guest home we assigned him before the Uncrowned King tournament,” Charity said calmly. “I can guide you if you don’t remember the way.”
“What happened? Is he okay?”
“He violated an oath to your mother and suffered the penalty for that. He was on the verge of death before she saved him. I’ll send one of my owls with you, so you can inform me when he wakes. I will need to work on his mind to prevent permanent trauma.”
Mercy gasped, and her eyes went wide, so Charity forestalled her before she assumed the worst.
“His life is no longer in danger. This threatens his future advancement, if anything, which in his case might be a good thing. Breaking a leg is a blessing if it stops him from sprinting toward a cliff.”
“He was trying to help me advance!”
“Yes, about that.” Charity held out a hand. “I’ll need the dream tablet you withdrew from the library.”
It wasn’t so long ago that Mercy was a little girl, and Charity expected her to act like a child caught breaking the rules. Instead, Mercy’s expression hardened. She reached into her void key and a String of Shadow grabbed a small stone, which snapped back into her palm.
But instead of holding it out to Charity, she kept it in her fist.
“What oath did he break?” Mercy asked coldly.
“I cannot tell you.”
“Did he betray the clan?”
“You might say that.” That was as specific as she could get without leaving any information that could point toward the truth; even revealing so much made invisible hands tighten around Charity’s throat.
“Was he trying to hurt me?”
Charity considered lying, but Mercy wouldn’t believe her anyway. Not only that, but Charity herself was…less than pleased with Malice at the moment. She was not inclined to go further to protect the Monarch’s secrets than necessary.
“The oath had nothing to do with you at all, and that’s the most I can say about the subject.”
Mercy watched her for a long moment, presumably trying to read something in Charity’s expression, but she finally tossed the dream tablet over. Charity caught it with aura rather than using her hand.
She Forged an owl, animating it with a will of its own, and sent it fluttering after Mercy. “The owl will lead you to Lindon. Send word to me when he wakes up, though I have left word that you not be allowed into his property.”
Mercy’s expression slid toward anger again, but Charity continued calmly. “It is for your own protection. He will be disoriented when he wakes, possibly even violent. With his powers, he could kill you before you had a chance to react.”
“Then how am I supposed to know when he wakes up?”
“Don’t be difficult. You have a perfectly good spiritual sense. Besides, if he reacts as I suspect, he might level the house.”
Concern wrinkled Mercy’s face, but she drew herself up and bowed. “Thank you, Aunt Charity. I’m glad he’s okay.”
Charity’s self-control trembled. She wanted nothing more than to tell Mercy the details. Or at least to warn her against her mother.
Instead, the Sage opened another gateway within the darkness. “I suggest you get an hour or two of sleep while you wait for Lindon. There’s a defense coordination meeting in four hours, and I expect the both of you there.”
Charity walked away and tried not to imagine the agony Lindon would be in when he woke. Even if the pain was gone, even with Dross there to support him, the memories wouldn’t go away. Many sacred artists with promising futures found their willpower compromised by such experiences.