“You had to kill her,” I said. I could not let her dwell on that. “You had to kill her, and your father will be so proud that you did. It was the right choice. Shine. What stone?” My heart was racing. Nettle and Dutiful had told me there were no records of Skill-portals in this area. Had they lied to me? I felt a flash of anger, followed by the fear that the stone was unknown because it was defective.
But my effort to reassure her and focus her mind failed badly.
She turned her head slowly to me. “My father?” she asked dully.
“Our father.” Lant’s voice broke on the word and I wanted to strike him. Not now, not now. But he spoke on. “Lord Chade is your father.”
She blinked at him. The look on her face reminded me of a foundering animal. She would go down soon and with her my chance to find Bee. She spoke slowly. “Lord Chade is your father, you mean. You told me your secret … the night before …”
Her eyes widened. No, don’t let her thoughts go back to the night she was raped and kidnapped. I tried to keep my voice calm. “I must know where the stone is, Shine!”
Lant held up a shaking hand. “Let me speak. Let it be said before your guard gets here. Let me tell her and have it over it with! I can bear this no longer.” He looked at her, his face full of tragedy. “Shun—Shine. You are my sister. Shine Fallstar. Lord Chade is father to us both.”
She stared, her gaze going from me to Riddle and then to Lant. “It’s a poor jest,” she said brokenly. Her bottom lip quivered. “If you love me at all, you will take me away from here, as fast and as far as we may go.”
Lant gave me an agonized look.
Sometimes it is better to rip off the bandaging quickly. “Of course he loves you,” I reassured her. “He is your brother. He would never let you come to harm.”
She snapped her head around to stare at me. “My brother?”
Riddle was staring at us, aghast. Some secrets could not be preserved safely, not without risking terrible consequences. I spoke softly. “Lord Chade is father to you both.” I took a breath and tried to speak kindly. “And now you must guide us back to the stone. Where Bee disappeared.”
She gaped at me. Then her head swiveled again and she looked at her brother. What did she see there? The same resemblances I had seen once I had known to look for them? “Lant,” she said in a fading voice, as if she called to him from across a great distance. And then she went boneless, sliding to the road in a heap. The heavy fur coat collapsed around her and, lying there, she suddenly reminded me of a very thin winter-killed deer. Riddle dropped to his knee beside her and put fingers at the side of her throat. He looked up at me. “It’s been too much for her. She’s done, for now. And we can’t wait for her to come to her senses. We’ll have to follow her tracks back. Summon Foxglove to take her?”
Lant made a sound of remorse and pain. I took his upper arm before he could fall to his knees beside her. I spoke close by his ear. “Not your fault. And it would be best if you let someone else tend to her for a time when she comes round. She will need time, just as you did.” He tried to twist free of me, but I kept my grip, set my thumb in a certain spot, and pushed it between his arm muscles in a way that would definitely be uncomfortable. As I hoped he would, he went from morose to angry in less than a heartbeat. Riddle was already gathering up Shine. I lifted my free hand and gestured to Foxglove and the troops.
“Let go of me!” Lant demanded in a low voice. At least he had the presence of mind to be somewhat subtle.
I smiled and spoke softly, gesturing as if speaking of concern for Shine. I gradually eased the pressure on his arm as I did so. “When you can control yourself, I’ll stop controlling you. There are too many people watching for you to indulge your emotions right now, or to have any heartfelt conversations with Shine about who your father is and what it means to her. So you will mount up and ride beside Riddle and me, you will help us follow her tracks back to that stone, and we will leave her care to Foxglove and my guard. Understand?”
He did not like it. I did not care how he felt. I watched his face and saw the moment when he recognized that logic was on my side. He ceased struggling and I left him standing with the horses while I went to speak to Foxglove and Riddle. Shine might have been awake but she was not stirring. Her eyes were slits and she made no comment as I asked Foxglove to create a travois for her to ride on. Foxglove nodded grimly and began to order some to find sturdy branches and others to gather firewood and create a fire so that Shine might have hot food and drink before she was moved, and I conceded that. I took Lant, Riddle, and my few remaining Rousters and began to ride slowly back down the road in the direction from which Shine had come. I chose not to notice that Perseverance trailed behind us, Motley on his shoulder. The boy had witnessed Lant’s revelation. I’d deal with it later. This section of the king’s highway traversed a forested area with some farms and smallholdings. The short winter day would soon fade. I wondered how far she had galloped the brown and how tired he had been to start with. I wanted to hurry. I could not afford to miss the trail.
