Chapter 11: The Moon Glass

The King sent four guards after Wynne, and they caught her in the library with her hands full.

She stood between two tall shelves with a book open on the floor and a page torn halfway out of its binding.

"It's a recipe," she said, smiling. "For his mother's tea."

The King took the book from the guard's hand.

It was thick and old, bound in cracked green leather, with a Hearth-Healer's brand on the cover.

He turned it over, and for a moment his face did something I could not name.

"This belonged to the healers of this court," he said. "Why would you take it?"

"I didn't know."

"You ran straight to the shelf where it sits."

Wynne's smile slipped, and she said nothing.

"Hold her," the King said. "Give the book to my healer."

The court healer was waiting in the doorway in her violet robe.

She took the book, and her thin hands went still on the green leather.

"Your Majesty," she said in a different voice. "This is the Hearth-Healer's ledger. It has been missing for twelve years."

"Open it to the last entry."

She did.

I stood beside Alaric and watched her read.

The healer's lips moved.

She turned a page and read again, and then she went white to the mouth.

"Moon glass," she said. "Bring me the moon glass."

They brought it on a velvet cushion, a flat disc of silver glass as big as a plate.

The healer set it on a reading table and pulled the curtains back from the high window.

A bar of cold noon light struck the glass.

"Miss Chenoweth," she said. "Stand here. Prince Alaric, there, across from her. Bare your skin where you can."

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