Eva regarded Liam for a long moment. “I have no choice but to trust you. I need your eyes.”
“You have them. All I can do is promise and hope you’ll take me at my word, but you know already where my allegiance lies or you wouldn’t have brought me with you to Gondoleery’s door. You wouldn’t have given the driver that food in front of me if you didn’t trust me. And now I’m here, living in the palace, when there are dozens of Necessary homes I could live in. . . . You want me here. Don’t you?”
“I do,” Eva admitted.
“And do you . . .” He hesitated. “Do you know why I wasn’t put to death right away? Do you know why they kept me alive and not Bethesda?”
Eva pursed her lips. “Yes, Liam. I do.”
Liam’s eyes widened. He swallowed hard and passed his hand over his face. He whispered in a shaky voice, “You did it? You kept me alive?”
She stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. “But what matters now,” she said with urgency, “is that you do the right thing with your second chance. And I believe you will. I need you to. Before things get even more out of hand.”
Liam reached out and put his hand on Eva’s shoulder, a look of earnest truth and respect in his deep blue eyes. “My mind and heart have left the fog of Quill. I’ll do the right thing now. I’ll help you in any way I can. You can trust me.”
Eva shook Liam’s hand. “Then we shall ride this risky road together. We have two tracks. In the short term, Aaron seems restless and eager to do something to antagonize Artimé. I don’t know what it is yet, but he does things in haste, and he’s sure to make a mistake. And . . .” She hesitated, unsure she wanted to share such delicate information, but then went on. “Many of the leadership in Artimé are away for a time, but no one must know that. I need to keep Aaron from doing something stupid while Artimé is vulnerable.”
Liam nodded. “And the other track . . . the long term?”
“Yes. That’s Gondoleery. She’ll be stealthy and deliberate. But when she strikes, she’ll take us all down.”
“Strikes? With what? What power does she have?”
“She’ll have more power than anyone if she figures out how to use it.” Eva lost herself in memories for a few moments. She sank to sit on the steps. “I have a story to tell.”
“Then tell it, please.”
Eva nodded, and then began in a faraway voice. “When I was a child, I could make rain, ice, and fire.”
“What’s ice?” Liam asked. He sat down on the step next to her.
“Ice is frozen water, hardened like a rock, and so cold it hurts to hold it.”
Liam wore a quizzical look, finding the explanation hard to follow, but he remained silent so she could explain.
“Gondoleery Rattrapp could make rain, but not ice or fire. Marcus could do any elemental magic he put his mind to, but he preferred to leave the weather alone—he was so much more creative than that. And Justine couldn’t do any elemental magic at all, and not much other magic either. But she made a good bully.” Eva’s eyes narrowed, remembering.
She went on. “When we came to Quill, and Justine—through Marcus—made the original Quillens forget our pasts, we forgot our magic. But not long ago, Marcus gave Gondoleery and me our memories back. Now Gondoleery is relearning all her magic, and I think she’s plotting to do something horrible with it. That’s why she’s got burns all over her hands. She’s already been successful at making ice—I saw it with my own eyes. And now she’s trying to figure out how to throw fire.”
Liam stared at Eva in alarm. “That’s horrible! What is the high priest doing about it?”
Eva pressed her lips together. “I’ve told him that something strange is going on with Gondoleery. His response is apparently to celebrate it by putting her in charge of the government.” Eva sighed in frustration. “I haven’t told him about the fire part of it yet—that was the first I’ve seen of it from her, when I was with you yesterday. Before I say anything, I want to see if she manages to do more than give herself a few burns. She couldn’t throw fire when we were children. I find it hard to believe she can master it now.”
“Maybe Aaron asked her to be governor so he could keep an eye on her.”
Eva shrugged. “If that’s the reason, it would be the single smartest thing that obnoxious boy has done so far. But I don’t see it. He’s too arrogant to think anybody could possibly have more power than him.”
Liam looked troubled. “What do you want me to do?”
“Keep your eyes open. Watch everything. Check on the vacant homes in the Necessary quadrant to see if you find anything strange happening, like the orange glowing we saw from Gondoleery’s window, or possibly blue, which would be ice. But above all, keep an eye on Aaron. Gain his trust. Do what he’s asking you to do . . . and if you can’t, fake it.”
“And what about Gondoleery?”
“I’m trying to keep up with her, magicwise. I need a new place to practice, because Aaron nearly caught me making ice and then melting it all with fire in Haluki’s house. But I’m changing tack after what Aaron said tonight about letting Artimé know whom they’re dealing with. I’m going to focus on him at least until Alex, Simber, and Florence get back to Artimé. Because if Aaron goes in there now to show his muscles, there’s a very good chance somebody could get hurt.”