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a rough bench out of crates, sacking, and his own bundled-up greatcoat, while the snapped halves of a sage-charm—a warming-charm, by the balmy feel of the air—lay on the floor beside it.
    â€œMaybe not,” Isaveth said as they sat down, “but he’s got plenty of support on the city council, and your father listens to him more often than not. We can’t just hope for the best, Esmond. We have to stop him.”
    Esmond sighed. “Which makes what I have to tell you even more rotten. Remember that charm-band I was wearing when Eryx caught us searching his study?”
    How could Isaveth forget? The magical recording device was their only proof that the Lording had arranged Master Orien’s murder. Unfortunately, Eryx had confiscated it before they could turn it over to the Lawkeepers, and they’d been trying to get it back ever since.
    â€œWell, I found it,” said Esmond, pressing something cold into Isaveth’s hand. A black, lumpen ring that had once been silver, with a few broken shards of sound-crystal clinging to its surface. “I’m sorry, Isaveth. I didn’t think he’d guess what it was for, but he must have.”
    Isaveth closed her eyes, the tightness in her chest returning. For four months she’d waited, praying for a miracle . . . and now this.
    â€œIt doesn’t matter,” she said, too loudly. “We’ll get him some other way.”
    â€œI’d like nothing better,” Esmond said, “but how? Nobody’s going to believe my brother’s a murderer just on our say-so. Even my own family thinks I ought to accept his apology for half blinding me and move on.”
    He was right—they needed someone older and more powerful to speak for them. But who? There were only a few people in the city who knew the truth about Eryx, and none of them could testify against the Lording without ruining themselves.
    â€œI don’t know,” she said, dropping the charm-band onto the straw between them. “But we’ll find something. We’ve got to.”
    Esmond shook his head in admiration. “You never give up, do you? Auradia all over again.”
    Coming from a boy who loved Auradia Champion as much as she did, that was quite the compliment. But it wasn’t her love of justice that was driving Isaveth this time; it was desperation. If Papa couldn’t get relief, there’d be no chance of her staying at Tarreton College; she and Annagail would have to quit school and take thefirst jobs they could find, just to keep their family from being thrown out on the street.
    Yet she couldn’t say that to Esmond. If Quiz were here she’d have poured out her fears to him, but what did this young noble, with his shining hair and spotless clothing, know about being poor? He’d likely feel sorry for Isaveth, or worse, offer her charity. And that would be unbearable.
    â€œMaybe we can’t prove that Eryx murdered Master Orien,” Isaveth said, willing her voice steady. “But we could still catch him committing some other sort of crime. Bribery, or blackmail, or . . . I don’t know, something. Anything.”
    Esmond took out a handkerchief and began cleaning his half glass, which had to be sheer habit, because he couldn’t see out of it either way. “Good point. I’ll keep my ears open and see what I can find out. But we can’t meet here every day—it’s too risky. We need a new place to leave messages.”
    Isaveth nodded. The loose stone by the fountain in Sage Allum’s Park had served them well enough during harvest, but once the snow started falling, the walk there had become a lot less pleasant. “What about the school library?”
    â€œExcellent idea. I recommend the agriculture section.Find a book on crop pests or something of that sort, and nobody but us will ever look at it.” He hooked his glass back on, keeping his scar averted.