“This was found in his chambers. And this, in his laundry.”

  Garnet glanced at the glass shards laid upon the sackcloth, and next to it, the small vial with a smear of blackish residue. For once, she struggled to reply to her husband. The past few days had been filled entirely with thoughts of how she had failed her child.

  “You know what this means, don’t you?”

  She always hated being on the back foot. When she met Schist’s gaze, his eyes were tired, but his jaw was firm. He’s like this always; it’s a wonder he’s not ground his teeth to dust.

  “Yes, I do. We will speak not a word of this, and the Sect does not need to know.”

  Schist’s tired eyes held her gaze, never wavering. “The Sect will find out; we must tell them the truth of the matter, and they may yet spare our son.”

  Now it was Garnet’s turn for a clenched jaw. “If the Sect knew, they would not have let him return home, Schist. If this is what was needed for his breakthrough, then so be it. What’s done is done.”

  “We will need their help to ensure he is not corrupted. If he has taken directly from the mine, and with his weak constitution—”

  “Do you really think Slate is weak, Schist?” Garnet drew up her shoulders, as if daring him to consider femininity as weakness. Was she not the superior fighter, if only by a margin?

  Schist leaned back in his chair and his lips drew into a thin line. “We’ve had this conversation many times before, Garnet.”

  “And yet he has succeeded every goal we set for him, has he not?”

  “But at what cost?”

  My thoughts exactly. Instead of voicing her concerns, Garnet gave a practiced sigh. “Now is not the time for fighting. We must use all the tools available to us to locate Slate.”

  “I am quite certain Shimmering Shadows or a rival sect has him. Who else would be able to not only determine our personal escape routes, but break into them? The only secret we must keep from them is this.”

  Garnet stared down at the broken glass and vial. “What of the servants who found these?”

  “They know not their origin nor purpose. A simple lie has ensured we do not need to take drastic measures.” Schist took the glass and folded the sackcloth around it. “I will dispose of this accordingly.”

  “I understand. Shall I join the search?” Garnet stood.

  “If you must,” Schist replied. “But do not search near Solitude Mountain. It is best if we do not challenge the Sect further.”

  She curtsied, an exaggerated motion. “Of course, husband.”

  Schist sighed. “I’m sorry, Garnet. You’re right, I… I’m concerned for the duchy’s future, and it has me on edge. Should the worst happen, I dare not think about it.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “I understand Schist. Try to get some rest this evening.”

  Convinced he wouldn’t take her advice, Garnet slipped out of the room.

  To her surprise, Shale was waiting in the hallway, concern winning against his attempt to look nonchalant. “Is there any news of Brother?”

  Garnet shook her head. “No, Shale, I’m afraid not.”

  “Then I’ll help look!”

  “Absolutely not!” The surprise she felt was real. The two siblings hadn’t gotten along for years. “I’m… glad to see you’re concerned for him, but we can’t afford to lose you too.” She almost stumbled on the last word.

  Shale frowned. “Of course I can’t do anything. Do you really care about your ‘other’ child?”

  “Shale!”

  “You think I don’t know that you think I’m unfit to inherit?” He clenched his fists and stared down at the floor.

  “Didn’t you just say you wanted to look for him?”

  “Yes, but! He’s… You… Argh!” Shale stomped off.

  Garnet debated going after him. He doesn’t trust me, she thought sadly. And I’ve given him every reason to think that way. She wandered past her chambers, lost in thought, listening to the click-clack of her heels echo down empty hallways.

  When had the estate gotten this quiet? When had their family grown so distant?

  She glanced out at the garden, thoughts of thorns, flowers, and fresh earth on her mind. There’d been laughter there once, and the few days Slate, no Silk, had been back were… Well, they were tense, but she’d been happy to see Shale training on his own again, and Silk seemed happier as well. Despite what had happened to him. Her.

  Garnet’s wanderings took her inexorably to the family vault. When she’d first joined the family, this place had seemed so mysterious and powerful. And then she’d seen how empty it was. True, the riches of the Graystone family were perhaps the largest of any ducal family in the Kingdoms that had risen from the old Empire.

  But they were nothing but a speck to the Sects. Insects allowed to rule their own, so the higher beings could focus on more important matters. Sometimes, Garnet wondered if she’d been wrong to leave the Sect on a whim. Another year and she’d have been an Inner Disciple.

  Would she have thought mundane people to be insects, too? Had she already thought that? Schist had seemed so optimistic then, and Silk had inherited that optimism, that care for those who could not rise the ranks toward immortality. What happened to those days?

  Garnet laid a hand on the vault and pushed it to open. The runes flared indignantly, then relented, and the door rolled open. Inside, Garnet moved toward one particular box. There was no dust in here, but it had been moved—just a little out of line. Inside was the key to the prison in Solitude Mountain, resting in velvet as it always had.

  She definitely took this. Garnet wandered the vault, coming to a stop in front of a series of vials. A small fortune’s worth had been used and she narrowed her eyes. Why? To get even stronger? But why would so many be left?

  Clearly Silk did not feel the need to take all of them, or perhaps she felt guilt. Any number of reasons could be the answer, and there was no way to know. Most of all, Garnet realized how precious little she knew of demons.

  Yes, she’d fought and killed weaker demons who crossed the mountains, and she’d been trained at the Shimmering Shadows Sect. But those demons were not her daughter. The word still felt odd in her mind—she had always wanted a daughter.

  Now that she had one, though, she’d lost her. Perhaps forever.

  Unlike her usual pessimism, Garnet still clung onto the idea that they could somehow return to being a family some day. The alternative, that she had missed that chance through her own failings, was too painful to consider.

  “The Sect library is out of the question,” she muttered, looking from the vials to the vault around her. “Perhaps in the records here…?”

  If she was going to help her daughter—wherever she was—and the rest of their family, the first thing Garnet needed to do was learn all she could about the nature of demons.