Karigan glanced at Silk who appeared to be struggling with himself as if gauging whether or not to protest. He actually looked frightened, and that in itself was telling.

“Fastion?” she asked. “What do you think?”

The other men looked confused. Apparently they’d never heard the Eternal Guardian’s name before.

“Something of this witch is known to me, though I had thought her dead long ago. The emperor thinks her dead, too. Yes, she should be released, though I cannot say what the result will be.”

Silk paled, and even Starling looked none too happy. So, they’d been keeping a secret from Amberhill. There wasn’t time to discover the reason behind the witch’s captivity, or why she was hidden from Amberhill in his very own palace, but it was enough to convince Karigan.

She and Cade stepped out into the corridor to hammer out the details of their plan, the dead guard their only witness. Fastion stood in the doorway, where he could hear, but also keep watch on Silk and Starling.

“All right,” she said in a low voice, “I think we need to split up and—”

“No!” Cade protested.

“It will be more efficient,” she said. “We’ll meet up in the museum.”

Karigan quickly told them her plan. Cade, using Starling, would go for the witch. “Fastion should go with you.”

“But—”

“If there is any trouble, he will handle it.”

“But—”

“You said there were guards down there.”

“Yes, special guards. Different than the palace guards.”

“Fastion is a special guard, too. They can’t very well disregard the emperor’s own Eternal Guardian.”

“It is true,” Fastion said. “They will answer to me.”

“But what about you?”

“Oh, I think I can manage Dr. Silk.” She purposely spoke loudly enough for her voice to carry into the room.

“Is that so?” Silk asked. “And how will you manage me?”

Karigan slipped past Fastion to re-enter the room. She smiled as she faced Silk. “Did you see me fight the Eternal Guardian in the throne room?”

Silk nodded.

“I am good with a staff if I say so myself.”

“Why not a gun?”

She would not admit that she couldn’t handle one. “Because,” she said, displaying the bonewood, “this is so much more personal, don’t you think?”

“I must say, Silk,” said Mr. Starling, “I am rather liking your girl there. Yes, indeed, I like the way she thinks.”

Karigan did not want to believe there could be anything about her he could like, but just now she had to be ruthless. If she wanted to go home, this was what she had to do.

She took a few steps toward Silk. “I will be with you all the way, in the shadows, a ghost that haunts you, the constant whisper of footsteps behind you. If you do anything I do not like, I will strike. Do you understand?”

“She is a swordmaster initiate in her own time,” Fastion said. “I think you know what that means.”

There was a downturn of Silk’s mouth. “I know my history.”

“Good,” Karigan said. “Then we will go to where Lhean is being held.”

They all walked out into the corridor to the lift’s doors. Fastion worked the levers to bring the car to their current level. When it arrived, Karigan said, “Cade, Fastion, you take Starling and go first.”

“Rider,” Fastion said, “I will show you how to operate the lift first. After we descend, I will send it back to you.”

Fastion showed her the settings she needed. It did not look much more complicated than operating the plumbing mechanisms in the professor’s house. When she was sure she understood and memorized what Fastion showed her, she stepped out of the car. Cade looked like he wanted to speak with her but held back. She understood, for she felt the same.

“Time,” Fastion reminded them, pushing Starling into the lift.

“Karigan—” Cade began.

“I will see you in the museum,” she told him firmly, and turned away. She would see him. She refused to believe otherwise.

She felt Cade pause before he moved to enter the lift. Then she heard the doors close, and it was just her and Dr. Silk.

“It is madness, you know,” he said, “to think you can get away with this.”

“Then I am mad,” Karigan replied, smiling without humor. “Madder than the professor ever claimed when I was Kari Goodgrave.”

The silence in the lift wore on Cade as they descended, the Eternal Guardian at the controls, and the Inquisitor, Starling, uncharacteristically sunk into himself.

Cade had hated parting from Karigan after only just being reunited with her, but she was right: it was more efficient for them to split up. Still, he worried about her traveling the palace alone with Silk. He supposed he had learned enough about her that Silk was the one who ought to be concerned. It also occurred to him that if his part of the escape failed, she would not be caught in it and would still have a chance of getting home.

He did not want to fail, however. He wanted to go back with her to see how the world had been, how it should be. And he could be with her.

He patted the weight in his pocket. He’d recovered Silk’s pistol before leaving the room above. It was a gentleman’s piece, filigreed silver with an ivory handle, and only three chambers with two shots left. Cade had thought such pistols more ornamental than practical, but this one had proven deadly. Still, he missed his trusty, blue-handled Cobalt-Masters revolvers. They’d been confiscated with everything else when he was taken prisoner.