“Or maybe those things are why he thinks you’re in danger?” Maruca suggested. “And he was trying to tell you to lay off, so you’ll be safe again.”

Linh ignored Wynn and Luna as they trotted up beside her—even when they made some seriously adorable squeaky whinnies. “If any of that were Tam’s reasoning, he would’ve just reminded me of the Neverseen’s threats. Using the code means he doesn’t want the Neverseen to know he’s warning me. So I’m pretty sure that means they really are planning to come after me, either to kill me or capture me—or maybe to injure me the way they did to you and Fitz.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that Sophie couldn’t decide if she should be impressed by Linh’s bravery or worry that her friend was in shock.

Shock seemed to be the answer when Linh casually added, “I just hope they don’t send Tam to do it.”

Sophie jumped in front of her, blocking her path. “Tam would never do any of those things.”

“I know.” Linh tilted her head back to stare at the sky. “And that’d be so much worse—seeing how they punish him.”

“It’s never going to come to that,” Sophie promised. “I won’t let it.”

“Neither will I,” Marella added.

“Same,” Maruca agreed.

Linh’s eyes brimmed with tears and she turned her face away. “I guess we’ll see how it goes,” she said as she broke her pattern of footprints to step around Sophie.

“We will see!” Sophie called after her. “And right now, we need a plan to protect you.”

“I don’t need protecting!” Linh reached up and pulled a pin from her hair, letting the long, silver-tipped strands fly free with the afternoon breeze. “I need to go back to Choralmere.”

Sophie glanced at Marella and Maruca, glad to see they were equally as confused by that statement.

“Why?” Maruca asked for them.

“Yeah, that seems like the last place you should go,” Marella added. “Isn’t that the one place the Neverseen know to look for you?”

Linh shrugged, bending the clasp of her hairpin back and forth. “It’s not like I’m hiding right now—or when I go home to Tiergan.”

“No, but you should be,” Sophie argued, “now that Tam gave us this warning. I’m sure the Black Swan or the Council can find somewhere—”

“I have to go to Choralmere,” Linh interrupted. “Otherwise the Neverseen will suspect that Tam’s words had another meaning, and that’ll put him in even more danger.” Her voice thickened when she met Sophie’s eyes and added, “I should’ve listened to you. You warned me that reaching out to him was too dangerous.”

“We had to try it,” Sophie told her.

Linh wouldn’t have been able to stop wondering whether they were missing their chance to save her brother.

“And hey, Tam’s probably relieved that he finally got to pass along that warning,” Sophie added. “Who knows how long he’s been carrying it around, trying find a way to reach you? Now we just need to figure out a plan to keep you safe.”

“I’ll be fine at Choralmere,” Linh assured her.

“Will you, though?” Marella jumped in. “I mean, even without it being a super-obvious place for the Neverseen to find you, it’s… not like you have an awesome relationship with your parents.”

Linh stopped pacing. “I can handle my mother and father.”

Sophie, Marella, and Maruca shared another look.

“Okay, but—” Sophie started to say, but Linh cut her off.

“I’m going to Choralmere!” She added a foot stomp for emphasis, then turned her face to the wind and closed her eyes. “And I’m going to stay there, just like Tam wanted.”

“So… you’re moving back home?” Sophie had to clarify.

Linh nodded. “It’s the best thing I can do for Tam. Please don’t try to talk me out of it.”

“I won’t,” Sophie promised, not sure what else to say.

Marella and Maruca seemed pretty stumped too.

But Sandor stalked closer, towering over Linh as he told her, “If that’s your decision, you’ll need protection.”

“I have dwarven bodyguards,” Linh reminded him.

“I’m aware.” Sandor glanced at the ground, looking slightly skeptical that the dwarves were actually there. “But I think a more visible deterrent might be better, given the threat you’re presently facing. I’ll need time to arrange something more permanent, but for the moment I’m sure Bo would be willing to accompany you, provided Miss Foster agrees to stay here, where she’s less likely to need his protection.”

“Or I could go with Bo and Linh,” Sophie countered, “help her get settled in and—”

“I appreciate the offer,” Linh interrupted. “But it’ll be better if I go alone. I doubt my parents know that Tam has been taken—I certainly haven’t told them. And that conversation will go smoother without the complication of an audience.”

“Linh—”

“I’ll be fine, Sophie,” Linh insisted. “I know how to handle my parents.”

Sandor cleared his throat when Sophie fell silent. “That may very well be. But it’s all the more reason I’m going to insist that you take Bo with you.”

“I’m okay with that,” Linh agreed, “as long as Sophie doesn’t need him.”

“She won’t,” Sandor assured her, “because she’s going to remain here with Flori, Nubiti, and me, right?”

Sophie nodded, and Sandor marched off to find Bo and explain the new arrangement.

“My father’s going to hate having an ogre patrolling the property,” Linh said quietly, “so that will be fun, at least.”

“You’re sure about—” Sophie tried to ask.

But once again, Linh cut her off. “I’m sure.”

“Yeah, well… I don’t like this plan,” Marella said, shrugging when Linh turned toward her. “Someone had to say it.”

“I agree,” Maruca added. “Maybe I should go with you—that way I can shield you if anything goes down.”

“I’ll be fine,” Linh repeated for what felt like the millionth time, and the weariness in Linh’s voice made Sophie leave it alone.

After all, Linh had started her day thinking she’d found a way to rescue her brother. And instead, she was now stuck moving back in with the people who’d failed her over and over, because they’d been ashamed that she was a twin. Plus, she’d picked up an abundance of new worries for herself and for Tam.

“We’re going to get him back,” Sophie promised, pulling Linh into a hug—which Maruca and Marella quickly turned into a group squeeze.

Linh nodded against Sophie’s shoulder.

But there were tears in Linh’s eyes when she ended the embrace, and she wouldn’t look at anyone as she fished out a small, round home crystal that Sophie never realized she carried.

No one broke the painful silence, until Bo marched over to Linh and barked a bunch of orders about letting him take the lead and sticking by his side. And Sophie tried to think of something encouraging to say as Linh held her crystal up to the sun.