46. Hawthorn and Frin Decide to Leave Black Tower Behind

46. Hawthorn and Frin Decide to Leave Black Tower Behind

Outside the room, the lantern light resumed. It continued down the stairs with them as they hurtled on. With the Lady dead, the tower was left open to whoever survived the battle. If that was neither Ebony nor Obsidian, whichever Lady came there next would be its ruler. And the rise of a new dynasty never went well for anyone inside Black Tower.

Hawthorn and Frin came to the passage leading out of the pier into the main structure. Frin kept going down the stairs, but Hawthorn stopped. The light diverted into the passage.

"Are you coming?" said Frin. "The gate is this way."

"I think we need to follow the light," said Hawthorn. "It got us to the Library. I think it can get us out of the tower."

"We can get out of the tower by going downstairs to the gate, " said Frin, gesturing at the staircase.

"The light is here for a reason," said Hawthorn. "We wouldn't have been able to bypass the dangerous areas without it. We'd never have found our way up at all."

"We ‘found our way' to a prison cell," said Frin tartly. "And I can't even see the light. I've been trusting you this whole time, and look where it's gotten us."

Hawthorn found that hard to argue with. She followed him. The lower part of the pier was dark without the lantern light; windows here were even fewer. They trod on each other's feet several times. Then Frin tripped on a crooked stair and tumbled down ten steps, where he sprawled on a landing in a shaft of dull sunlight. His bag tore open as he fell, scattering possessions. Hawthorn ran to help him. He was dazed but otherwise unhurt, and able to walk almost immediately, but they lost time picking up everything that had spilled.

"What's this ?" said Hawthorn, picking up the book he'd been holding.

"I found it in a room here," said Frin. "I thought you might like to have it."

Hawthorn smiled. "It's beautiful."

She was paging through it when Frin groaned and held up a broken vessel of thick green glass.

"I was going to keep water in it," he said, pushing the fragments off to the side where nobody would step on them.

"I didn't see you take one of those," said Hawthorn.

"You weren't there," said Frin. "It was in the room."

"The study in the tower where we found the map."

"No, no, the room where I found the book."

"The same vials were in both places?" Hawthorn took up a piece and sniffed it. Sweet and musty.

Frin shrugged. "I guess."

The Robins in the secret room had filled an identical container with Hellebore honey. "Does anyone use these besides the beekeepers?"

"I've seen them come through the apiaries from all over the palace. Blue makes them."

Hawthorn frowned. "Who in Black Tower receives honey besides the Lady?"

"A lot of the offices. The Master of Kitchens, One Sparrow, the Master of Privileges, the Chief Butler, the Librarian, all monthly, the Housekeeper General and the Third Page yearly, others I can't remember right now."

"If Thistle honey can turn you into a Lady," said Hawthorn, slowly closing the book, "what does Hellebore honey do?"

"There ain't any Hellebore honey," said Frin. "It's been banned since Lily."

"What if there was, though?"

Frin shrugged. "One said that Hellebore ‘taketh away the virtue.' But she was quoting something very old. As I said, ain't been none since Lily."

"So if a Lady ate Hellebore honey, her natural power would be suppressed."

Frin made a helpless motion with his hands. "I'm just an apprentice, Hawthorn. This ain't knowledge anyone's needed in a long time."

"What is the source of the lantern light?" said Hawthorn, more to herself than to Frin, who once more made a gesture of ignorance. "‘The Hellebore Lady filled the first lantern.'"

"Can we go now?" said Frin. "You can interrogate me as we run."

The glass, found in rooms of books. The Hellebore Ladies, source of this forbidden, deadening honey, but also founders of the Sparrows, who danced under an ancient name. The Librarian, privileged to receive honey from the beekeepers. The touch of Rook's hand.

"As we run, " said Frin, lifting one knee and posing his arms like a runner. "As we… run ."

"We need to head back up," said Hawthorn. "We are being guided. Rook has been pulling us through the tower this whole time."

"Rook?" said Frin. "Why should they care?"

"I don't know," said Hawthorn, "but if I'm right, Rook is about to take control of Black Tower. And her name isn't really Rook. It's the Hellebore Lady."