There were a number of things wrong with Issen and the castle of Adeline Sofyna, from the unusual way the trees grew right up to the masonry. The doors that opened to a single touch without latches, to the scratch marks on nearly every stone and wooden floor surface that he had walked upon during his time. Then there were the windows, all of them low to the floor and easy to open, even from the outside.The castle hadn’t been secure or defensible in any of the ways Jason would usually have suspected, but still, it had felt safe. Or perhaps because Adeline, Mork and the staff that worked there had been so comfortable, it had felt safe.
Jason tried to push the thoughts of Castle Issen aside. The worst thing was that he’d left Sastra behind with Aunt Adeline. He’d left the dinner table in a
