Before we left for Merry’s house, Mom and I went back to the Kourt. I needed to see for myself. The place was deserted in the late afternoon, charred remains still smoldering in places. Smoke lurked along the stone floors and clung to doorways.
Whatever was left of the Brotherhood had gone into hiding, so there was no one to lay claim to the property. We picked our way past the ruins of the platform where they were going to kill me and into the marble-floored hall.
The place where I had first met Patorus was marked with black where the fire had burned the blood I’d left behind. I turned away from it and turned down the hallway that I thought would lead me to the library.
The walls of the hallway were blackened, and the fire had burned away all of the wood doorways and tapestries. I had
