The message was written in Seraphine’s blood.
Not old blood, not blood from samples Thessaly had taken in the first days. Fresh blood, hours old at most, which meant Maren Doss had access to a source inside Vaelthorn that none of them had found yet.
Caelan held the small square of dark paper and said nothing for long enough that Oryn exchanged a look with me across the room that said: he is calculating and the calculation is not producing comfortable results.
“The second contact,” I said. “The one who has been here longer than Thessaly. They took a blood sample before they left.”
“Or sent it out,” Thessaly said from the doorway where she had stationed herself with the air of someone who understood she was still on probation and was behaving accordingly. “A sending ritual would not requ
