55
Arch and Beech were the two Galland adepts who entered. Once they had paid their respects to Queen Faria, Art conjured chairs for them beside him. It was the Queen’s privilege to ask the question everyone wanted answered. “Where is the Count?”
“We have no idea,” Arch replied. “He told us to find you.”
“That was all?”
Beech answered that one. “If he wasn’t here, and he doesn’t seem to be, we were to wait.”
The silence lengthened, and the level of tension was rising fast, when the unconscious adept began to stir in his chair.
While attention was focused on him, Beech whispered to Art, “What’s been going on?”
“Two different people tried me out. He was one of them.” He lowered his voice as much as he could. “The other was Faria. She doesn’t know I know.”
Two or three minutes passed
