Chapter 17: What Cael Isn't Saying

Sera noticed it first during dinner: Cael would answer any question put to him directly, but he never volunteered information. She began testing this. Every time she asked him something he hadn't been asked before, there was a fractional pause — not hesitation, but something that looked like calculation.

After the meal she cornered him near the well. "Who exactly is the woman who sent you?" she asked. Cael met her eyes steadily. "I told you. She lives in Nether's Reach. She's very old."

"That's not what I asked." He was quiet for a long moment. "She's the one who originally built the Wall," he said. "And she's the one who's been trying to take it apart, from the inside, for the last five hundred years."