Those estates were as much a legend to her as the War of the Well, the rebellion her ancestors had started, that had left their descendants shackled by the Curse so that they could never rise up again. The Curse would never let her leave Aredann—not that she wanted to, necessarily. Aredann was her home. It was all she knew, and every blade of grass that survived was thanks to her care. It would turn to dust without her.

But if Aredann was abandoned, it would turn to dust anyway. So would she.

She heard pebbles crunch behind her, and went still, her heart racing. She hadn’t been given further orders for the night, but if one of the Avowed saw her like this, simply standing in the night without doing any work—

“Jae.”

Tal’s voice, a whisper in the wind. Jae relaxed and turned to face him. He must have kicked those stones intentionally, warning her that he was coming instead of creeping up next to her silently, greeting her with a hand on her elbow. She didn’t like to be startled.

“I heard that you were in trouble,” Tal said, coming to stand at the wall with her. “But no one knew where you were. I thought you might have come here to be alone.”

“And yet, here you are,” she said, smiling a tiny bit so he’d know she didn’t mean it. She liked being alone, but having Tal at her side was better.

They stayed like that for a few minutes as the chilly wind raised bumps on her arms. The night felt enormous, but it wasn’t silent. There was the wind in the trees, and even, when she listened carefully, the sound of insects singing. A tiny lizard skittered across the top of the wall and down the far side. She watched it go, sure no one else at Aredann stood still like this long enough to notice tiny details of the night.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear what happened,” Tal finally said.

Jae scraped a fingernail along the wall. “I’m fine.”

“I heard you were punished by Lady Shirrad and Lord Elan.” He watched her plaintively, pleading for information without asking any questions. She could see his worry in the way he stood, the crinkled skin on his forehead.

“I wasn’t. I was…His Highest said he was going to. He called me to his room. But all he did was give me a drink and send me on my way with orders for tomorrow.” She stared out at the desert, still not sure what to make of all that.

“A drink,” Tal repeated, incredulous.

She nodded. “And he allowed me to speak, which was…I don’t understand.”

“It sounds as if he was kind.”

Jae snorted. Maybe it sounded that way, but none of the Avowed were kind, and the Highest were the cruelest of all. “Not exactly. It’s more as if he just didn’t care.”

“Hmm.” Tal let that go, but she could see he was thinking hard, reconsidering everything he knew about Lord Elan.

“I should go talk to Firran,” Jae finally said.

Tal made a face like he’d eaten something sour, and she laughed. Firran was one of the only Closest who didn’t like Tal—because one day soon, Lady Shirrad would probably give Tal his job, and there would go his precious scraps of power. So Tal had decided not to like Firran right back.

Jae felt a little steadier now, as if the conversation with Lord Elan hadn’t been quite real. She knew it was, she had orders to obey or the Curse would punish her, but the idea that she’d actually spoken with him, not just answered his questions, was too strange. Like his order to protect her from sunsickness and his decision not to punish her, she had no idea what to make of it, or of him.

Firran was in the main room within the Closest’s quarters, sitting next to the fire and eating a thin slice of bread and lentils. He was speaking quietly with a few others, but stopped when Tal put a hand on his shoulder. Firran frowned and stood.

Jae had to force out the words, self-conscious with so many people waiting for her to speak. “I’ve just been with Lord Elan. He gave me orders.”

“What?” Firran demanded.

Her body went tense with the compulsion to answer, and next to her, Tal glowered. But at least it was an easy enough question. “I’m not to work on the grounds during midday.”

“And that’s it?”

“Yes,” she snapped.

“Why, are you in a hurry to get back to your meal? Did we interrupt you?” Tal asked, arms crossed over his chest. The questions were pointless, inane, and while everyone else’s eyes went wide, Firran’s were narrow with anger.

“Yes. And yes,” he said.

“Does it annoy you when people ask you questions? Do you want me to stop?”

“Yes. And. Yes.”

Tal started to say something else, but Jae brushed his elbow and he stopped, looked at her, and shrugged. He turned pointedly away from Firran and murmured to her, voice dropping back to its usual soft tone, “I haven’t eaten yet.”

Jae hadn’t, either, so she sat with him and let him serve them both small meals. He caught her eye and winked at her, and then passed his hand over the bowls quickly, sprinkling them with something he’d produced from his pocket. Lady Shirrad had probably given him the dredges from one of her spice shakers. Or simply hadn’t forbidden him to help himself.

Slowly the rest of the Closest returned to their quiet conversations, to their drawings on the walls, to braiding belts and jewelry from scraps of fabric too small to be used as clothes or rags.

Tal didn’t say anything else about it as they ate. But Jae knew him, knew that the way he stared into the fire meant he was still thinking. If anyone could make sense of Lord Elan’s strange behavior, it was Tal.

—

Jae was awake and off to work before dawn. She may have had other orders for the afternoon, but the grounds were still her responsibility, so she went to work at the front of the estate. It wasn’t until the sun loomed higher overhead, sending sweat pouring down her back and heating the stones up enough that her hands and bare feet ached from touching them, that Firran stepped onto the path and beckoned her in. She hoisted her tools and followed, careful to scuff off the dirt that clung to her feet and dress before she went more than a few steps in.

Firran turned and examined her again. “Put those things away and clean yourself up properly. If Lord Elan wants you inside so badly, he can have you—you’ll be serving the Avowed their lunch, and attending them this afternoon.”

Jae swallowed, nodded, and walked away, trying not to let anything she felt show. When she glanced back at Firran, he was smiling grimly. He knew exactly what he’d done. Jae would rather risk sunsickness than spend a minute near any of the Avowed. She wasn’t like Gali and Tal, who could smile and move gracefully, even under Lady Shirrad’s exacting gaze. Being watched by any of the Avowed made Jae’s skin crawl, especially since Rannith—