Bryn downed the rest of his cider. “You’re sure she was abducted?” he asked again. His tone was laced with despair. I knew how much he loved his sister, and the thought of her in barbarian hands brought him heartbreaking misery.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“We’ll confront both Mother and Father,” Regan said. “We’ll make them listen. We’ll get her back.”

They left, and my spirits lifted. Regan’s resolve gave me a sliver of hope at last. He reminded me so much of his brother. If only Walther were here to stand with them too. I kissed my fingers and prayed for Walther’s swift return.

I pushed up from the table to go back to our room. I could see the weariness in Gwyneth’s face too as she rose. It had been a long day of waiting and anticipation.

“Well, there you are!”

Gwyneth and I both whirled around.

Berdi stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips. “Blazing balls, I’ve been to half the inns from here to the lowlands looking for you two! I didn’t think you’d be snug up in the middle of town.”

I stared at her, not quite believing what I was seeing.

Gwyneth found her tongue before I did. “What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t season a pot of stew to save my life worrying about you two and what happened to Lia. Figured I’d be more useful here.”

“But who’s watching the tavern?” I squeaked.

Berdi shook her head. “You don’t want to know.” She wiped her hands on her dress as if she were wearing an apron, then sniffed the air. “Not much in the way of cooking here either, I see. I may have to poke my head in the kitchen.” She looked back at us and raised her brows. “Don’t I get any kind of welcome?”

Gwyneth and I both rushed into her wide-spread arms, and Berdi swiped at tears she blamed on the dusty ride. The only thing missing in that moment was Lia.

I hold her back.

Be still, child.

Let them take it.

She trembles at my side,

Fierce with rage.

We watch the scavengers take the baskets of food we have gathered.

There is no compassion. No mercy.

Tonight we will go hungry.

I see Harik, their leader, among them.

He eyes Morrighan, and I shove her behind me.

Silver knives glitter at his side,

and I am grateful that when they leave,

He does not take more.

—The Last Testaments of Gaudrel

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Calantha escorted me to the bath chamber. While my door was no longer locked as if I were a prisoner, my new freedoms apparently still required guards posted at the end of my hall as a precaution, the Komizar claimed, and I had no doubt they reported back to him every single time I so much as poked my head out the door. I also had escorts, who were essentially guards too, everywhere I went. Last night when Calantha walked me back to my room, she hadn’t spoken a word. This morning seemed to bring more of the same treatment.

We entered the dreary, windowless bath chamber, lit only with a few candles, but this time instead of a wooden barrel, there was a large copper tub. It was half full of water, and waves of steam shimmered over the surface. A hot bath. I hadn’t thought such a thing existed here. The sweet scent of roses filled the air. And bath oils.

She must have noticed my steps falter. “A betrothal gift from the clan,” she explained flatly, and she sat on a stool, waving me toward the tub.

I disrobed and eased into the scalding water. It was the first hot bath I’d had since leaving the vagabond camp. I could almost have forgotten where I was if not for Calantha’s baubled blue eye staring at me and the milky one gazing unfocused into the shadows.

“Which clan do you belong to?” I asked.

That got her attention. Both eyes were focused on me now. “None,” she answered. “I’ve never lived outside of the Sanctum.”

This revelation puzzled me. “Then why did you have me braid my hair to show off the kavah?”

She shrugged.

I sank down into the tub. “That’s how you solve all your problems, isn’t it? With indifference.”

“I have no problems, Princess.”

“I am your problem, that much is certain, but even that’s a mystery to me. You both prod me and thwart me as if you can’t make up your mind.”

“I do neither. I follow orders.”

“I think not,” I countered and ran a soapy sponge down my leg. “I think you’re dabbling with a bit of power, but you’re not quite sure what to do with it. You test your strength now and then, bring it out of hiding, but then you shove it away again. All your boldness is on the outside. Inside you cower.”

“I think you can bathe by yourself.” She stood to leave.

I took a handful of water and threw it at her, splashing her face.

She bristled, and her hand flew to the dagger at her hip. Her chest rose in deep, angry breaths. “I’m armed. That doesn’t worry you?”

“I’m naked and unarmed. I’d be a fool not to worry. But I did it anyway, didn’t I?”

Her eye blazed. There was no indifference in her face now. Her lip lifted in a condescending sneer. “I was like you once, Princess. Answers were simple. The world was at my fingertips. I was young and in love and the daughter of the most powerful man in the land.”

“But the most powerful man in—”

“That’s right. I was the daughter of the last Komizar.”