“I could cut your stinking tongue out.”

How is she so fast? Anji thought. Aunt Belle couldn’t draw a knife like that even in her prime. Anji felt that rush of familiar panic, like a rising wave. Perhaps she’d pushed a bit too far. “I’d prefer the gag, myself,” she said lightly, though her pulse still pounded in her ears.

The Hawk settled back, her lips a hard line.

They sat in silence but for the howling wind, the flapping canvas at the Hawk’s back. Anji wiped her greasy hands on her soiled pants. It wasn’t much to eat, but it gave her something to focus on apart from the slow dread creeping into her every moment, rising like a high tide with her chained to the beach.

“If it makes you feel any better, I can’t kill you either.”

“I wasn’t much worried about that.”

“I mean the tether,” Anji said, fingering the invisible binding. “It’s a maxial charm, right? It’ll never break if you die without the disarming incantation.” She chuckled. “I’d have to haul your corpse around, still on the run. Not exactly a nice thought.”

A terse silence passed, then the Hawk said, “How would a laundress know that?”

“You hear all sorts of things in a castle,” said Anji airily. She jerked her head toward the blue satchel. “That bag is maxial too, isn’t it?”

The Hawk said nothing, but Anji pressed on.

“The coin in there, the one you said felt full of maxia? Well, it is. My mother—” Anji bit her lip, then said, “She found it. She gave it to me before she died.”

The Hawk’s mouth twisted, but she looked away, clearly uninterested in Anji’s sad story.

“Can I have it back?” Anji said. “It doesn’t do anything else, and it’s the only thing I have left to remember—”

“The coin stays in the bag.”

Anji got to her knees. “Please, I can’t sleep without it,” said Anji. “It’s mine, and I—”

The Hawk locked Anji’s gaze. “Nothing is yours,” she said. “Not anymore.”

“I’m not going to do anything with it,” Anji said, hating herself for the desperation coating the words. “I just want to hold it.” She inched closer, licking her lips despite the cold. “Please.”

“You need to get back—”

“Just for a moment, I just want—”

“I said get back!”

The Hawk rose to her knees once more, hand clamped to a sword hilt. Her shoulders rose and fell in a rapid pace, like she’d just run a full sprint. Anji found herself kneeling before her, stopped short by the ugly twist of the woman’s mouth, the hatred filling her green eyes.

“Fine,” said Anji, settling back with a sigh. She wiped at the corner of one stinging eye. “I just thought—”

“Shut up.”

“Would you stop interrupting me for one fucking—”