Julius: Look, you gotta be true to you. As much as you in a crown sounds sexy as shit.

I roll my eyes and keep reading.

Julius: You need to stay true to who you are. Your heart is pure gold. It won’t lead you wrong. Trust yourself, Rue. If you trust no one else, trust you.

Rue: You have wayyyy too much faith in me.

Delete. Delete. Delete.

Rue: Okay.

The door clicks open and Taavi’s there, arms folded. I snap my watch back on my arm and shake off thoughts of anything else but my goal: getting out of here with what I came for. Taavi knows more than she’s letting on, and she’s going to help me.

“You lied to me,” I say.

“I don’t know what you mean.” She pulls at her ear.

“You alluded to the fact that you don’t have magic here.”

She flinches. “We don’t. We are Macazi.”

“But that’s not entirely true. A half-truth is still a lie, Taavi. I need a spell and I hear you have a witch here.”

“She is not a witch.” Her jaw clenches.

“So, there is some magic here?”

She says nothing, but her nostrils flare. What is she hiding?

“You’re going to take me to your witch, and if she helps me get a spell to reach my Ancestors, I’ll bind a protection spell to this place.”

“I…”

“I’m not done. One more stipulation. If remnants of my magic are going to be left here, you will be committing the Macazi to fight in the coming war on our side against the Chancellor.”

Her mouth falls open, fear flickering in her eyes. “W-we are not fighters, Rue.”

“And I am not your genie. This is an exchange of services because, frankly, you’ve lied to me once and I can’t be sure you won’t lie again.”

“We don’t have magic, how would we…”

“There will be graves to be dug, armor prepared, wounds stitched, potions mixed, there will be plenty for your people to do. Put bodies on the line, then I know you’ll shake out on my side of things. We win, your people survive.”

“You have no idea what you’re asking.”

That may be true, but she hasn’t said this witch or whoever can’t get me the spell I need, which means she probably can. And that’s not an opportunity I can afford to lose right now.

“They won’t like this. I promised them safety.”

“And you promised me you didn’t wish me ill, and yet you’re ready to turn me over to Loyalists if I don’t deposit bits of my magic here. You do realize me being out here preparing to fight them might be the only thing keeping y’all alive? Do you see that? Some temporary barter with them still kills you in the end.”