“Did you…,” Maiven began, then seemed to think the better of it. She shook her head. “Never mind.”

Asha gazed at the queen. “You may ask me anything. I don’t mind. What were you about to say?”

“I wondered if you had any… siblings?”

Asha sat back. Her face turned gray. “I…”

“Oh dear,” Maiven fretted. “I shouldn’t have asked! My humblest apologies. Please forgive me.”

“No,” said Asha. “It’s all right. If you had asked me before I took the ancestor broth, I would have said no.”

Clementi narrowed her eyes. “So you’ve seen another image? One you haven’t mentioned?”

Asha shifted. “I… Yes. There is one more image. It’s… confusing.” She brought her hand to her mouth, fingers trembling, and went silent.

Rohan’s face filled with concern. “You don’t have to talk anymore if you don’t want to,” he said. “No one among us from this point forward will be forced to do anything against their will ever again.” He said it almost angrily, defying everything he and the others had experienced for most of their lives.

Clementi, who still held Asha’s hand, gave it a gentle squeeze. “Shall we take a walk? Get an orange cream or a cup of tea? Or some fresh air?”

Asha nodded. “I’m sorry, everyone,” she whispered. “I thought I was fine until I started talking. And then I realized just how ill we all must be after what we’ve been through.” She looked at Henry. “If only there were a doctor who could fix this kind of pain.”

Henry, who’d witnessed his own mother’s death when he was ten, agreed. “If only,” he said, his eyes misting over. “Perhaps we could all use a break.”

Just a Little Bit

Asha and Clementi slipped past Simber—he noticed, of course, but didn’t let on—and went outside. The stars were out, and light from the mansion reflected on the sea. The two new friends started walking along the shore together. After a minute, Simber went outside to keep an eye on them. He wasn’t about to have another black-eyed person abducted by the Revinir and her dragons.

The girls didn’t go far and soon found a spot on the lawn to sit. They talked quietly about everything except the image Asha had seen—they steered clear of that topic for now. But they had plenty of other questions to ask. Asha, who’d had little exposure to the arts in her lifetime, wanted to know everything about Clementi’s talents and what it was like to live in a place like this when war wasn’t on everybody’s mind.

In turn, Clementi wanted to know more about what Grimere and Dragonsmarche looked like. She’d heard so much about those places but hadn’t actually seen them because Drock had urged Aaron and her and the others to turn around and go back.