I hadn’t understood what the Oracle meant about knowing not lessening the pain. I do now.

“You said I had three days,” I gasp. “It hasn’t been three days.”

“You were brought to Bedrock in the morning. By noon the brand had been copied, and three evenings have passed since then. I was very clear with my words. Three days. Not three and a half. Now tell me what I want to hear.”

“But a day doesn’t end until sunset. This is still the third day.”

“And will another few hours make a difference?”

“Maybe. I told the Oracle everything I know. She could discover something.”

He bats a hand. “She is as useless as her father. If she could read it, she would have done so on the day you arrived. Now, tell me the brand’s secret or your mother’s blood will paint the side of the dam.”

The guards must have told her where to look, because her face is turned toward the window, as though she expected to find me standing in its frame. Her hair hangs limp around her face. I imagine her expression as pleading, though she’s too far away to be certain.

“I don’t know how to read it. If you give me more time, I can figure it out.”

“You are out of time.” The General pulls a square of red cloth from his vest pocket and raises it above his head. I’m trying to think of a lie—something, anything that might spare her—when he brings the cloth down and the Loyalist on the dam draws his blade across my mother’s neck.

She goes slack, crumples to the ground. I make a noise I don’t recognize, something guttural and wild. The guard grabs her at the shoulders while a second Loyalist gathers her feet. With a single heave and swing, they throw her from the dam, and she disappears as a ripple of cloth and hair.

I stare, heart in my throat. He said it would come to this. Promised it. And still I’d thought there’d be another way, a reasonable compromise. Surely if I didn’t waver, the General would trust that I was being honest, that I had no clue how to read the map. But she’s gone.

I turn on him. His guards have me by the wrists before I can strike. I could tear that glinting star chain from his neck. I could gouge the star pendants into his eyes. “I needed more time!” I scream. “I could have solved it with more time.”

“It’s quite possible,” the General says calmly.

“Then why did you kill her?”

“So you understand how serious I am.” A glance at his guards. “Bring her to the baby.”

Not Bay. Not Bay, you monster. I’m dragged from the window, shoved toward one of the cradles.