“Answer the question,” Prince Meilek says.

Eyebrow Tattoos swallows delicately against the sword at his throat. “I … I can’t possibly know—”

“You’re lying.” My fists clench, imagining the grips of my swords. “How many others are there?”

The Blade holding the sword moves the edge against Eyebrow Tattoos’s neck. Blood beads against the steel. With a whimper, he tries to wiggle out from beneath the weapon but stops when the other Blade presses a foot to his chest.

“You will answer the question, or I will leave you in the shaman’s care for questioning,” Prince Meilek says. “I trust you recall how your last meeting with her went.”

I bare my teeth in a grin, impressed that the prince’s expression doesn’t give away the bluff. At least I think it’s a bluff.

“I don’t know!” Eyebrow Tattoos shouts, squeezing his eyes shut. “I swear! I just know they’re spread out. Through the camps and the manor house.”

My thoughts race. Why would Queen Meilyr include soldiers among Ronin’s house staff? What could they hope to do in a manor house filled with Thiy’s most powerful shamans and shadowblessed? In a manor house … made of troll bones.

“Why?” Prince Meilek repeats.

“I know why,” I breathe as all the pieces suddenly click together.

It’s a trap. Queen Meilyr plans to ambush the leaders inside the manor house, where they won’t be able to fight back at their full strength. I press my palm to my chest, feeling the frantic flutter of my heart.

Ronin has to be warned. He has to—

And then I remember. The letter Saengo had found in Ronin’s study. The arrangements the queen had mentioned. Ensuring preparations were made for additional staff.

No. I sway on my feet. Ronin can’t have agreed to such a plan. His purpose has always been to keep the peace.

And yet, this at last answers the question I couldn’t solve at Spinner’s End: Why me?

Only a soulguide could have brought so many leaders together in one place. Phaut said there’s never been a gathering like this one. Queen Meilyr gambled on me awakening as a soulguide, and it had paid off.

A plan involving the placement of so many hidden soldiers could never have been guaranteed without Ronin’s help. What a perfect fool I’ve been. I knew that Ronin’s priority was his own power, and yet I didn’t see this coming.

Does Ronin even believe the things he’s said about soulguides? There’s a pang at my center, in that dark, still place where my old fears crouch in wait—that I am destined for nothing. That I am nothing.