But wasn’t it Leck’s arrow that had struck Ashen? Katsa couldn’t quite recall; and when she tried to watch that moment again in her mind, a fog and falling snow blocked her sight.

Po might remember. But Po had been so strange, too, telling her to shoot Leck as he grieved over his wife. And then telling her to cover her ears. Why cover her ears?

That thing that she couldn’t quite grasp flickered again in her mind. She reached for it and it disappeared. And then she was angry, at her thickheadedness, her stupidity. She couldn’t make sense of all this, because she was too unintelligent.

She looked at Po, who leaned against the wall of the tree and stared straight ahead at nothing. The sight of him upset her even more, for his face seemed thin, his mouth tight. He was tired, worn out, most likely hungry. He’d said something about dogs, and she knew his eyes well enough to recognize the shadows of worry that sat within them.

Po. Please tell me what’s wrong.

“Katsa.” He sighed her name. He rubbed his forehead and then looked into her face. “Do you remember our conversations about King Leck, Katsa? What we said about him, before we saw him today?”

She stared at him and remembered they’d said something; but she couldn’t remember what it was.

“About his eyes, Katsa. Something he’s hiding.”

“He’s . . .” It came to her suddenly. “He’s Graced.”

“Yes. Do you remember what his Grace is?”

And then it began to trickle back to her, piece by piece, from some part of her mind she hadn’t been able to reach before. She saw it again clearly. Ashen, terrified, fleeing from her husband and his army; Leck shooting Ashen in the back; Leck crying out in pretended grief, his words fogging Katsa’s mind, transforming the murder her eyes had seen into a tragic accident she couldn’t remember. Po screaming at her to shoot Leck; and she refusing.

She couldn’t look him in the face, for shame overwhelmed her.

“It’s not your fault,” he said.

“I swore to you I’d do what you said. I swore it, Po.”

“Katsa. No one could’ve kept that promise. If I’d known how powerful Leck was, if I’d had the slightest idea—I never should have brought you here.”

“You didn’t bring me here. We came together.”

“Well, and now we’re both in great danger.” He stiffened. “Wait,” he whispered. He seemed to be listening to something, but Katsa could hear nothing. “They’re searching the forest,” he said after a minute. “That one turned away. I don’t think they have dogs.”

“But why are we hiding from them?”

“Katsa—”

“What do you mean, we’re in great danger? Why aren’t we fighting these butchers, why . . .” She dropped her face into her hands. “I’m so confused. I’m hopelessly stupid.”

“You’re not stupid. It’s Leck’s Grace that takes away your own thought, and it’s my Grace that sees so much more than a person should. You’re confused because Leck confused you deliberately with his words, and because I haven’t told you yet what I know.”