Po dropped his hand to Katsa’s thigh, which was the only thing that kept her from shooting to her feet with rage.

“My mother has suspected all of this,” Bitterblue continued, “from time to time, ever since she first knew him. But he’s always been able to confuse her into forgetting about it. Until a few months back, when he began to take a particular interest in me.”

She stopped speaking and took a few small breaths. Her eyes settled on Katsa’s, flickering with something uncomfortable. “I can’t say what he wants me for, exactly. He’s always been . . . fond of the company of girls. And he has some strange habits my mother and I came to understand. He cuts animals, with knives. He tortures them and keeps them alive for a long time, then he kills them.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t think it’s only animals he does this to.”

Kindness to children and helpless creatures, Katsa thought, fighting back tears of fury. Her whole life she’d believed Leck’s reputation for beneficence. Did he convince his victims, too, that he was doing them a kindness, even while he cut them with his knives?

“He told my mother he wanted to start spending time with me alone,” Bitterblue said. “He said it was time he got to know his daughter better. He was so angry when she refused. He hit her. He tried to use his Grace on me, tried to get me to go to his cages with him, but whenever I saw the bruises on my mother’s face I remembered the truth. It cleared my mind, just barely—enough that I knew to refuse.”

Then Po had been right. The deaths at Leck’s court began to make even more sense to Katsa. Leck probably arranged for many people to die—people whose use had become more trouble than it was worth, because he’d hurt them so grievously that they’d begun to comprehend the truth.

“So then he kidnapped Grandfather,” Bitterblue said, “because he knew there was no one my mother loved more. He told my mother he was going to torture Grandfather, unless she agreed to hand me over. He told her he was going to bring him to Monsea and kill him in our sight. We hoped it was all just his usual lies. But then we got letters from Lienid and knew Grandfather was really missing.”

“Grandfather was neither tortured nor killed,” Po said. “He’s safe now.”

“He could have just taken me,” Bitterblue said, her voice breaking with sudden shrillness. “He has an entire army that would never defy him. But he didn’t. He has this . . . sick patience. It didn’t interest him to force us. He wanted to hear us say yes.”

Because it was more satisfying to him that way, Katsa thought.

“My mother barricaded us inside her rooms,” Bitterblue said. “The king ignored us for a while. He had food and drink brought to us, and water and fresh linen. But he would talk to us through the door sometimes. He would try to persuade my mother to send me out. He would confuse me sometimes. Sometimes he would confuse her. He would come up with the most convincing reasons why I should come out, and we had to keep reminding ourselves of the truth. It was very frightening.”