“They’ll be on your tail,” Po said. “You must not let them get close enough to talk to you. Think about disguising yourself. You’re dirty and bedraggled, but any fool would recognize either of you. Katsa, I don’t know what you can do about your eyes, but you must do something.”

Come with us.

“Bitterblue, you must help Katsa if she’s confused by any words she hears. You must help each other. Don’t trust any Monsean, do you understand? You mustn’t trust anyone who may have been touched by Leck’s Grace. And don’t for a moment think you can defeat him, Katsa. Your only safety is in escaping him. Do you understand?”

Come with us.

“Katsa.” His voice was rough, yet gentle. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I understand,” she said, and when a tear trickled down her cheek, he reached out and wiped it away with one finger.

He studied her face for a moment, and then he turned to Bitterblue. He bent down on one knee and took her hands. “Farewell, cousin,” he said.

“Farewell,” the child said gravely.

He stood again, gingerly, and leaned back against the door frame. He closed his eyes and sighed. He opened his eyes and looked into Katsa’s face. His mouth twitched into the slightest grin. “You’ve always intended to leave me, Katsa.”

She choked on a sob. “How can you joke? You know this isn’t what I meant.”

“Oh, Katsa. Wildcat.” He touched her face. He smiled, so that it hurt her to look at him, and she was sure she couldn’t leave him alone. He pulled her close and kissed her, and he whispered something into her ear. She held on to him so hard that his shoulder must have ached, but he did not complain.

Katsa didn’t look back as they rode away. But she gripped Bitterblue tightly; and she called out to him, his name bursting inside her so painfully that for a long while, she could feel nothing else.

Chapter Twenty-nine

THEY FOLLOWED the edges of the Monsean mountains and pushed the poor horse south. They ran occasionally over open land, but more often than not their progress was slowed by cliffs, crevices, and waterfalls—places where there was no footing whatsoever for the horse. There, Katsa needed to dismount, backtrack, and lead the beast to lower ground. And then the hair would stand on the back of her neck and every sound would stop her breath; she couldn’t breathe freely until they’d climbed again. For the lower land gave way to the forest, and Katsa knew the forest must be swarming with Leck’s army.

The army would comb the forest, the Port Road, and the land between. They would comb the mountain pass at the border of Sunder and Estill. They would make camp in Monport and watch the ships that came and went, searching any ship likely to be hiding the kidnapped daughter of the king.