Rozalind scrunched her eyes shut, as if trying to remember. “First he was shouting that he wouldn’t give his sister’s murderer anything. Then he said, ‘You’re no daughter of mine. You’ll take the throne over my dead body.’ Right after that, he collapsed and started to convulse. The black webs appeared a few seconds later.…” Rozalind’s voice broke. She pressed a hand to her mouth for a breath before she could continue. “You saw him. I couldn’t counter it; I couldn’t save him.…”

Akeylah stood frozen for what felt like an eternity. Finally, she let out a slow sigh. “Why should I believe you? After all the other lies you’ve told me, Rozalind. After what you hid from me.”

The queen ran a hand over her eyes. Took a deep, shuddering breath. Then she reached for her waist, where Akeylah spotted the dull flash of a bloodletter.

Akeylah raised hers, quicker. “Don’t.”

Rozalind’s hand froze. Hurt and surprise flashed across her features. “I was only…” She hesitated. Swallowed her protest. “I’ll take a blood oath, Akeylah. Will that satisfy you?”

A lump rose in Akeylah’s throat. She didn’t dare to hope.

It’s a trick. Rozalind would just curse Akeylah the moment she tithed. Akeylah wasn’t shielded. In a few minutes, the sun would finish rising and the Talon she’d left on guard would come outside, but until then, she was alone. Vulnerable.

For a long while, they stood stock still, Akeylah with her bloodletter in hand, Rozalind with her palm hovering above hers. Their gazes locked across a chasm that suddenly felt impossibly huge.

Then Rozalind shivered, hard enough that Akeylah could see it.

“What is it?” Akeylah asked, trying and failing to keep her voice emotionless.

“I don’t… I don’t quite feel…” Rozalind lifted her hand to her chest.

Akeylah’s jaw dropped. Black spiderwebs unfurled along the queen’s hands. Crawled up her arms. “Rozalind.”

The whole world slowed. One moment the queen was upright. The next her legs went one direction and her head the other. Akeylah didn’t remember telling herself to move, but she must have, reacting on sheer instinct. In a heartbeat, her arms were around Rozalind’s waist, and she caught the queen halfway to the ground.

She sank to her knees with Rozalind in her arms, pressed her own bloodletter into Rozalind’s hand. “Tithe,” she ordered. “You have to shield yourself, Rozalind. I’ll talk you through it.”

But Rozalind didn’t seem to hear her. The queen’s breath turned to gasps, constricted in her throat. Tears burned Akeylah’s eyes. Tracked down her cheeks.

What was happening?

Not her. Not Rozalind, Mother Ocean, please.

Someone else was there. Beside her, a hand on her shoulder.