He reaches for my arm, and I step back. Every instinct tells me to run.

“It’s not wise to resist, Healer,” the soldier says. “We’re instructed to use whatever means needed to bring you in.”

I’m shaking where I stand, and all around me people have stopped to watch. But the man is right. I’m not Dineas. I can’t fight two soldiers, and there’s nowhere for me to run. “Very well.”

The soldier looks relieved and calls to someone inside the courtyard. “We have both of them. Let’s go.”

I’ve barely taken in his words when two more soldiers step out, escorting Mehtap between them.

“Mehtap!” For some reason, I’d assumed all the suspicion would fall on me.

She walks stiffly, and her cheeks are flushed. Our eyes meet briefly.

“Mehtap, does your father know about this?”

Her lips press into a line. “He will.” She jerks her arm from her escort and marches out ahead.

As they throw plague veils over us and march us out the gate, my mind flies in all directions. I have no idea where they’re taking us, or what lies in store. Diadem is in her cage in my room, and there’s no one to care for her if I’m gone. And what will Dineas do when he finds out? If he finds out?

They lead us to a small mud building outside the city walls. It looks like some kind of old outpost. The dim interior has tables and chairs for guards, and three dusty cells. The soldiers push us inside one of the cells and slam the door shut. The sound rattles my bones.

I press up against the bars of the door. “What are you going to do with us?”

The man who’d been escorting me signals to the others, and they all file out. I pound my fist against the door, though it does nothing except bruise my hand.

“That won’t help,” Mehtap says quietly.

I turn around, surprised to finally hear her speak. She’s crouched near the wall, on the straw pallet that’s supposed to be our bed.

“You must talk to your father,” I say. “Let him know that we couldn’t have done it. We’ll lay out our side of the story. They must believe us.”

Still she doesn’t look straight at me. And suddenly, I know without a doubt.

“You killed the emperor,” I say.

Something shifts in her eyes. “How could I possibly have infected him? I was with you the whole time.”

“No, you weren’t. I never checked if you really were inside the palanquin. Somehow, you got past our guards and found your way to the emperor’s servants. A drop of blood in his food or drink. That’s all it would take.”