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Back Rosemarked
Chapters (58)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Part One
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Part Two: Three Months Later
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-one
  27. Part Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-two
  29. Chapter Twenty-three
  30. Chapter Twenty-four
  31. Chapter Twenty-five
  32. Chapter Twenty-six
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-one
  38. Chapter Thirty-two
  39. Chapter Thirty-three
  40. Chapter Thirty-four
  41. Chapter Thirty-five
  42. Chapter Thirty-six
  43. Chapter Thirty-seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Chapter Forty-one
  48. Chapter Forty-two
  49. Chapter Forty-three
  50. Chapter Forty-four
  51. Chapter Forty-five
  52. Chapter Forty-six
  53. Chapter Forty-seven
  54. Chapter Forty-eight
  55. Epilogue
  56. Acknowledgments
  57. About the Author
  58. Keep Reading for a Sneak Peek at Umbertouched

Mehtap rummages through a box in front of her mirror and takes out a small jar. “It’s not exactly your skin tone, but if you use it at night, it should disguise your rosemarks just fine.” She drops it into my outstretched hand, and then she fetches the gown I borrowed from her for the equinox festival.

“On the north end of the palace gardens is a small gate with a faulty lock. They don’t fix it because the young aristocrats use it to sneak in and out. The guards turn a blind eye toward the occasional nighttime adventure. They won’t give you trouble if you look the part.” She presses the gown into my arms. Then she takes my hand in hers. “Please don’t remember the worst of me, Zivah,” she says. “I wasn’t always like this.”

She pushes me into the hall and closes the door before I can respond.

I stand outside the palace walls, staring at the wrought iron gate. It’s short and narrow, obviously a side entrance for gardeners or servants. If I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t even have thought it was in use.

A breeze blows by, and I pull Mehtap’s cloak closer around me. The silk of her gown brushes my skin. I can almost pretend that it’s the equinox festival, except this time it’s the middle of the night, I have a bag full of potions on my shoulder, and I feel the silk of my dress through a sticky layer of clay and oil. Mehtap was right about the ointment. Though it doesn’t match my skin completely, no one will notice at night. And now I must decide whether to believe the rest of her advice.

Scrawny lands on my shoulder and sticks his beak into my hair. It pulls, but I don’t stop him.

“I didn’t ask for this, Tal,” I whisper. But then, I suppose it was foolish to think I would simply come to Sehmar City and stay in the safety of what I know. I smooth down the folds of my cloak and don a pair of silk gloves. “Ready to go?” I ask the birds.

The gate sticks a little, but then something gives and it swings open. I duck my head and glide through, telling myself that I’m not Zivah, rosemarked healer on a suicide mission, but a great Amparan lady, poised and self-possessed, on my way to a midnight rendezvous. As I pull the gate shut, I see a guard’s shadow in the corner of my eye. But nobody stops me.