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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

I pick up Arxa’s invitation by the edges, as if it were harboring disease instead of me. There is a note authorizing my travel as a rosemarked person, along with the commander’s seal. “No,” I say, though my answer is a heartbeat slow. “It wouldn’t make sense.” Still, I wonder what it would be like to live and work alongside other rosemarked.

“Zivah,” Leora says gently. “You don’t have to stay here just for us.”

“I’m not.” I spin back toward the shed, throwing the door open with a bit more force than necessary. “I want to stay.”

Leora doesn’t reply, and we speak again of her wedding as I finish up my chores. She takes her leave after I finish, and I return to my cottage. In the corner nearest the door is a basket I keep for clay shards. I take out the commander’s invitation and prepare to dash it against the others. There’s no way I can make the journey, and no reason to let good clay go to waste. Still, my hand doesn’t move.

After a long moment, I step back. I have a pile of scrolls on shelves near my bed, and I tuck the tablet underneath. I step back for a while, staring at the scrolls, before finally continuing with my tasks for the day.

Chapter Seven

This place is too neat. Even with a wide-brimmed hat tilted low over my face, I can see the carefully cleared dirt paths, the delicate bamboo cottages. Everything is in its place. Nothing shows arrow dents or char marks. The people, too, are well fed and unmarked. I don’t look at them directly, but I glimpse how smooth their skin is, how whole they are. After months back among my people, where you can’t walk into a crowd without seeing scars, bandages, and missing limbs, the difference is striking. If Gatha hadn’t ordered me here, I’d walk right back out to the mountains.

Unusual times call for unusual allies, Gatha had said. Over the past months, she’s been meeting secretly with Tal, the leader of the Dara villagers. Now there’s enough trust to set up a better way of communicating. That’s where my crows and I come in.

I can see the sense in this new alliance, and I’ll follow Gatha’s orders to my death if need be. Gods know, if she asks me to ally myself with a nanny goat, I’d braid the creature’s beard myself. If my warlord’s decided to work with these villagers, I’ll do my best to help her.

But that doesn’t mean I have to respect them.