“Do you know what the empire will do to me if you turn me over?” I say. “You might as well kill me now. It would be a mercy.”

Her only response is to pull the knots tighter. Then she circles around to look at me again. I must look sufficiently subdued, because she holds out her hand to the snake and whistles a low tone. My limbs go weak as the accursed creature finally slides off my arm.

“You lost your right to counsel me when you drew that knife,” she says.

The healer takes a quick look around the shed and bends down to inspect the cages I’d knocked over. She lifts some of them back onto the shelves, and then frowns at a small cage that’s splintered open. “You’ve freed one of my scorpions. It’s probably already found its way outside, but you might want to avoid making sudden movements.”

Then she takes the candle and walks out.

Chapter Eight

I shut the shed door, slamming the crossbar down so hard the entire structure shudders. Then I collapse against the shed, wrapping my trembling fingers around the bar and squeezing until my knuckles turn white. I can still hear the Shidadi warrior’s voice, see the light reflecting off his dagger. If I hadn’t had Diadem on my wrist, or if he’d acted just a moment faster…

That nomad is almost certainly the reason for the earlier commotion. I don’t know why Amparan soldiers were after him, but now I must decide what to do. The man just tried to kill me. I owe him nothing, and I could be punished greatly if I’m found to be helping him. Yet something about his plea for mercy clings to my skin—the desperation, the familiar specter of having suffered at Ampara’s hands.

Leaves rustle, and an Amparan soldier steps into view. He stops in his tracks, disoriented by the sudden absence of foliage. Then his eyes focus on me.

“Who are you?”

He addresses me like a servant, and I feel myself straightening in reaction to his tone. In that moment, I make my decision. “Stay back, soldier, I’m rosemarked.”

My words have their usual effect. The soldier stumbles away from me, and I speak again while I have the advantage. “What is it you seek?”

“I seek a fugitive. He was running in this direction.” He looks at my cottage, at the shed, at the surrounding forest. Anything except me. Though the Goddess frowns on deception, I feel no guilt as I frame my lie.

“I came out to tend to my serpents. I’ve seen nothing awry.”

The soldier takes another step back at the mention of serpents. When he notices me watching, he clears his throat, doing his best to regain his authority. “Send word to the village if you see anything suspicious.”