I glanced over at Alea, whose spotted falcon now rested on her shoulder again. I’d paid little attention each time she sent him off ahead and only now thought about how he’d never returned this last time when he was allegedly only scouting a short distance. It had been sloppy of me—as was my confidence that not working any great feats of magic would protect my identity. If they already had us flagged because of our physical descriptions, any use of water or air—even if it wasn’t monumental—would tip them off. I’d also been so arrogantly concerned about my own prowess that I hadn’t realized Dorian’s remarkable bridge-building would also be telling.

One of Gallus’s men stepped forward holding silver chains laced with sporadic iron links. “I know these won’t truly restrain you,” Gallus told me. “But I trust you’ll be accommodating about them, in light of this ... situation.” He nodded toward my captive friends, and I saw that aside from being tied up, Keeli and Danil also had copper blades at their throats. Binding gentry with even a little iron was usually enough to stunt their magic, but my human blood protected me. Even chained, I could call on my magic and summon a storm that would wipe out half this group. But I didn’t know if I could do it before Keeli and Danil had their throats slit.

Accepting this momentary defeat, I nodded with a grimace and extended my arms. Dorian held his out as well. The iron would bind him, as it would the rest of my party—even Jasmine. I was the only one capable of magic, but it would do no good until we reached our destination. No—that wasn’t entirely true, I realized moments later. Kiyo would be unaffected by the iron too. His only magic was shape-shifting, and the gentry aversion to iron wouldn’t stop that. I wondered if Varia’s people knew that. Still, like me, Kiyo risked getting someone killed if he acted. We would both have to bide our time.

The Yew soldiers confiscated our horses and weapons, forcing us prisoners to travel on foot. We walked along sullenly, and I knew that each one of us was trying to figure out an escape plan. The only bright side, I supposed, was that now we knew we were getting a direct ticket to Varia. One of the prevailing theories was that if the gifts were indeed in Withywele, they’d be kept in Varia’s own palace—which was likely to be heavily guarded. Now, I thought bitterly, we didn’t have to break in.

At one point in the trip, Alea passed near me. I glared up at her and Spots. “You guys make convincing refugees.” Along with everything else, it irked me that I could have so misjudged them. Their appearances and frustration had seemed genuine.