“She’ll be fine,” I told him as servants hurried past us. My gaze kept flicking to the door to the entrance hall where Lin lingered as she spoke with Chala, her long sleeves rolled up to the elbow. Neither looked happy. “You did this too, remember?”

He looked between me and Thrana lying unconscious in the cart. “I looked like that?” He sidled over to me, winding about my legs. “No wonder you were worried.”

“I couldn’t have woken you even if I had five fresh-caught fish in hand.”

“Impossible!”

I laughed at his shocked expression. And then sobered as Lin approached, my heart leaping before sinking off the edge of a cliff. I found my gaze roving the courtyard, searching for a place to hide. I wanted to kick myself for even thinking it. It was my job to protect her; hiding from her would not only be a dereliction of duty, I’d look like a complete idiot doing so.

Not that I wasn’t used to appearing foolish.

“Well, that unpleasantness is done with,” she said, rolling her sleeves back down. “I had to dismantle the remaining construct. Chala wanted the chance to say goodbye. It’s messy business, this.” I opened my mouth to offer some words of sympathy, but she continued. “Now. I need to know. What exactly were you doing at a den of Ioph Carn? You disobeyed my orders.” Chala’s servants arrived, palanquin between them. Lin pursed her lips. “Thrana’s incapacitated. Ride with me.”

I couldn’t very well disobey an order after she’d pointed out how poor I was at obeying them. “Ride with Thrana,” I told Mephi, who readily jumped into the cart. “Keep an eye out.” I ducked into the palanquin after Lin. The dark confines smelled of old, varnished wood. The bench was upholstered with a soft material that had begun to wear thin. It jolted as the servants lifted us, my thigh jostling briefly against hers. I scooted as far away from her as possible. It wasn’t far enough.

She let us ride in silence for a while and I fidgeted. My staff didn’t quite fit in the palanquin. I had to lay it across, each end jutting out from the windows. Mud stuck to the bottom of my shoes and I tried unsuccessfully to scrape it from one foot using the other. Now I had mud on the top of my shoes. I’d done a hasty patch job on my shirt and layered my jacket on top of it. Beneath, the wound Kaphra had given me itched. I scratched at my jacket and only made the itch turn into a burn. Was my jacket too tight at the collar? Warm air seemed to radiate from beneath it like smoke from a chimney, making my face hot.

Lin watched me, her gaze unrelenting.