My sister.

My sister.

My sister.

I enter through the roof. The rigging at the top of the Miracle Court is a disarray of ropes and scaffolding, a death trap for one less experienced than I. But I feel only determination. There’s a blur of silence. My breath comes in shallow gasps. My eyes are needle focused.

I can see them from up here. The Nine Lords of the Miracle Court, still drinking and talking. The entire Court is present.

Good.

I take my dagger from my sleeve and put it between my teeth, biting hard on the blade.

I look down. The table is almost beneath me. It’s heavy with the Lords’ purses, their gilded knives; their jackets and cloaks are slung on the backs of chairs. I see the sapphire stone at Tomasis’s neck, and the gray of Orso’s head. I reach for the ropes, find the right one, and take hold of it.

I’m not afraid. Not anymore.

I leap into the air, as graceful as a ballerina, and land on all fours like a cat in the middle of the Lords’ table.

The Lords jump back. All but the Tiger. He’s afraid of nothing. He sits completely still, holding his drink, a look of faint confusion on his face. After all, no one attacks the Lords. It is forbidden. No one attacks them in front of the Court. One would have to be mad to do that.

They don’t know what to do. It’s their second full day of drinking. They’re slow, and I have always been fast. Some of them reach for their daggers as the Masters thunder onto the stage, yelling.

The Tiger’s eyes focus on me and widen in recognition, but he still doesn’t rise or go for a weapon. He just looks at me as I lunge for him, howling. He doesn’t raise his hands to protect himself as my dagger flies through the air. It slices his cheek, and he jerks away as I land on top of him.

I stab my dagger with all of my strength into his arm as we fall. He makes a noise like a growl, and I see blood flower at his shoulder.

A hundred hands pull me off him.

Corday takes my dagger.

Orso is holding me. His hands bind my arms painfully behind my back. I don’t kick. I don’t fight. I do nothing. But my eyes never leave the Tiger.

“You are no Lord.” My voice is jagged. It makes him wince more than the wound. “You are not fit to be in this Court.”

Orso tries to put a scaly hand to my mouth, but I bite him and he lets go.

“You bring only dishonor,” I say, and the Tiger rises like a terrible vengeance before me. He ignores his bleeding arm and brings his face right before my own.

“You have no Law,” I say.

He strikes me then, and the world spins. There is blood in my mouth, blood streaming down my face. I look at him and I laugh.