Lilia sidled toward the girl, shuffling behind Nirata. The girl was just a pace away. Another day, another girl, seeing the woman who raised her covered in blood. It was like a circle, like a sign.

Lilia held the karoi beak so tightly her hand hurt. The girl was just an arm’s length away now. Gian’s eyes were glassy.

Lilia reached out with her good arm and snatched the front of the girl’s tunic. The girl kicked her, and the two of them fell. Lilia’s heart thudded loudly. A child, a child, she’s just a child… But Lilia wrapped her bad arm around the girl’s neck, and jammed the karoi beak against her throat with the other, hard enough to draw blood. The girl screeched.

Nirata turned. Gian’s body fell from her arms.

“Let her go,” Nirata said. Cold voice.

“I can kill her before you stop me,” Lilia said, jabbing the girl’s neck again. She was trembling so hard against Lilia’s body that it made her teeth chatter. “Try your gifted tricks, but I will choke her or stab her first, or toss her off this tree altogether.”

“Gian just sacrificed her life to save you.”

“And she still will,” Lilia said. “Get me to Dorinah. The capital.” She didn’t know where she would find her mother, but if she was some important person there like Gian said, she would live in the capital.

“Impossible.”

“It’s not,” Lilia said. “If you can open a gate between worlds, you can open one across the same world. Don’t try any tricks. I know the difference. The sky is different there.”

“I can’t just whisk you anywhere you want to go in Dorinah.” Nirata looked behind her, at Gian’s body. “We’re losing time.”

“Dorinah,” Lilia said. “Any part, then.”

“There is only one soft spot in Dorinah,” Nirata said, “and it’s nowhere near the capital. You’ll be killed before then.”

Lilia tightened her grip on the girl. “Dorinah. You aren’t going to use me like a game piece anymore.”

“So you’ll use my granddaughter?”

“The way you want to use me?” Lilia said, and her voice broke. “Dorinah. Now.”

“You’ll only have a few seconds,” Nirata said. “Let her go.”

“When I’m through the gate.”

“There won’t be time–”

“When I’m through the gate!” Lilia said. The girl cried out. Lilia held her so tight, she feared the girl would stop breathing. Now Lilia was trembling, too. Monster, she thought. I’m a terrible monster.

A time to mourn, and a time to act…

“Are you prepared to kill a child?” Nirata said. “A little girl like you?”