Veixizhau laughed. “In any other case, it would have been smart to point the finger at a royal. It’s not like the duke would have punished one of them. I bet it never even occurred to your Oreth to tell the truth. He thought finger-pointing would serve him better. He was wrong.”

“You’re lying.”

“That’s the best part; I’m not. And don’t even think about being all righteous with me. You belong to Suless now, and it’s only a matter of time before she claims you.”

“Suless is dead,” I reminded her.

“No, she’s not. Oh, I can’t wait for you two to meet. She loves murderers.”

I flinched.

She saw the reaction and smiled. Then Veixizhau turned, head held high, and swept out of the common area.

All the women were quiet until Bikeinoh clapped her hands. “All right, everyone. Let’s have dinner and then go to bed early. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a very long day.”

“What does tumai mean?” I was back to being numb, distracted by minor details.

She paused before answering. “I suppose the closest word in Guarem would be knight.”

I nodded. Veixizhau had said it like an insult, but maybe that wasn’t the case. Maybe it didn’t matter. A different word seemed more fitting.

Monster. Kaen did collect them, didn’t he?

Bikeinoh touched my arm. “Let’s find you a room.”

No gods or goddesses presented themselves to me in the weeks that followed, not god-kings or the Eight. Veixizhau’s words proved hollow.

But I couldn’t shove her accusation from my mind. Couldn’t escape the nagging suspicion that Oreth had been innocent—at least innocent of that crime.

I retreated into myself, speaking to no one unless spoken to first, seeking no company, snapping at polite attempts at conversation. I’d managed to avoid Senera and Relos Var, and while I was in theory now Duke Kaen’s man, he’d made no attempt to put me to work. I didn’t see Brother Qown either and found myself glad. I wore my anger around me like a coat, and I didn’t want to hear Qown insist I was smothering myself.

That lasted several weeks.

“Janel, what are you doing?”

I looked up from the book of Devoran prophecies I’d “borrowed” from the duke’s library. “Isn’t it obvious?”

We were in the middle of the training yard, which, like everything else in the Ice Demesne, lay deep inside the crystal pyramid. The giant room was divided into sections so multiple groups might train at once, but the large space did nothing to hide the accumulated stench of sweaty bodies.

Xivan raised an eyebrow and pointed to the training mat. “Get in here. I want to see what you can do.”

“I’m busy.”

All noise near us stopped. Even the nearby men stopped their sparring.