The doors were thick and dark, the rooms windowless and lit by fat, reeking candles that burned with a strange, sloppy flame, their smoke vented through black gaps carved into the ceilings. Behind the candle-smell, the old eggs and brimstone odour remained, obscured but undimmed.

‘You may make yourselves comfortable here,’ Ruumi said, airy as a seneschal. ‘The women will be in here, the men there.’

Chel frowned, peering round to see if the other chamber was better furnished. ‘Why the separation?’

‘I imagine you are tired after your trip. Perhaps you would care to leave your belongings here and bathe? Then we can talk.’

Rennic had burst his dam. ‘God’s bollocks, woman, who the fuck are you? Are we prisoners? Can we not get a straight fucking answer out of you without a riddle and an enigmatic smile?’

Ruumi raised her eyebrows, but her smile remained. In the hallway beyond, the guards creaked as their hands moved to rest on their weapons.

‘I apologize if I seem enigmatic, Master …?’

‘Rennic.’

‘Master Rennic. I am only out of practice with your language, I assure you. Answers will come shortly, but rest assured, you are not prisoners. You are my honoured guests, my honoured, royal guests.’

‘So, we can leave?’

‘We have yet so much to discuss. Brecki told me that Prince Tarfel had a proposition for me; I will hear it, and he will hear mine in turn, then we will reach accord. This is diplomacy, yes?’

‘And you are, what? “Nearly-queen”?’

‘My mother was queen, if that helps?’

‘Not really.’

‘Where’s Brecki?’ Chel said. He’d half-expected to find the woman waiting for them, one-armed and gurning.

‘As we speak?’ Ruumi’s brow crinkled. ‘Preparing for her exile, I imagine.’

‘What? You’re exiling her? After she, she—’

‘Rest assured, Andriz, she is grateful for exile. To return after such failure, our laws would demand her execution. Her redemption is cause for celebration, should your inclination yearn for mercy.’

‘Huh?’ Chel scratched at his brow. ‘Are you saying she led us all the way here expecting to be executed for her troubles?’

Lemon whistled. ‘Goes to show you can never really know a person, eh? Especially a leg-chewing head-splitter like that one,’ she added quietly.

‘She is a warrior,’ Ruumi said, blithe and cheerful. ‘Better to be sent to the gods by her own people than die a coward in the Sink. Or perhaps she was confident of her outcomes. You may yet have a chance to ask her, should you return north and survive a while.’

Lemon started. ‘Hoy now, what’s that supposed to—’