“What happened after the Queen was poisoned?” Bri’s eyes tracked each of Delta’s shuddering breaths. Had an infection spread to her lungs? Cole was right—she needed treatment quickly.

“I got Lina out of the dining room, but the path was blocked. We hid in a cupboard, but they found us.”

“Gods,” Carys breathed, dropping into the chair across from Delta. All the fire in her disappeared at the sobering horrors of Delta’s words.

“I fought them off as best I could, but they grabbed Lina.” Delta’s voice trembled and she coughed. “They nearly killed her. Darrow saved her life that day, not me.”

“He seems like a real ass,” Bri said. “He acts like you shouldn’t be hunting the Queen’s killers until after her mourning.”

“He is an ass, but he loved my aunt.” Delta pointed to the table beside the door. “Second drawer.”

Bri opened it and pulled out a silver dagger, its hilt decorated in swirls of amethyst gems. They seemed to be symbols written in the witches’ language of Mhenbic, but she couldn’t discern what they were.

“What is this?”

“It was left behind by one of the attackers,” Delta said. “I took it to our blue witch oracle, but she couldn’t See who it belonged to.”

“A witch, then?” Bri’s eyebrows shot up. “Do you think this is Augustus Norwood’s doing?” Her fingers traced the purple stones. “His magic, it kept the blue witches in the North from Seeing his movements. We think he may have resurrected a violet witch—or, at least, her magic.”

“That would explain why we can’t See the owner of the blade.” Delta grimaced, adjusting her seat in her chair again.

“Norwood is working with the witch hunters,” Bri said. “He told Rua as much. He said he has plans to disrupt the Western and Southern Courts and reclaim Okrith along with Balorn.”

Carys gave a half-hearted smirk. “Well, at least Balorn’s part of his plan didn’t work out.”

Remy and Rua had slain Balorn in the battle of Valtene only days prior, a battle that had so nearly killed them all. Their hold on the power of Okrith kept slipping from their grasp. When Hennen Vostemur was killed, it was a moment of hope after a decade of darkness, but the world wouldn’t magically revert to one of joy—peace would come at the tip of a blade, Bri was certain of it. Augustus Norwood was a wild card no one had expected. Bri had known Augustus his whole life as a petty, sniveling brat, but now he showed surprising cunning. With whatever magic he had on his side, he always seemed one step ahead of them.

“So what’s your plan?” Bri asked.

“We need to unmask the hunters, protect Lina, and stomp out the threat to the throne.” Delta wheezed, her eyes filling with barely contained rage as she looked down at her injured body. “I cannot do it alone, and there’s no warrior better than you, Bri.”

“Ouch,” Carys said, clutching her chest in mock hurt.