“Well. I guess they know each other from Oden’s Ford.” She looked up and found Micah’s black eyes riveted on her, and shut her mouth. In her exhausted state, she’d almost said too much. Micah didn’t know that she and Han had been together in Oden’s Ford. “I mean, wasn’t Master Gryphon your teacher?” she said.

“Yes,” Micah said, “he was. Which makes it even more surprising that he would vote for Alister. They were constantly at odds at school. Gryphon even expelled him from class.” His voice was low and hoarse from breathing in smoke. “Raisa, I don’t think you realize how ruthless your so-called bodyguard is.”

“Don’t patronize me!” Raisa snapped, her sympathy for Micah draining away. “I’m trying to rule over groups of squabbling people who can’t agree on the most inconsequential things.”

“If I come across as patronizing, I don’t mean to be,” Micah said. “But this is my point: Alister will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He made that very clear at the meeting today.” He paused. “For example, my father accused Alister of being behind the Ragmarket murders. Alister denied it, of course.”

“Could it be because he’s innocent?” Raisa groped for a counteroffensive. “He told me what your father did—that he proposed destroying Ragmarket, and the council agreed. In other words, the council voted to murder hundreds of innocent people. To destroy people’s homes, their workplaces, to put the entire town at risk.”

“I suppose Alister didn’t mention that I voted against it.”

“As it happens, he did mention that,” Raisa said. “He said the two of you were the only ones.”

“Really?” Micah stared at her. “I’m surprised. Anyway, when Alister was elected High Wizard, he promised he’d handle the Ragmarket ‘project,’ as he called it.” He swallowed hard and looked up at her with hopeless eyes. “You have to believe me, Raisa. Even after the vote, I never meant to let it happen. I intended to come to you straight away. I had no idea he’d act so quickly.”

It took a moment for Raisa to understand what Micah was implying. And then another to conjure up a response. “Do you expect me to believe that after the council meeting, Han raced down the mountain and set fire to Ragmarket before you could intervene?”

Micah met her gaze unflinchingly. “I don’t expect you to believe it, no. But I have to try. It’s all I have.”

“Explain this to me, then,” Raisa said. “What is Han’s strategy? What does he hope to accomplish? You claim he’s murdering wizards. What is his motive?”

Micah shrugged. “Perhaps he intends to bring down the queendom—to incite us into a civil war. First Lord deVilliers is murdered by the Demonai, and then—”

“As I understand it, Lord deVilliers was kidnapping clan children,” Raisa said dryly.