“I didn’t go down without a fight, though, and I was bad hurt. They brung me back here, and at first they had healers working on me to keep me alive, but then all of a sudden they quit and dumped me down here.”

“Flinn. I’m sorry,” Han said, his voice thick with remorse. “It’s my fault you’re here.”

“I should’ve known better than to think you’d throw in with them,” Flinn said, his breath wheezing through broken teeth. “I ain’t a snitch, Cuffs, you know that, right? But Queen Raisa—she’s a good one, and I didn’t want to see her hurt.”

“She is a good one,” Han said softly. He cleared his throat. “If you thought I was out to murder the queen, it was right to turn me in. Now rest, and don’t worry about it.”

But Flinn seemed compelled to make his case. “You’ll get off; you’ll see,” he said eagerly. “I’ll be dead before long, and I can’t swear against you if I’m dead.”

“Just rest,” Han said. “Keep your strength up.” He realized what Flinn didn’t, in his feverish state. With Han in hand, the Bayars no longer had need of Flinn, since they never meant to bring Han to trial. They’d chained Flinn up and left him to die.

Once again, Han’s anger flared, and with it, his drive to survive.

C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y - F O U R

AGREEING TO
DISAGREE

It took two days to arrange a parley with Klemath under a flag of truce. Understandably, there wasn’t a lot of trust on either side.

“He can send written demands,” Amon said. “I don’t want him coming within a hundred yards of you.”

“No,” Raisa said. “I want to look the man in the eye. I want to understand why he did this. I want to sort out truth from lies.”

“Fine. Let him come in here,” Cat said, her head bent over her sharpening stone, honing her body blades. “I’ll cut him to pieces too small for the maggots to find.”

“No,” Raisa said. “All I have as a ruler is my word. And if that can’t be trusted, then—”

“Let me do this one little thing,” Cat begged. “After Klemath, I’ll never ask you for another favor. You can be extra trustworthy after that.”

There were no gifted within the castle close. The most prominent had assembled on Gray Lady prior to the attack, to launch the investigation of Han. The rest had repaired to their summer homes in the southern mountains, escaping the unusual heat in the Vale.

Where was Han? Could he be somewhere in the city of Fellsmarch, outside the castle close? Was he on the run in the mountains? Did he even know the castle was under siege?