“Those who attacked me were renegade members of the Queen’s Guard,” Raisa said finally. “The only one of them I knew was Mac Gillen, and he is dead.” She drew a sharp breath, gritting her teeth as Willo scraped the poultice away from her wound. “This is the second time my own guard has betrayed me. They came after us before, on the way to Oden’s Ford. That was Gillen’s doing too, though he wasn’t actually there.”

Elena nodded. “Nightwalker said as much.”

The Demonai warrior, Reid Nightwalker, had rescued Raisa and her escort from Gillen’s renegade guards.

“Last time, they seemed to want to take me alive. This time, they obviously meant to kill me.” So what had changed in the interim?

Willo plastered more snakebite root over the wound. It was gloppy and unpleasant, but felt faintly warm. Which meant it was probably cold.

“Captain Byrne is dead,” Raisa went on. “He died defending me in the pass. I believe the rest of our party was killed at Way Camp, or thereabouts. We need to send someone to collect their bodies.”

Elena nodded as if this were old news. “Nightwalker and a party of warriors retraced your trail back as far as the pass.” She paused. “He’d just returned from the city when you came here. Nightwalker was so worried about you—but he was also furious. He only left your side because he intended to hunt down and…question…those who attacked you.” Elena’s face hardened, eyes glittering. “But he was too late. He found Captain Byrne and several groups of unbadged soldiers dead. Some killed with crossbows, others with a longbow.”

“A longbow?” Raisa mumbled into her pillowed arms. “I remember crossbows, but I don’t remember anyone shooting with a longbow.” All dead, she thought. Well, maybe that explained the mourning dress. Except…Raisa twisted her head, trying to look up at them. “Have you sent word to my mother? Does she know about Captain Byrne? Is she on her way here?”

Willo’s hands stopped moving for a long moment, and she and Elena exchanged glances again.

“We don’t know, granddaughter,” Elena said. “We sent a messenger to Fellsmarch, and we’ve not heard back.”

“You’ve not heard back in three days?” Raisa’s voice rose. It’s been three days, she thought. Why haven’t you come? The memory of the wolf dream crashed in on her again. She didn’t want to speak about it, because saying it aloud would make it real.

“Something’s happened,” Raisa said. “Something’s wrong. She would answer. She couldn’t ignore this. She wouldn’t.”

“Nightwalker left for Fellsmarch yesterday, to speak directly to your father,” Elena said. Her fingers twisted in her skirts. “The speakers say that…” Willo shook her head quickly, and Elena didn’t finish.