“Trust me to pick a princess out of everyone in Oden’s Ford,” Han said. “I do have an eye. I always could spot a heavy purse in the street.” He unconsciously fingered his wrists as if the cuffs were still there. “It must have been amusing for you to hear me prattle on like a love-struck fancy. How do I say this—poor Alister is getting above himself.”

“I am not laughing at you,” Raisa said. “How could I? I care about you. I—”

“You care about your pony too,” Han said. “Your pony provides a useful service.” He closed his eyes again, as if he couldn’t bear to look on her anymore.

Raisa couldn’t seem to find the right words, the right thing to say. If there even was a right thing. Han Alister always had a way of making her lose her footing. Now the raw grief over her recent losses and her guilt over lying to him rendered her inarticulate, stopped up the speech that usually came so easily to her. And so what she said only made things worse.

“I can certainly understand if you’re…if you’re angry. I know that you blame the Queen’s Guard and—and Queen Marianna for what happened to your family. Maybe me as well. I wish there were some way to bring them back. But I can’t. I’d do almost anything not to have to confess this to you. You must feel that your trust has been violated.”

Han opened his eyes and looked at her without moving any other part of his body. “Your mother is dead,” he said. A statement.

“Yes,” Raisa said.

“Good,” he said, closing his eyes again.

They flew open again when Amon Byrne spoke from the doorway.

“Your…Rai…ah…would now be convenient?”

As he stumbled over her name, Raisa realized Amon didn’t know if she’d told Han her true identity.

Amon’s eyes shifted from Raisa to Han. He’d wanted to come with her when she’d told him she meant to tell Han Alister the truth.

I need to face him on my own, she’d said. There are some things you can’t protect me from.

“He knows,” Raisa said, twisting her hands in her lap. “So it’s all right with me, but…Corporal Byrne wanted to speak with you, remember?” she said to Han. “Is that all right, or would you rather do it another time?”

Han scowled, and she thought he would refuse. After a long moment, he sighed, sitting up straighter. “Now is as good a time as any,” he said.

Obviously, speaking with Amon was preferable to continuing to converse with her.

Amon came and stood at Han’s bedside, shifting from one foot to the other. “Are you feeling better?” he asked.