I missed Fox. I missed Mykaela too, and Althy and Inessa and Shadi—even Zoya and Parmina—but it was Fox’s absence that grieved me. His was the voice that provided comfort and companionship during my long years of training, and I had never been apart from him this long. This might have been an exile of my own making, but knowing what I had to do was different from remembering what I was missing. I only want to know if he’s all right, I promised myself, and believed in my own delusion.

Fox was no longer in prison, and the relief that took hold of me knew no bounds. He was in the royal chambers, standing before an open window and looking out into the city, while Princess Inessa slept nearby. It was good to see that he had retained favor with Empress Alyx. His thoughts were somber, his mood bleak.

Leave, I told myself. You should leave. I didn’t.

There was a faint rustle, and Inessa’s sleepy voice broke through the darkness. “Come to bed, Fox. I’m cold.”

Fox turned away from the window. “Kance has left Odalia,” he said quietly.

“I was there when Mother broke the news to us, my love, remember? Right before you saved us from my blighted maids.”

Blighted maids? Visions rose in my head unbidden, as Fox gave in to his memories. Horribly transformed women with spider legs and horns gunned for Inessa and the empress, my brother fighting them off.

“If Tea knows, she’ll go after him.”

Inessa lifted her head. “You haven’t talked about your sister since she left,” the princess said gently, and my heart twisted.

“I—sometimes I feel her in my head, and I don’t know if it’s my mind playing tricks or if she’s really there. I do my best to push her out, but she hovers like a ghost, haunting me. There is a wall between us, a wall she built, and both Mykkie and Althy tell me I must leave it that way. If I don’t, the elder asha will believe I’m still in contact with her, no matter what Mykkie and the other asha offer for evidence.”

“If they refuse to believe you no matter what you do, why don’t you reach out to her?”

My brother was silent.

“Do you really believe that she killed Daisy?”