Zoya scowled. “I’m not sure Aadil would make a competent ally. Perhaps the Faceless was simply foisting his trouble on us.”

“Be that as it may,” Althy said sensibly, “Kance has offered to assume charge of the prisoner, so it is one less burden for us. The other asha and I must make haste to Kion. Empress Alyx will want to hear what’s happened immediately. The asha association, no doubt, will be very interested as well.”

“Are you going to arrest me?” I asked her.

“You know me better than that. However, the azi has likely been sighted by now, and Kion should be receiving independent verification from other messengers soon.”

“Won’t you get in trouble for not bringing me in?”

“If a whole city could not contain you, then what should they expect from a handful of asha?” Althy smiled sadly at me. “Everyone misses you.”

“You know that that’s a lie, Althy.”

The plump asha sighed. “He does, Tea. You will both heal from this one day, but you two must choose to. Fox has not been the same since you left, my dear.”

“I cannot stay in contact with him, Althy. The elders will use our bond. They will know the instant I break through the runic wards around him again, and Mykkie has sworn to be truthful.”

“Inessa is gaining ground. She is loved by the people, just like her mother, and she is fighting for you both. We all are.” She hugged me. “We must take our leave soon. I will look over Likh, perhaps prescribe something stronger for him to take.” Althy sighed. “Protect those two.”

“You know I will.”

She turned to Kalen. “And it is on you to protect Tea, or I will be very much put out.”

“You know I always will, Althy.”

Kance and General Lode had gone to question more of the Drychta prisoners, and they returned troubled. “King Aadil’s madness is an open secret among the people of Drycht,” the Odalian general said. “But they serve him because they knew no other way, even as they feared him. There have been attempts to overthrow him in the past, though all were unsuccessful, and the instigators were made to suffer horrible deaths. Some of the prisoners tell us that Aadil had once been a kind king, with the potential to become one of their greatest rulers. How that change happened in less than a decade is puzzling.”

“That was Druj’s doing.” It horrified me, knowing that I had inflicted King Telemaine with the same madness the Faceless had on the Drychta ruler. No. I am better than him. I am better than him. “What do they say about Druj’s role in this?”