I called for my beast familiar but remembered little of the flight until we landed a few miles away from Thanh, the closest Yadoshan city to the Wall. We took time to refresh alongside the Five Rivers, one of the many streams running through the city-states, and Khalad and Kalen caught some silver-backed trout to break our fast, which Likh had duly cleaned and cooked.

I knew they were doing their best to put me at ease, and I applauded their efforts, if not their success. All throughout the night, Daisy’s lifeless countenance swam before my eyes, and nothing could shake the image of her dead in Fox’s arms. The visions I had seen with uncomfortable frequency during my time in the dungeons had disappeared, and only her face remained. Not even my memories of her helped.

I stared down at my heartsglass. A beautiful swirl of black grew on silver, a cluster of stars slowly being consumed by darkness.

Likh chattered on, sketching out the rest of the details they’d worked out while I’d been imprisoned. “The plan is to lie low while Mykaela and the others fight on our behalf back in Kion. Zoya and Parmina believe we’ve still got a good case. All we need to do is to—”

“I killed her.”

Likh paled. “You can’t say that, Tea. We don’t know what really happened.”

“What else is there to prove? She is dead, because I had stabbed her with my own knife.” And then I began to laugh. “What else do we need to know what happened? Is my testimony not enough? Was Fox’s account insufficient? My knife, my hands, my blood—I killed her, and you should have let me stand at the scaffold and hang by the neck. I’m worthless, and I killed her. I killed her. I killed—”

I didn’t see him raise his arm, but the blow was hard, snapping me across the cheek. I recoiled, stunned and blinking.

“They’re going to find you innocent,” Likh said calmly, like he had done nothing out of the ordinary, “and we’re going to hide in Yadosha with their leaders’ blessing. A newly resurrected nanghait’s been skulking about, I’m told, so they’re more than likely to welcome us. The asha association’s reach doesn’t completely extend into the city-states, so they’ll have a harder time influencing people there. Yadoshans are an independent, rather stubborn folk, and they don’t take to being told what to do if they don’t want to do it.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Don’t be. I’m only sorry we couldn’t figure out a better way to do this.” He grinned at me. “Besides, I’ve never been to Yadosha before. I’ve always wanted to explore more of the world.”

“Why are you here? Your asha training hasn’t been fully… Won’t they be worried about—”