“I must,” she whispered, but she doubted he could hear her over the wind.

He reached out and pressed his palm against hers, then entwined their fingers. “I will never stop hoping,” he said.

The heartsick look on his face worsened her own pain. “We have a duty, Fallon,” she said, squeezing his hand. “You cannot play in the river near the falls without the risk of being pulled into the current. Please, we must go down.”

He nodded in agreement and, holding her hand still, guided her to the edge of the trapdoor and the ladder.

They both halted at the same time. A snake made of a thousand torches wound all the way down the valley road toward Dundrennan. It shimmered in the black, stark night against the stone and trees. Gahalatine’s army would arrive by midnight.

Fallon’s expression turned dark and severe. “He won’t wait for the dawn,” he said with conviction. “He will attack tonight.”

Captain Staeli finished the final buckle of Trynne’s armor—the Maid of Donremy’s armor, which Trynne had found in a sanctuary in Occitania. The captain had carried the heavy armor with him, uncomplaining, on their journey. Once it was on, he stood back and appraised her with a frown. His chain cowl was down around his shoulders, but he had on the battered breastplate she’d seen him wearing at the Battle of Guilme. His belt was equipped with a throwing axe, several daggers, and a glaive. His sullen expression and bearded mouth looked so familiar to her, so dear.

“The woad, then?” he asked.

She was wearing the spelled ring under her gauntlets. She had felt the Fountain’s subtle suggestion that she should dress the part of the Painted Knight and then use the ring to hide her distinctive armor and painted face.

Tonight, she sensed, would be the night she revealed the truth to all.

She nodded and Captain Staeli reached for the bowl of woad. He scooped up a wad of the doughy material with his forefingers and carefully and gently smeared it across half of her face. She closed her eyes, almost feeling herself transform into the persona of the Painted Knight. What the night would bring, she did not know. But she felt certain the battle would be momentous. If she needed to, she would bring Drew to another fortress and rally more defenders to them there. She felt a crushing duty to protect the king from harm. She was his shield, his secret protector. Fallon had been given the right to her father’s seat, but it had been intended for her.