Diah entered after Caylus, her mask in place. She slipped into the room on steps light as air, then put her back to a wall, facing us both. On her leather belt hung three identical tiny knots of black rope.

She traced my line of sight, and for the first time, I noticed something strange about the eye on the black half of the mask. It looked dull.

She touched a hand to the ropes. “Ambriellan death knots,” she explained. “One for each soul that was lost.”

Ambriellan knots were a superstition, the various colors and knot work designs representing different things, from good luck to safe travels. These looked like wisps of shadow, curled in on themselves like someone protecting their heart.

“I was sorry to hear about your friends,” I said. Had their loss driven her here? Maybe she was starting to realize she couldn’t do this alone.

Diah straightened. “Such is the cost of war, as you will soon come to know.”

Her words settled inside me like stones sinking to the ocean floor. “If we help each other, that cost might not be so high. Trendell has agreed to host a meeting and hear our proposal for an alliance. Join us there. Make your choice then.”

Slowly, Diah nodded. A knot in my chest released like a line snapping. We were moving forward.

* * *

After giving Diah the date and location, I returned to a letter from Caliza at the castle. This time, I skipped the fake visible conversation and flipped the letter over to sprinkle powder on the invisible ink on the back. Kiva hovered beside me as I read quietly aloud by sona lamp:

Thia,

I am so proud of you, and I know if she were here, our mother would be too. Thanks to you, we have a real chance to protect Rhodaire.

A letter arrived from Captain Mirkova. She said she sent you one too. I know it’s not the answer we wanted, but we can still do this. She’s staying in Korovi to proposition them for supplies.

I’ve convened the council.

I paused, exchanging looks with Kiva. Rhodairen rulers only convened the council during wartime, when the heads of all the houses gathered in the castle. They would eat and sleep there instead of their own homes, working together to prepare Rhodaire for battle.

I kept reading.