It sank in, finally, that I only had a few hours left to live. It was too late even to beg Ignazio for mercy; he was gone. No one survived Demon’s Tears without the neutralizing elixir, and the nearest bottle was a hundred and fifty miles away in my bedroom in Raverra.

A feeling welled up in me with slow grandeur, locked in time with the next cramp. I expected fear, but what wound through the pain was fury. At Ignazio, at Lady Savony—and at myself, for sitting on the floor waiting to die when I had work to do.

The anger gave me strength enough to stagger to my feet, clutching the wall for support. I was out of ideas and out of time, but damned if I’d stop trying.

The door banged open.

Ignazio and Lady Savony stormed in, accompanied by a handful of armed men.

With them, a smile like a pleased cat’s narrowing her eyes, was Zaira.

“Where are they?” Savony demanded. She flicked her wrist at the hard-faced brutes with her. I reached for my empty dagger sheath, but I was in no condition to resist. Two of them twisted my arms behind me, and a third pressed a knife to my throat.

I laughed. Threatening me with death was meaningless now. “I have no idea.”

Zaira shrugged. “I showed you which way they took the brats,” she told Savony. “It’s not my fault you weren’t fast enough to catch up.”

She didn’t so much as glance at me. The ruffians weren’t watching Zaira, or threatening her. She was no captive; she was with them of her own free will.

Ignazio whirled to face her. “Can you burn the entire area they’re in?”

“If I’m sufficiently motivated.” She cast a contemptuous glance at me. “But only if this bitch releases me first.”

“Zaira …” I breathed. Another cramp struck before I could say more. I strained to fold over, but the painful grip on my arms held me up.

“We can release you easily enough.” Savony nodded to the men holding me. They threw me down on the floor; my hip and shoulder slammed into the stone. Before I could even try to fight the surge of dizziness and nausea that overwhelmed me, one of them had a sword point tickling my side.

“Wait.” Ignazio held up a hand, frowning. “She’s dying of the poison anyway. It won’t be long now.”

“We don’t have time,” Lady Savony said. “If you can’t stand the sight of your cousin’s blood, close your eyes.”

I wished I had Zaira’s tongue for profanity, but another cramp robbed me of the breath to speak.

Zaira put her hands on her hips. “If she dies, I will too, unless I get a new Falconer within a few days. I don’t see the profit in that.”