“Jurand?” he forced through gritted teeth. “Could you help?” And he dumped the future monarch into his arms and turned away, leaving him blinking with elbows everywhere. No doubt he was handsome and clever and loyal as they come, but he made a poor nursemaid.

Still, the only alternative was Zuri, and Leo trusted her less than ever these days. Even though Savine loved her so much. Because Savine loved her so much, maybe. It was a bad message to send, having brown faces around the royal children.

Savine frowned towards the tall windows as she walked, rocking Ardee gently, criss-cross shadows of the lead between the panes sliding across her face. Her careful powdering couldn’t hide the fading bruises from her struggle at the top of the Tower of Chains. Or perhaps—far more likely now he thought about it—she’d chosen to leave them on display, for a hint of the noble martyr. Nothing in Savine’s appearance ever happened by accident, after all.

Servants were busy in the unkempt gardens outside, clipping suns of the Union back into the bushes, weeding it back into the flower beds, chiselling it back into the scarred stonework. They must’ve ripped off those royal liveries when the Great Change made them fatal. Now they rushed to wriggle back into them. People adjust. They adjust more quickly and more completely than you’d ever imagine.

Leo winced as he hurried to catch up. “What can I do?” he asked. “To make things easier?”

“I want no more executions.”

An uncomfortable pause. Jurand gave Leo one of those oh-so-expressive glances from under his brows. Leo took his meaning at once, as always, and agreed at once, as always—there would need to be at least one more. King Orso was a problem with only one solution.

“I understand your feelings,” he murmured. As if fucking feelings should set policy. “I understand, but—”

“No more, Leo.”

“Savine, the guilty have to be punished. Quietly, privately, yes, but…

we have to be made safe.”

“We have to be better than Judge. Otherwise what is the point?”

“The point is that we win.” That was so obvious he was amazed he had to explain it, and to her of all people, who had been happy to trample over her own father, mother and brother if she could use them as a ladder to her own ambitions. “And some people will always be a threat. Orso’s girl Hildi is too naive, and Bremer dan Gorst is too stubborn, and I wouldn’t trust that bastard Tunny to carry my chamber pot. Honestly, I’m a long way from trusting Teufel. The woman’s proved herself quite the plotter. I worry she’s not loyal—”

“You worry she’s too loyal, you mean, but not to you.”

“What’s the difference?”

“She has proved herself effective. My father is gone and Pike was never apprehended. We must have someone competent in charge of the Inquisition. There are hundreds of Breakers and Burners still at large. Thousands, maybe. We have to root them out.” Her grazed cheek tightened as she clenched her jaw. “We have to make sure nothing like the Great Change can ever happen again.”