She sobbed, tried to catch a breath, tried to say, “Kem,” but all that came out was snot and tears. He took his sleeve and wiped the slimy mess from her face, and that made her break down again. And then she started laughing wildly.

Kem said, “The laughing is scaring me more than the crying.”

On a sob, she said, “Why?”

“I mean, you never cried when Mama died. I’m not saying that to fault you. I knew why. You were being strong. You’re always the strong one. So, it’s kind of comforting to know you can cry. Not that I want to see you sad.”

“Don’t you hate me now?”

“Hate you!”

She could feel him roll his eyes.

He hitched the blanket back where it had slipped off her shoulder but he said nothing. She wiped her nose, swallowed, blinked. Her eyes were awash with tears. The world looked blurred, confusing, impossible to bring back into focus.

“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked, in the same intonation and with the exact same words she’d used on him more than once when he’d come running home all upset over some disappointment or slight or, once or twice, a fight. Not that he was a belligerent youth, not at all, but he tended to jump in when he thought someone else was being treated unfairly. How she loved his sense of justice and fair play.

In a changed tone, he said, “What is that?”

A slight movement stirred the edge of the Pall below them. The viper wiggled back into view, curving along the rocky shore until it found purchase on the stony-built slope to begin its ascent.

Kem tensed, making ready to jump to his feet and draw his shrive-steel sword.

She tightened an arm around him and said, “Don’t move.”

“What is it?”

Circumstance had forced what she’d never offered freely. She thought, Let him walk away while he has the chance, while he has a safe haven to escape to. She deserved nothing. No one deserved anything except her beloved child.

“The secret I couldn’t tell you. Wouldn’t tell you. It’s why I can always find Spore and kill Spore. If you trust me, don’t move.”

The viper ascended like a wave toward her. It wasn’t that it gleamed, but that its essence made it as visible at night as it was during the day. Darkness didn’t hide it. Only her flesh could.

Kem shifted nervously, but he didn’t jump up and run. He watched as she pulled off her glove, folded back the hem of her sleeve, and set her hand on the ground, palm down. The palm the haunt had kissed, but her skin was as cold as it had ever been, cold as the tomb.

The boy made a noise, clutching at her as if he meant to haul her away after all.