I let out a strangled cry and kicked at his knees while digging my fingers into his forearms. He responded by tightening his hold around my throat. I gasped for breath.

I squirmed and kicked, trying to tangle my feet with his to bring us both down. He wrenched my head back, squeezing even more. The air in my lungs burned hotter and hotter. The crowd hazed out of focus.

I clawed and pulled at his grip until my arms felt too sluggish to move.

The man shouldered and elbowed his way through. Hands reached out from every direction as though they thought just touching me would somehow entitle them to the reward. Hairs were ripped from my head. My cloak tore. Someone spit in my face.

Worse were the insults they lobbed at me: Snake. Palace rat. Murderer. Eventually their voices all ran together, a cacophony of noise that reverberated over and over in my mind with the sound of my rising heartbeat, which slowly drowned out everything.

We burst into the circle the guards were maintaining around the well.

The soldier who’d been on the well rushed over carrying his spear.

The man dropped me at his feet. “There’s the princess. Now I want my reward.”

I lay there, struggling for breath. I wanted nothing more than to get the golden cuff off my neck, to feel cool air over my skin. But I couldn’t even bring my fingers up to undo the clasps.

“Shackle her,” the soldier said.

I was rolled over and a knee pinned me to the ground. My hands were ripped forward and chained in front of me. Two soldiers yanked me to my feet, propping me up between them. They must’ve been fed a different story by Rodric than the one my father had spouted in the square if they knew I wasn’t going to go easily.

“Move out,” the soldier called. “Take her up to the palace.”

“What about the well?” one of the soldiers holding me asked hesitantly.

“We’re about to get promoted,” the first soldier replied. “I don’t care what happens to the well as long as we get her through this crowd and up to the palace.”

“Where’s my reward?” the man said, stepping forward.

The soldier studied the man for a moment. “Of course.” Then he took his spear and rammed it into the man’s stomach.

I cried out, watching while the man’s wide eyes instantly turned to glass.

The soldier ripped the spear away and faced the crowd as the man collapsed in front of him, blood mingling with the sand. “Does anyone else want to claim the reward for Princess Kateri?”

The square had gone eerily quiet.

“I didn’t think so.” He turned back to his men. “Let’s go.”

The two soldiers dragged me in the direction I’d come from, which at least took them away from Cion’s assigned location. Maybe he’d seen I’d been captured and made a run for it.

Then again, I was drawing all the soldiers away from the well. I’d failed at everything else, but maybe I’d done just enough and he’d risk the raid after all. If there was even water to be had.