“They’re not here.”

A horrible sense of dread rose into my throat.

“Ummi, there’s a storage room. Around the corner.”

And as soon as I said it, a sound of rushing water filled my ears. If someone was lying in wait, or if Mudi had taken Mirrum, then that was where they’d be. I placed Arwia’s trembling hand against the cloth over her ear, and scooted away from Humusi, candle held high.

“A-zu, no.” Humusi gripped my elbow.

I shook her off.

“Stay with Arwia.”

If Mudi or Mirrum was in that room and had been harmed in any way, then I needed to be there to help.

Creeping between the pallets, each footfall enveloped by the shadows, I met Ummi’s eyes and jerked my head toward the corner where the storage room was.

Ummi nodded and pressed her lips grimly together in a line. Her dark eyes hardened as her grip tightened around her battle-axes. Like a cat, she slid around the corner, both weapons in her firm grip, and shoved past the beads hanging in front of the storage room.

I expected a shriek of terror. Or a cry of surprise.

But there was only Ummi’s guttural “Oh,” the word whispered in an expulsion of breath. It was followed by a name softly spoken in the dark.

“A-zu?”

Mudi. Mirrum.

Sick with dread, I dragged leaden legs to the beaded doorway, my stomach knotted.

“Kammani, wait for me.” Arwia’s strangled command rang through the chamber.

But I didn’t listen.

I pushed past Ummi, whose wide brown eyes were filled with a hard compassion. She tucked her battle-axes away and laid thick hands on my shoulders as I faced what I already knew I’d see.

No assassin was lying in wait in the storage room.

But both Mudi and Mirrum were.

Their throats had been slashed, and deep maroon blood was draped down the fronts of their tunics like aprons.

I sat down hard right where I was, spilling the candle and snuffing the light as their bodies swam in front of me.

Mudi. Mirrum.

A healer and a warrior so ill she couldn’t fight back as she was trained to do.

Murdered.

My hands found my head and I moaned in agony. I was going to save Mirrum! She was going to heal! And Mudi. A sob rose in my throat.

Behind me, Arwia’s quick cry, followed by hiccupping sobs, filled the room. Ummi barked an order to Humusi and they chatted quickly, frantically. Then Humusi left the room, her sandals slapping against the cool sandstone floor.

But I drowned them out as I clung to my rational thought. It was the only thing keeping me from tearing the room apart in sorrow. In panic. Because why they’d been targeted was only a mystery if it wasn’t coupled with Arwia’s attack at the wedding.

An assassin had been sent to kill a healer, and a healer he’d killed.

The problem was, he’d murdered the wrong one.