Lena didn’t feel different. She didn’t feel like Chaos was living inside her, waiting to overwhelm her. Not right now. But after the past year, and after what had happened with the snake and how she had suddenly felt at the crossroads, how could she deny it? She stroked the butterfly in her pocket as Emris sank into silence, perhaps realizing how much new information she had to turn over in her mind. If what Emris had said was true, she’d be required to pledge herself to the gods. Could she do that? She was already an outcast, divorced from the Ancestors and the ceremonies binding her to their guidance. Part of her had prepared for the possibility long ago, before the storm cloud, when she’d fantasized about the world beyond the forest. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d always assumed she would return—because of Vigo. And now she had to grieve for Vigo.

But if she worshipped the gods, she’d be a confirmed heretic. Vigo had been a pious man—he’d never have approved of the person she would become.

If she did as Emris said, there would be no turning back. Her throat felt sore and tight, and she gazed out at the view, trying to distract herself.

Below, the King’s Road was growing broader and busier, villages and towns crowding either side of it, bustling with people and wagons and horses. All of a sudden, Emris dropped their altitude, and Lena nearly jumped out of her seat when another charmed carriage crossed overhead, the underside of the vehicle passing a few feet above. She watched the carriage retreat—a gleaming black chassis with a golden crest on the side.

“Those who ride the sky road are usually either on temple business or disgustingly rich,” Emris explained, smiling ruefully.

Here and there below, Lena thought she could spy a child pointing at them in delight, or perhaps fear—and dogs barked up as they passed. The sun beat down brightly, and Lena turned her face, her mark, toward the brilliant warmth, thinking—just for a moment—about nothing else.

They spoke intermittently during the afternoon, landing in a grassy field for a brief meal of bread and cheese and small tart apples that Lena retrieved from the supplies in the carriage, where the coachman was snoring noisily.

“What of your life in Duke’s Forest?” Emris asked while they ate. “What did you leave behind, and why?”