Bitterblue reached down, putting her fingers to the pulse at Ferla’s throat. “Her heart is beating,” she said.

A terrible relief crashed against Lovisa, followed by certainty. “If she’s alive, she’s going to look for us.”

“Where can we go?” said Bitterblue. “Whom do you trust?”

“I don’t know!” Mari flashed across Lovisa’s mind. Then Nev, but Nev was already gone. “I trust two people,” Lovisa said. “One, I refuse to endanger. The other went north today.”

“I want to go north,” said the queen firmly.

“North?” Lovisa repeated dumbly. “No. We need to bring you somewhere safe and make an announcement that you’re alive in front of lots of people. Then I need to run.”

“If it would make you safe for us to announce my safety, then that’s certainly what we should do,” said the queen. “But you’ve destroyed a lot of property and hurt your mother, and I’m not inclined to trust anyone either. I’ve learned—from an informant—that my friends have gone north. I think our next move would benefit from some strategic thought, someplace out of the way. I’m inclined to go north.” The queen was speaking calmly, patting her pockets to check on her possessions. “Do you suppose I should take your mother’s coat, and her shoes?” she added. “She won’t freeze, will she?”

Tears were running down Lovisa’s face. “Her fox will find her soon,” she said, bending down and beginning the unpleasant task of stripping things from Ferla’s insensate body, which was heavy, and seemed dead even if it wasn’t. When she began to sob at how awful the job was, the queen took over, pulling off Ferla’s shoes and coat, bundling herself into them. They fit her well.

“Give me that,” said Bitterblue, for Lovisa still carried the ash shovel in one tight fist, as if it were an extension of her arm. It didn’t seem possible to put it down. The queen wrenched it from her grip, inspected its edge. Walked to a nearby window bright with flames, used it to stab through the window glass, then threw the shovel inside.

“Have you decided what’s best for us to do?” she said as she came back. “Lovisa Cavenda,” she added more gently, taking the girl’s arm. “That’s your name, right? You’re Katu’s niece. We have to move.”

Katu. Lovisa couldn’t bear the reminder of Katu. “I have a friend in the north,” she said numbly. “I miss her.”

“We’ll go to her,” said Bitterblue. “Please, lead the way.”