Lovisa glanced at Bitterblue. The queen was gazing up at the city rising above the water, its hills, towers, and spires touched by the sun’s glow.

“Beautiful,” Bitterblue said. Then she pulled off one of her many gold rings—Lovisa couldn’t remember seeing those rings on her fingers before, but she knew the Lienid tradition—and held it in the palm of her hand. “Do you know of a place where I could get a warm bath?” she asked the woman.

This made the woman laugh again, then look upon them with something that really did feel like kindness, without self-interest.

“I do, actually,” she said. “Far from the eyes of your wealthy persecutors.”

“Do we so obviously have wealthy persecutors?” asked Bitterblue.

“With your evasive answers, and those fine coats you’re wearing? And those thick golden rings on your fingers? I hear your accent too, girl. You should take those rings off if you don’t want rumors circulating about a wealthy Lienid girl on Trader’s Beach.”

Bitterblue pulled her hands inside her sleeves. “Rumors about me are fine,” she said. “It’s my friend we don’t want people noticing.”

“Interesting,” said the woman. “What else do you need, besides a bath?”

“Nothing,” said Lovisa, who needed so many things. She needed to know what rumors were being told of a fire last night in Flag Hill. She needed to know how to get to the north, without an airship and without being recognized. And she needed the queen to stop talking so much.

“Are you on the run?” asked the woman.

“No,” said Lovisa, too quickly.

“Mm-hm,” said the woman. “The proprietor of the bath I mentioned can help people on the run. Especially people who want to get far away, fast. Ask her about it, if you like, and show her your fancy rings. And don’t delay, for there’s a storm moving in.”

How suspiciously easy, how amazing that this woman could provide every last thing they needed. “Why don’t you just point us toward this bath,” Lovisa said, with no real intention of visiting the bath, “and we’ll go.”

“You won’t find it on your own,” the woman said. “I’ll provide someone to lead you.”

“No,” said Lovisa. “We prefer to manage alone.”

“But,” Bitterblue said to Lovisa, “do you know the route to your friend?”

Lovisa responded in Lingian so that the beach woman wouldn’t understand. “How hard can it be? We follow the coast.”

“Do you know the terrain?” asked Bitterblue, also in Lingian. “Do you know how to sleep outside in the cold?”

“We’ll find hotels!”

“Do you know for a fact that there are hotels? Hotels where you won’t be recognized, or our identities guessed? Won’t your parents ask at the hotels? We need to get you away from here quickly, without leaving a trail.”