I don’t know what I’m doing, said the fox, pressing harder. I think my mind must have been injured in the fire. Where am I? Who are you?

Ferla was trying to thrash, but she couldn’t move her limbs. Something had broken inside her body when she fell. Fox! Stop!

I’m your fox, said the fox. You can trust me.

Then her terror faded away. Everything about Ferla’s feelings faded away. The fox waited a moment, still pressing.

When he was sure she wasn’t breathing anymore, he stepped down from her throat. Then, retreating slowly, he tucked himself against the wall. He was freezing, and old, and stiff. And Lovisa might be safe from her mother now, but he was pretty sure he had at least one broken rib. He felt like he had a broken soul.

That guard had decided to come inside after all. He was heading toward the source of the noise.

Pushing himself through pain, the fox ran.

Chapter Thirty-five

For Lovisa, everything was happening too fast.

Everyone else kept complaining that things were too slow. When the Ledra Magistry didn’t arrest her parents right away, the Monseans were incredulous. When the local Magistry showed no interest in their evidence because part of it came from stories the silbercows told—the queen got angry.

“Why can’t silbercows give evidence?” she demanded. “Why shouldn’t their knowledge matter? People have been murdered!”

“They make things up, Lady Queen,” the magistrate kept saying.

“But what about the things they aren’t making up?”

“And how are we to know which is which?”

“By looking into it!” the queen almost shouted. “People make things up too, you know! Do you believe everything every human witness tells you just because they’re human?”

“You aren’t from here, Lady Queen,” the magistrate kept saying dismissively.

But Nev and Nev’s family were from here, and Lovisa could see the resolve strengthening in their faces during these conversations. Everyone around Lovisa, Keepish or Monsean, was determined to see this through, regardless of rules or laws. It might almost be inspiring—except that what they were striving for was the ruin of Lovisa’s family. It was also the ruin of her own life.

She spent a lot of time sitting at the fireplace, watching people come and go, listening to the northern accent of Nev’s family wash around her, remembering that she’d used to sit by the fire in the dormitory foyer, keeping tabs on everyone’s business. It felt like a lifetime ago. It was literally last week. And she couldn’t get a handle on any of these people; Lovisa had lost the clever person she’d used to be. She was hollow and dry, like a shell made of powder. If anyone touched her, she would collapse into dust.