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Chapters (70)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Map
  5. Epigraph
  6. BEGINNINGS
  7. PART I
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. ELEVEN
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. PART II
  45. THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. THIRTY-NINE
  48. FORTY
  49. FORTY-ONE
  50. FORTY-TWO
  51. FORTY-THREE
  52. FORTY-FOUR
  53. FORTY-FIVE
  54. FORTY-SIX
  55. FORTY-SEVEN
  56. FORTY-EIGHT
  57. FORTY-NINE
  58. FIFTY
  59. FIFTY-ONE
  60. FIFTY-TWO
  61. FIFTY-THREE
  62. FIFTY-FOUR
  63. FIFTY-FIVE
  64. FIFTY-SIX
  65. FIFTY-SEVEN
  66. TRICKSTER
  67. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  68. Also by Susan Dennard
  69. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  70. Newsletter Sign-up

Which meant it was time to follow the rhyme. Time to become the Lady Baile whom Stix was meant to be. Not just the saint’s chosen, not just a vessel for memories a thousand years past, but Baile herself. A Paladin. Someone as strong as Kahina, if not stronger. Because this was her palace, and her water-filled home.

Fangs cut into Stix’s legs. Bright bursts of pain punctuated by squeals that claimed all hearing. Bodies covered her with warmth and fur and claws to draw blood. She had to ignore it though. Just for a moment, she had to ignore it and pray she had interpreted the writing correctly.

Slaughter Ring, slaughtering. Slaughter Ring, slaughtering. Always, always stay the night.

Her arms stretched long. She was done with seeking answers. Done with the timeless existence of the voices. She was done picking at an open sore and wondering what Vivia must think.

Stix reached. She knew what her magic felt like. It had been a part of her for almost a decade. An organ, a limb, a piece of soul that not even flames could contain.

Come, Stix told the tide rising in a river below. We are one, and I need you. Come. Power wove through her muscles, even as her vision wavered. Come this way, keep coming. The Ring and Ryber and all the rats hazed away. Stars sprayed across Stix’s eyes, but the water listened. Her oldest, dearest friend.

It slithered as she needed it to slither, wringing from the very air itself and squeezing into the gaps between flames. It obeyed and rejoiced and sank until the flames had no more fuel, no more will to live. And as the conflagration paled, ice rose up from the earth to claim each rat, to freeze them one by one.

Power surged over Stix. All of it, straight from Noden. So vast and full and entirely her own. She saw almost nothing. There was only darkness and flashes of weary light. But for now, while she revelled in the true edges of her magic, she didn’t need her vision. The slaughtering was done.

Fingers gripped her shoulder—so much like the memory of a Paladin named Rhian. But it was Ryber’s voice who said, “We’re safe. You can stop now.”

“Hye,” Stix answered, a sound both ragged and elated. Then: “I can’t see. The magic is … everything.”

“It will recede,” Ryber assured her. “Kullen’s lungs always failed him when he used too much power.”

“I can’t wait for it to return, though, Ry. We need to get to the harbor. Can you lead us there?”

“Why?” Ryber asked, even as she scooped an arm behind Stix. Water rushed around their feet, rivulets melting off the rats. “What’s at the harbor?”

“What your cards were pointing us to all along: the Queen of Hawks, the Queen of Foxes, and the Giant.”

FORTY-THREE