“We are here to protect the people, nothing more. That was always the mistake of the Exalted Ones—pushing the levers of the land where all could see, and then growing bitter when the people did not appreciate. Praise is not ours to claim, though, Water Brawler. Paladins were not meant to rule.”

“I don’t want praise. I don’t want to rule.”

“If not that, then … Ah.” Kahina’s face relaxed, and Stix hated the pity in her eyes. “You are not the first Paladin to fall for their charge.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Stix strode past Kahina; pipe smoke wafted up her nostrils.

“Of course you do.” Kahina trailed behind, unhurried. “I loved my ruler once too, and I have never loved anyone as much as I loved them. But they could not love me in return, for that was not what they were put here to do.”

Stix walked faster, noisier than she ought to have been, desperate to end this conversation. Ferns lashed against her knees. Nettle pricked against her forearms.

“Wait.” Kahina’s hand grabbed Stix’s forearm, and though Stix wanted to bark at the other woman to leave her be, she allowed Kahina to tow her to a stop. She couldn’t help it. Rhian had once been a comfort to Baile; their souls still sang to each other. “You will see your queen in her golden crown,” Kahina told her, “just as I will see mine wearing a crown of iron. But it will not be two crowns, so much as one woven together.”

Stix gritted her teeth, wishing those words didn’t have such pointed fangs. “You mean they will rule as one.”

“I do.” Kahina sucked a long drag from her pipe. Smoke hissed out between her teeth. “That is what our great maker wants, and it is best to accept such reality now. It will save you from heartache in the end.”

Stix’s teeth gnashed all the harder, but she could no more deny Kahina’s words than she could the sea always inside her veins. And Ryber’s cards had warned her, even if she hadn’t wanted to see.

The Queen of Hawks, the Queen of Foxes, and the Giant.

“Come.” Kahina released her hold on Stix and pushed through the jungle. Stix followed more slowly, her fingers scraping over limestone while the jungle clicked and wheezed around her. She had come here a month ago, following the voices. Come this way, keep coming. It had been so easy back then, when she had thought she would soon return to Vivia’s side. And despite what Kahina might say, Stix wasn’t abandoning that hope yet.

She missed Vivia. She missed her father. She missed the Cleaved Man and she missed home.