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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

“No,” he said on a sigh. “No Hell-Bards have caught up to her yet.”

“Thank the gods,” Safi breathed, and her shoulders wilted, her neck relaxed.

Caden, who watched her sideways through hooded eyes, only tensed all the more. “Lev tells me you keep testing the noose.”

“So Lev spies on me too.”

“It isn’t spying,” he countered, a bit too sharply. A bit too loud. He cleared his throat. “She … cares for you. We all do, Your Imperial Majesty. Becoming a Hell-Bard doesn’t only sever magic. It severs our lives, our minds, our souls. You aren’t alone, Safi.”

Safi. It was nice to hear her name again, though it was also a reminder of just how alone she truly was. “I am surrounded by no one I can trust, Caden. Except Lev. And I have no idea where in all the Witchlands my Threadsister might be.” She chewed her lip. Her words sounded whiny. Pathetic. Yet she couldn’t seem to stop them. “I’m forced to do whatever the Emperor desires because if I don’t, he hurts you. All of you.”

Caden’s frown deepened. For several moments, he said nothing, as if he was thinking through every sentence, every word, every pause. Ahead, massive doors into the old palace were whispering wide, opened by waiting servants. The Hell-Bards did not break formation as they marched purposefully through, Safi and Caden still tucked within their ranks.

At a broad staircase, however, the Hell-Bards finally slowed to a stop—forcing Safi and Caden to stop as well. Then they separated into lines along the entryway’s walls while a new set of Hell-Bards descended the steps, Lev at the fore.

Caden turned to Safi, his posture stiff and military as he popped a bow. “Your Imperial Majesty, remember what I told you.” With a stiff flick of his hand, he motioned to his neck, to where his noose rested beneath layers of armor and padding. “You are not the only dead woman here, and we protect our own.” Then he lifted his voice—just loud enough for the nearby Hell-Bards to hear. “Toward death with wide eyes,” he said, quoting their motto.

As one, they replied, “All clear, all clear.”

Gooseflesh crawled down Safi’s skin. Her throat swelled. For though she had heard the Hell-Bard motto before, she’d never had it directed at her. She had never had it include her.

She was one of them now. A Hell-Bard. All clear, all clear.

Safi turned away from Caden then and allowed Lev and the others to clack into formation around her. It was time, once more, to enter the palace and take up her mantle at the Emperor’s side.

TWELVE

When Vivia awoke, it was to find the sun rising and the world silent. No drumbeats, no winds, no cannons firing. Just a ship’s familiar creaking, wood and ropes and sail all moving in tandem.