But it wasn’t the only thing wrong. Two bodies lay half-hidden behind the hibiscus bushes. Roa recognized the first one as the man who’d been carrying Essie’s cage into the palace. He and his comrade lay on the floor tiles, their necks snapped, just beyond the hibiscus.
There was no blood. No sign of a struggle. Whatever had done this had done it very quickly.
An ice-cold feeling spread through Roa.
“What happened here?” Rebekah demanded.
No one answered her.
It’s begun,thought Roa, looking to the rising sun. The Relinquishing was upon them. Today, uncrossed souls resumed their true forms and walked among the living.
Essie?Roa scanned the trees, the pools.Where are you?
She reached for the hum and found it gone.
That can’t be...
Roa reached again. But there was nothing there this time.
The hum was dead within her.
Rebekah looked from the broken cage to Roa. “Do you know what did this?”
Roa knew.
“A corrupted spirit,” she whispered.
They threw her into a room with no windows or bars.
Roa had never seen the inside of a cell. Scrublanders didn’t have things like cells or dungeons. This one was chilled and damp and dark. It smelled like rot and the only bit of light came through a sliver in the bottom of the door.
It was like a tomb of stone. Suffocating her.
Is this how Essie feels, every single day?
But it was the Relinquishing. And Roa had seen that empty cage.
Wherever she is, Essie is free of her bird form.
She banged on the door. When they ignored her, she banged louder, demanding to be let out. She had only today and tonight to find Dax. And in this windowless room, she couldn’t tell how much time was passing.
When her banging proved futile, Roa began to pace the grimy floor.
Essie, where are you?
She wanted her sister—the only one who could soothe the lonely ache in her. The one she belonged to.
But her sister wasn’t here. And Asha’s words had claws.
It’s your bond that’s keeping her captive.
When the door swung open, the red-gold glow from the dungeon bays flooded in. Rebekah stood in the frame, blocking the light and staring down at Roa. The Skyweaver’s knife was tucked into her sash.
She wasn’t alone. Behind her stood the seven councillors who’d been plotting against Roa in the library. The very samecouncillors Dax had locked up for treason.
Rebekah must have found their cells and let them out.
For what purpose?
