Fie knew he didn’t just mean the bribes. It rattled her, though, to hear him say it.
“Not all Hawks are bad,” Jasimir argued. “For the dead gods’ sake,you’rea Hawk.”
Tavin shook his head. “It doesn’t take all Hawks to get us killed. It just takes one. I’ll sent a message-hawk to the master-general once we reach the Marovar, but out here, I don’t trust—” He cut off, caught his breath, and closed his eyes. “I—I don’t trust other Hawks to protect us.”
A stiff silence fermented over the campfire.
Fie rolled Hangdog’s tooth in her fingers until it hurt.Never have to burn another body, never deal with Oleanders. We’d forget he was a Crow.
“Fine,” the prince said eventually. “Knowing Rhusana, she’ll want to take the throne in about two moons, on the summer solstice like a true Phoenix would. That leaves a moon and a half for her to… to remove Father.” Fie tilted her head at that. “One week for Father’s funeral, one more for the full coronation ceremony. She won’t settle for anything less. So if we don’t make it to the Marovar by the end of Peacock Moon…”
“King Surimir has a hunting accident,” Tavin finished.
Peacock Moon yielded to Crow Moon; then Phoenix Moon began the new year at solstice. Crow Moon meant roadside vendors peddling charms to ward off sin, a month to cast off the year’s follies and misfortunes, shorter viatik, shorter tempers.
Crow Moon was ripe for tragedy, like a king tumbling down a long set of stairs. Fie’s brow furrowed. “Rhusana goes straight to the throne after him? Thought the king had a brother.”
“Hunting accident,” Prince Jasimir said, grim.
“But didn’t your uncle have a daughter?”
“Hunting accident.”
Fie gave the prince a long, narrow look. “How’d the queen first try to off you, again?”
Tavin coughed into his fist. It sounded strangely like “hunting accident.”
“Maybe you lot ought to lay off hunting awhile,” Fie said.
Tavin laughed outright at that. Jasimir, surprisingly, covered a smile with a hand. Fie couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen him smile.
Fie couldn’t help grinning back. Maybe it would be all right, at least for a little while. They weren’t her kin, but the sharp edges of their pomp had worn off enough to abide for now.
Then Jasimir set his empty bowl down. “I’ll take watch.”
“No,” Tavin said, swift as a gate slammed shut. “Leave it to Fie and me.”
The prince frowned. “You know Mother wouldn’t want me to be deadweight.”
“She’d want me to do my job,” Tavin said, stiff. “And that’s keeping you alive.”
“You managed it fine in the palace.”
“We’re not in the palace.”
The prince’s gaze shifted to linger on Fie. His frown deepened. “Suit yourself.” He rolled out his sleeping mat and lay down without another word.
Fie couldn’t fault Tavin’s reasons; it’d be too easy for the Vultures to snatch the prince up if he alone kept watch. She was also dead sure this wasn’t the last time they’d have this quarrel.
She rolled Hangdog’s cold tooth betwixt her fingers again, over and over. Tavin broke the quiet soon enough. “Is there any chance you can sustain a glamour until the Marovar?”
Fie pursed her lips and reached for Pa’s bag of teeth. Peacocks had plenty of witches, but they had an even more abundant desire to pay as cheap as possible. “Pa may have, eh, underestimated our stock,” she allowed. “You want to look like the prince again?”
“We don’t know what we’re up against. And I’m his body double for a reason.”
“That wasn’t an ‘aye,’” Fie noted. Tavin didn’t elaborate. She fished a Peacock witch-tooth out of the bag anyhow, then sat on her knees before him.
The spark tittered as she called it to life, a Peacock gentlewoman who’d spun fanciful illusions for the royal nursery to gain favor with the queen. The older she’d gotten, the more cruelty and ambition had rotted her away, leaving battered servants, cheated merchants, andswelling coffers. When the plague came for her, she wove her own delirium dreams, giggling at the sights right up until Pa’s blade touched her throat.
