Khoda stared at them both. Then he stalked over to his own pallet and dropped onto his back, hiding his face in his hands. “Brightest Eye preserve me, I’m going to strangle them both.”
Jasimir drew himself up, mouth tightening. “I was under the impression that the entirepointof this endeavor is to overthrow Rhusana as quickly as possible so I can start fixing this mess. Fie just put us a lot closer to that, so what, precisely, is your problem?”
“My problem is thatthis isn’t a war.” Khoda sat up again, scowling. “Winning a war requires an army that you don’t have. You have spies and you have servants, and if you treat them like soldiers, you’re just going to get them killed.”
“I burned the hair Rhusana took from Draga,” Fie objected.
Khoda shook his head. “You burnedoneof them, I’m guessing. We don’t know if the queen was carrying more hair on her, if that room was her only stash, anything. And by taking the teeth, you all but wrote your name in the ashes. Until we learn more, the only good thing we can safely assume is that you’ve dealt her supply a serious blow, and now she’ll be preoccupied with restoring it.”
Jasimir narrowed his eyes. “If we’re not making war with her, then whatarewe doing?”
“Making an argument.” Khoda pushed himself back to his feet and turned to one of the empty walls, producing a piece of chalk. “A bloodless war, more or less. We need to prove that Tavin and Rhusana are unfit to lead. That’s not going to be hard, because it’s the truth.” He wrote both names on the wall, with two branches under each:WEAKNESSESandASSETS. “Rhusana is an unregistered witch, a murderer, and legally has no claim to the throne, even through her son.”
“Father officially recognized Rhusomir as his own,” Jasimir pointed out.
Khoda wrinkled his nose. “You nobles and your names. Rhusomir? Really?”
“What did you think the ‘Jasi’ part came from?” Fie returned. “Jasifur, the king’s pet dog?”
Jasimir cleared his throat. “The point is, as far as the nobility know, her claim is legitimate.”
“Not if we prove that she’s still a witch.” Khoda wrotewitchunder both Rhusana’sWEAKNESSESandASSETS. “The marriage ceremony takes away even a witch’s Birthright, and it should have given her at least the ability to withstand fire in return. Preferably, we could goad her into using her own powers in public, but really”—he addedfiretoWEAKNESSES—“she still burns like anyone else. Ifthathappens in front of the right witnesses, it’s evidence that she sabotaged the marriage ceremony, which means she was never officially married to Surimir. That nullifiesherclaim to the throne and makes Rhusomir’s claim only as good as Tavin’s.”
“Then maybe it’s a good thing we have a bag of Phoenix teeth after all,” Jasimir said frostily.
Fie shot him a grin. “I knew springing you from jail was a good call.”
Khoda threw dirty looks at each of them before turning to Tavin’s name on the wall. “This is trickier. The fact is that, as far as the public knows, he’s… well. You.” He gave a semi-apologetic head tilt to Jasimir as he scribbledpasses for PhoenixunderASSETS. “And unlike Rhusana, he’s fireproof.”
“Hawk witches can read caste in the blood,” Jasimir said. “Could one of them expose him?”
“Draga could, if she’s truly out of Rhusana’s control now. She’s likely the only one powerful enough to make a difference. But we’d be asking her to send her own son to die as a traitor.”
Fie remembered the look on Draga’s face the last time she thought she’d condemned Tavin to a terrible end. It had been hard enough for her to leave him to die by someone else’s hand. To ask her to do it herself… Fie shook her head. “I don’t like those odds.”
“Neither do I,” Khoda said. “We could try to figure out who’s doing his glamour work, but you could throw a rock in the Hall of the Dawn and it’d hit a Peacock witch and bounce off four more. And there are only so many terrifying but specific omens Fie can manufacture around Tavin before it looks less like the work of angry gods and more like an angry lov—” He caught himself. “Lady.”
“Subtle,” Fie said, stony. “They teach you that in the Black Swans?”
“You know what theydidteach me? How to keep my feelings out of a mission. And it would help if you did the same.” Khoda jabbed the chalk at the distinct lack of entries inWEAKNESSES. “Our biggest opening with Tavin right nowshould bethat he’s currently interested in ‘Lady Sakar.’ Especially because I’ve heard Rhusana is pushing him to marry off fast.”
Fie’s gut twisted. She could still hear the queen’s coo:A suitable consort. Something less embarrassing.
“Do you know how many nobles he slighted, pulling you up to the front like he did?” Khoda continued. “Almost every single one of my informants was talking about how he was showing off for some backwater Peacock girl. For a prince who’s never been interested in women, that’s a pretty big giveaway, don’t you think? But I can’t trust you to stick to the plan, so—”
“That’senough.” The last time Jasimir had taken that tone, it was when Hangdog had heckled Tavin about his parents. “Tavin signed a death warrant for Fie’s people, and you want her toseducehim? You have no right asking that of her. We’ll find another way.”
Khoda pursed his lips. It wasn’t hard to read him in that moment: they might find another way, but it wouldn’t be as swift or as easy. And her Crows didn’t have the luxury of time.
“What…” Fie’s voice cracked. She coughed. “What was your plan?”
Khoda looked from her to Jasimir and back. “Nothing too salacious. Let him chase you around enough to start raising serious questions. He could say Jasimir’s tastes have changed, but…”
“I, er, had opportunities to be interested in women,” Jasimir said awkwardly, cheeks darkening. “I was not.”
Fie’s eyes widened with wicked glee. “Oh, I need to hear aboutthat.”
“Later,” Khoda said. “But between that and you writingbastardover his head in fire, the rest of the palace ought to start catching on.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Rhusana needs to reschedule the coronation. I suspect she’ll be throwing parties and revels left and right to keep the nobility busy and happy in the meantime. That’s where we’d start, making sure plenty of people see him haring after you. The prince and I can pose as servants to eavesdrop and get a sense of who’s having doubts.”
