“Fie, we need to go. The queen’s rounding up the Sparrows and having all of them caste-tested. She’s looking for us.”
“But—”
The stamp of Hawk boots ratcheted down the walkway outside.
“No time, we’re going.” Khoda seized her by the elbow and hauled her into the corridor.
Fie yanked free, then locked her arm in his in a much more manageable position. “Stay close to me,” she said, and called a Sparrow witch-tooth to life. Both she and Khoda disappeared.
“Don’t you need to be saving these?” Khoda hissed.
Fie headed toward the stairs. “It’s… complicated,” she hissed back, because it was the truth.
She still had all three Sparrow witch-teeth Pa had given her. All three Pigeon witch-teeth. She even hadTavin’stooth still knotted in a bit of rag on her string, because every time she thought she’d burned one out, a day later the spark was back, good as new.
The Sinner’s Brand on healthy people. Teeth that wouldn’t burn out. And, as Fie and Khoda passed a window screen on the first floor, crows clamoring in the gardens.
The Sparrow man had been right. It wasn’t for her to know what the Covenant wanted with them now, because absolutely none of it made a lick of sense.
Fie yanked Khoda to the side as Hawks marched down the hall. They flattened themselves against the wall, the spears passing less than a hand-width from Fie’s nose. Door after door crashed open, and the offices’ occupants were marched out to line up.
A Hawk with the bronze-and-carnelian badge of a war-witch passed from Sparrow to Sparrow, gripping each bare wrist a moment, then moving on. Once the war-witch had passed them by, Fie gave Khoda’s arm a tweak and scuttled sideways for the door.
They eased out into the too-bright sun. Shouts of surprise and dismay echoed from every floor of the servants’ quarters; at least a quarter of the staff had to have been sleeping before their night shift.
A sudden dreadful thought struck. “Where’s Jas?”
“He came back to the guest quarters,” Khoda answered. “We’ll be safe there. Rhusana’s only testing the palace servants right now, not any of the Peacocks’ attendants.”
Fie remembered the way the war-witch had tested the Sparrows and stopped in place. Khoda nearly yanked her off her feet by accident, not seeing she’d ground to a halt.
“What—?” he spluttered.
“This just got a lot worse,” Fie said. “We need to see if—”
She heard boots behind them and shoved Khoda into a hedge, joining him fast as she could.
“We’realready invisible!” he whispered, irate.
“They can still run into us,” Fie whispered back. “Andhear us, so shut up already. I’m watching for something.”
The footfalls of Hawks pounded down the stairs, but it was the trio of Sparrows from the sick room who emerged through the doorway first.
Fie bit her fist, thinkingno, no, no, no, no.
A squad of Hawks followed, keeping them at spear’s length. Fie caught “quarantine hut” and bit down harder. Khoda muttered a curse beside her.
The Sparrows were marched out and away. Once they had passed, Khoda asked, “How long do they have?”
“I don’t know,” Fie answered. “They only have the Sinner’s Brand,no other symptoms. They’ve all had it for long enough for the plague to kill them. It could be hours, it could be days. Weeks, even.”
Khoda swore again. “And the queen won’t light a beacon, because she didn’t light one for Surimir, and people will start asking why.Damnit all. I know your father can hold out to the end of the moon.… But I don’t know if Dumosa can.”
Fie had no answer for that, so she helped him out of the hedge instead. “Let’s get to the room.”
The jeers of crows followed them all the way back to the guest quarters.
In her dream, she was swimming again, in her favorite of the private gardens. Her tiger was lounging in the other end of the pond, dozing among the lantern-lilies. She supposed he missed the chill of the Marovar nearly as much as she did, but he made it much easier to cow the Peacocks of the south. One look at a queen riding in on a tiger and they gave her everything she wanted.
