“You seriously want to dissolve the caste system?” Tavin asked.
“You can’t tell me it’s working as the Covenant wants,” Rhusana answered. “You can’t tell me it’s rewarding the virtuous by sending them to the Phoenixes. Surimir was proof enough of that. So yes, I want a world where the best person can rule the nation, not just the one who happened to be born to the right family, the right caste. If that means letting the plague take all the sinners it wants, I’ll let it, because what’s left will be the strongest of us. It will beunited. I don’t hate the Crows. They’re just the price I’m willing to pay to fix this country.”
Tavin looked at the parchment slips on the desk, then up at Rhusana. “Horseshit,” he said mildly. “It’s miserable being caught between two castes, I know. You don’t belong anywhere, you don’t have the protection from either caste, and the only thing you can do is try to make a place for yourself, make your own safety. But you can tell me this is for some better version of Sabor all you like. I’m guessing your version still has you as queen.”
Rhusana gave an elegant shrug. “Like I said. The best person for the job.”
“Like I said.” Tavin returned her shrug, cold. “Safety. You think you can get rid of the labels but keep the hierarchy and call thatunited. I’m also guessing your Sabor has no room for a king.” Rhusana’s mouth twisted. Tavin didn’t wait for an answer that wouldn’t come. “I figured you’d only let me live long enough to win over the Peacocks. I’m not wasting any of my time signing any of your garbage. Besides, you already broke your side of the deal with whatever you’ve done to Fie.”
Jasimir’s hand found Fie’s and held it tight.
Rhusana straightened up, and, even in the full clutch of midsummer, a frost seemed to roll through the room. “Whatever I’ve done,” she repeated, slow as her white tiger stretching. “Why do you think I can’t doworseto her?”
“Because if you could, you’d make me watch,” Tavin returned, so matter-of-fact it sent ice through Fie’s gut.
Rhusana didn’t smile, didn’t frown; her face was an eerie sort of blank. She picked up the parchment decrees, then held them out to Tavin once more. “And what makes you think I can’t do worse to your newest little conquest? What was her name again… Niemi?”
It was Fie’s turn to clench Jasimir’s hand.
“Do you think they teach their daughters about poison in the north?” Rhusana asked gently. “The ones that take a full week to killyou, so you can watch your fingers and toes fall off one by one? The ones you survive, but every breath is torture for the rest of your life? Do you think the Crows would give her mercy—”
Tavin tore the parchment slips out of the queen’s hand.
She smiled and handed him a quill. “Remember to sign as Jasimir.”
Fie wanted to scream, she wanted to throw herself at Rhusana and claw her eyes out, she wanted to curse Tavin all through the twelve hells for signing the Crows’ deaths into law. She wanted to burn this study down, burn the royal quarters down—she would burn the palace down with all of them in it if it meant bringing this sick mummery to an end.
Tavin’s hands were shaking as he signed, again and again and again. It brought her no comfort.
He reached the bottom of the stack and paused, blinking at the page. Rhusana wasn’t paying attention, frowning at her map of the shrines, but Fie could see it was the blank parchment Jasimir had forged most of Rhusana’s signature on.
Tavin nudged it back under the stack so only the signature line was showing. “You forgot the seal on one.”
Rhusana pointed to a drawer, then pulled one of her finger-claws off, still studying her map. “The wax is in there.”
Tavin removed a stick of golden wax and flicked a flame to its end until it dribbled onto the page. “Done.”
The queen had extracted a signet ring from her jewelry apparatus. She pressed it into the wax, swift and firm, then yanked it back as if waiting for Tavin to snatch it from her grasp. Tavin rolled his eyes. Rhusana turned back to her map, fiddling with her claws.
Quick as a flash, Fie saw Tavin fold the blank parchment and slip it up a sleeve. Her heart skipped a beat.
“Are we done here?” he asked, stiff.
Rhusana collected the stack of orders and nodded, sweeping pasthim and out of the study. “Thank you for your assistance,” she called back, a twinkle in her eye. “You ought to go work off that stress with the Sakar girl. You’ve certainly earned it. And who knows when you’ll have another chance?”
Tavin watched her go, glowering. Then he patted his sleeve, which gave a crinkle of parchment, and strode out, shutting the door behind him.
Neither Jasimir nor Fie moved for a long breath, not until they heard the door to Rhusomir’s room open and close. Then Fie let the Sparrow witch-tooth go.
“Are you all right?” Jasimir asked immediately.
It was jolting, being asked that by someone who wasn’t her own kin. But they’d been through enough, she reckoned they’d grown close enough for him to know the signs. “Not really,” she croaked. “We need to tell Khoda.”
Jasimir nodded. “Let’s finish the map, then we can get out of here.”
“It won’t be enough,” Fie said. “She can find them again.”
“Nothing’s going to be enough while she’s still in power, but we can make her waste her time.” He got up and pulled a flag out of the map. “Come on, it’ll go faster with the two of us.”
