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“I should have gone already.”

Sulvi steeled her chin. “I’m coming with you.”

“No, Sulvi.” Revni clasped her hands. “You are not a soti.”

Sulvi reared back, but Revni squeezed tighter.

“I only mean you are not sworn! You should get Runa and all the rest and go to the settlements. Don’t wait any longer.”

“Revni.” Sulvi’s eyes filled. “You are my only family.”

Revni’s heart choked her throat. “What about your aunt? She waits for you in the north.”

“My great-aunt. She is probably toothless and smells of old skin. Let me come with you.”

“This revenge is mine to take.”

Sulvi’s expression darkened. “You don’t think I pray to Kyrianos?”

She had a point. But a tingle at the back of Revni's neck made her turn. Fayla and her guest were watching them. How much of their conversation had they understood?

“Silve,” Revni said cautiously, just as Sulvi gave her own small, “Selt.”

Fayla beckoned, and Sulvi scurried over. Revni tensed. She’d set down her sword when she rushed in and it was just there, too far out of reach to snatch without making it obvious. Revni took a casual step towards it.

But Fayla only patted Sulvi’s hand, then her cheek, then kissed her knuckles. She understood enough, perhaps. Revni collected her weapon and followed Sulvi into the sunshine.

“We have to hurry,” Sulvi insisted, though Revni hadn’t been moving slow. Sulvi knew her way around. She avoided the wider streets, twisting down alleys with their sharp smells and the soft slick of mold, until the buildings shifted: wood to stone, thatched roofs to tiled. Sulvi squinted at the sky. “I think shift change should be soon—there are always a lot more guards around then, but it’s also when there’ll be activity near the door. The hustle and bustle and all of that.”

Sulvi tossed her an excited grin, and Revni’s heart swelled. Sulvi thought of herself as a coward, but she had always been the first to jump in whenever Revni had a scheme, protesting and listing off worries while she scurried along in front. Not just with Revni. It was Sulvi who’d cornered Niall behind a cart and demanded that he kiss her if he wanted. It was Sulvi who had been the first to say yes to moving to Faen, even before the rest of the clan had decided.

“So you’ve just been robbing the palace every night?” Revni teased.

“Not every night.” Another grin. “Sometimes we just look around. No one notices the servants. Or a few missing cups. Runa and Yele and the others live down that way.” She pointed. “I visit when I can.”

“Sulvi, I mean it.”

Sulvi paused at Revni’s tone. The cove of Revni’s palm itched with sweat. Revni gripped the sword tighter.

“I will do the gods’ task here. But you should leave, tonight. It won’t be safe for you anymore.”

Sulvi’s face grew serious. “Let me get you inside. Then we’ll split up. I’ll go out the ground floor and go get Runa and everyone else. We’ll grab what we’ve put away and go. You’ve been in the wilderness. You speak Brigfaen. With all of us together, we can find the Snake.”

“I—”

Sulvi broke into another smile. “Your parents would be proud of this. You always said you wanted to prove worthy, and look at you—redeeming the whole Gonsson clan. The jurlssons won’t know what to do with themselves. We’ll stride in among our own people with heads high. I knew the fates had not forgotten us. This whole nightmare is almost over.”

Sulvi waved Revni to follow her around a corner, but Revni was struck dumb. Could it be possible? It was all she wanted—glory and praise, the jurls’ power broken, the city dipped in chaos that maybe the locals could rise from, Eavus thwarted, Revni secure, and all it would take was one simple death.

Oh, the god in her whispered, I’m going to want more than that.

“Come, come,” Sulvi urged. The alley spilled them into a square, and Revni recognized the back of the massive white building she’d come upon before. Sulvi sidestepped a jutting altar that capped the end of the alley, then dodged a cart piled high with oysters. The seller shouted at them, but Revni didn’t know whether he was angry or trying to make a sale. An Aleterian soldier coming off duty pried his helmet off his head as he approached. Revni’s heart skipped a beat.

“Silve!” The soldier flagged down the oyster-man, and Sulvi pulled Revni off to the side and started coughing violently.

“Are you ok?”

“Fine,” Sulvi said between coughs. She flashed a smile. “If they think you’re sick, they leave you alone. Cough. Look contagious.”