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With the Day of the Dead three nights away, I had already wasted too much time.
The sunlight hit me with a burst of fresh air, on it rode the rumblings of the people of Tal, like an approaching storm.
More people than normal sat in the temple gardens, their faces hard, clothes worn. How many had come from the abandoned farmsteads? I remembered the empty children’s beds. The abandoned toy.
No matter what their parents were planning, I chose to believe they had made it to Tal and found shelter. A successful Day of the Dead and wedding feast would not set everything right, but it would be a start. Already, garlands were hung from rafters and bright paper lanterns set on windowsills.
Griffon riders had been sent to the clans camped outside the city, offering more than we could afford to buy their cattle. Each one had been told to return after a woman wore the crown of Tal again. Perhaps my father had burned too many bridges. Perhaps they, like the rest of the city, held their breath in anticipation of the Day of the Dead and the wedding.
Now, the riders flew toward the mountains, set on trading with Oberwaldian villages. At least they should not be affected by what was happening in Tal. Helia had assured me her people would behappy to sell us what we needed, but would they make it back in time?
Walking, I felt like I was doing something, like my thoughts and hopes could be pounded into the cobbles, forcing the Wishmaker to hear my pleas. I needed to get to the courthouse. Rebels had been arrested. I had promised myself to sit in judgment—had promised myself to be in ten places at once and make well-informed and just decisions. At least Helia was dealing with the wedding preparations, organizing nobles like a general preparing for battle.
Only when my feet hit the ancient, sleek stones of Pilgrim’s Road, did I realize which path I had chosen.
We had followed this road to the bridge, the Roja hiding, bone soldiers gathering at the gatehouse. We had seen the Spirits and thought nothing of it. This was Tal; naturally, death was everywhere. That night I had come close enough to feel the Goddess reaching for me. When I thought it would be my last, I’d only been grateful I kept the woman I cared too much for back. When Tempest stepped in front of me, my heart had stuttered, sure we were both dead.
“You should not have come here without me.”
Past and present, night and day, overlapped as I spun and found her leaning against the opposite building. Tired, yes, but also perfect. Whole. Alive. In danger. Dressed like a priestess—too like her sister in this very spot.
“You were supposed to leave.”Supposed to live all our dreams of freedom for both of us.It had seemed the only way to give her the freedom she sought. One small chance she was now throwing away.
Her plump lips pulled together in the familiar frown I dreamt of kissing away.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“I don’t hearyou apologizing. Among so many other things, you didn’t tell me what I was walking into.”
She stepped closer, pretend ease forgotten, and my breath caught. “I showed youme, saved you and your soldiers. You sentenced and killed me.”
“And yet here you stand. Don’t you think you’ve given me every cause to mistrust you?”
“You were the one who took one look at me and declared me your missing bride. I killed my sister to protect you and while I withheld a lot I did not lie.”
Her sister. The one irrefutable piece of evidence that did not fit in. Helia had argued for her despite being held captive.
“How do I know you don’t work with this cult determined to bring my family down?” I said, unable to stop myself. She always got to me, for good and bad. “Your sister wore white robes and controlled the dead—was she helping them the night they killed Yahontov? Did you?”
Her face crumbled and for the first time, I saw my princess cry and they were angry tears.
“Like I would do anything to help them. You think nobles and royals have few choices. Being poor isn’t all freedom and opportunity. I had this or the brothels. I had nothing besides my sister.Shestole even that from me.”
“Your sister?”
Vanya let out a laugh laced with pain, her eyes searching the empty air around us as if she saw the Spirits from that night.
“Lumi lied and kept secrets, butstealing we did together.Ealhswip.”
She said the final word like the ancient divine ruler’s name was a curse, perhaps another Lowtown custom I did not know about.
“And now? Why have you not left?”
Her face twisted in fury, so like how mine had been when I returned to Tal. Before she and Alexei returned me to myself.
“Because I’ll make them pay for thinking us disposable. Listen…”
She trailed off as if she did not know how to continue.
