Chapter 2

"What's in your hand?"

I stepped forward. Mira still held my sleeve and stumbled after me.

Cassian closed his fist. The silver edge vanished, but I had already seen the name and the little chip missing from the bottom.

As a child, I had used that badge to crack walnuts. Father had mourned the damage for a while, but he couldn't bring himself to scold me. Instead, he took the remaining nuts into the yard and opened them with a hammer. He never repaired the chip.

I held out my hand.

"Let me see it."

Cassian turned to Adrian.

"Take her sister to the side hall."

"Have someone escort her home."

Mira spoke at once, half hidden behind my shoulder.

"I'm not leaving."

Her voice was small, but her grip tightened. I didn't let go of her either.

I stared at Cassian.

"That belonged to my father."

"Why do you have it?"

A nearby knight looked up. Cassian turned, blocking the man's view. The edge of his cloak brushed my hand as he came closer. It smelled of sun-warmed dust and leather.

"Not here."

"Then take me somewhere we can talk."

"Go inside with Adrian."

I watched his hand. He didn't give me the badge. He tucked it inside his breastplate.

For a moment, I wanted to seize his cloak and force him to take it out. But Mira's nails dug into my arm through my sleeve. She was still shaking.

I took a breath.

"My sister comes with me."

Cassian paused, then nodded. That was the second thing he had agreed to today. The first was to let us go.

I wasn't ready to believe the second.

There was water and bread in the side hall, along with a soft-spoken nun. Mira took two sips from a cup. Her teeth clicked against the rim.

I crouched and freed a thread on her skirt that had caught on a splinter in the prison wagon.

"Wait for me at the apothecary."

"Tell my master I've been held up."

Mira couldn't hide her worry.

"When will you come back?"

The thread broke between my fingers.

"As soon as I have some answers."

She glanced at the knights outside and leaned close.

"Was it really Father's?"

"Yes."

Her voice dropped.

"But they said all his things burned."

I looked up. That was exactly what the men who brought the news had said three years ago. The northern way station had caught fire. Father hadn't escaped. They delivered half a bag of silver coins, but not so much as a scrap of his clothing.

Mira had been thirteen. Three times, she asked to see him. They said that was impossible.

I wound the broken thread around my finger until it hurt.

"That's why I need to ask."

Mira stopped trying to change my mind. She broke the bread and pressed the larger half into my hand.

"You didn't eat this morning either."

I held it and suddenly couldn't look at her.

Before she left, I learned the escorting knight's name. I also made Adrian tell him, in front of me, to take her to the apothecary's door and nowhere else.

Adrian did it. Only after Mira's skirt vanished beyond the doorway did I turn back.

"Where is he?"

"The Grand Commander has military business."

I gave a cold smile.

"Does the badge have military business too?"

Adrian didn't answer. He led me along a corridor. I expected a council chamber, but we went around the Temple and farther away, finally stopping at a door in the order's west courtyard.

Inside stood a bed, a table, chairs, and a washbasin. A little flower bed lay outside the window. There was even a clean pair of soft shoes beside the bed.

I stayed in the doorway.

"What is this?"

"You'll stay here for now."

My expression hardened.

"I already have somewhere to live."

Adrian placed a key on the table.

"You're under witness protection."

"The Inquisition cannot enter the order's grounds to take you."

"A witness to what?"

"The Grand Commander will explain."

"When?"

Again, silence. I turned to leave. Both knights by the door straightened, and one held out an arm. He didn't draw his sword. He was even polite. But he blocked the way completely.

I looked at Adrian.

"This is protection?"

"You're free to walk around the courtyard."

"If you need anything, tell them."

I spoke through my teeth.

"I need to go home."

Adrian might as well have been carved from wood.

"That isn't possible."

I nodded and put the bread on the table. If I squeezed it any harder, I'd have nothing but crumbs.

"I want to see Cassian."

"I'll pass that on."

After Adrian left, I tried the courtyard gate. A guard stopped me. I tried the archway at the other end of the corridor. This time, the two knights following me went ahead and stood across the exit.

When I stopped, they stopped. When I turned back, they followed. Even when I went to wash my hands, two shadows waited outside the door.

A little mirror hung beside the basin. My hair was a mess, my face looked awful, and a small flake of dry skin clung to my lip.

I smoothed my hair with wet hands. I couldn't cry. Not yet. He still owed me a badge and an explanation.

Metal clashed outside the window. Beyond the low wall at the end of the flower bed, knights were heading east. Someone said the Grand Commander was at the training ground, and the others quickened their steps.

I dried my hands and went out. This time, I didn't head for an exit.

I crossed the flower bed and followed the path beside the weapon racks. My guards hung back at first. Only when I rounded the last wall did they realize where I was going.

"Miss Vale..."

I lifted my skirt and ran. A wooden sword had just struck down another on the training ground.

Cassian had removed his heavy armor. He wore a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms. The knight sparring with him held his sword in a shaking hand, while Cassian wasn't even out of breath. He was pointing out an opening at the man's shoulder when he saw me and stopped.

"Keep practicing."

I stopped in front of him.

"No need."

"I only have one question."

My two guards caught up and stopped on either side. I pointed at them.

"Am I supposed to be grateful because you gave imprisonment a nicer name?"

A man putting away a weapon slowed his hands. Cassian passed his wooden sword to the knight beside him.

"I haven't asked for gratitude."

"Then open the gate."

"No."

Such a quick answer. He couldn't even be bothered with a decent excuse.

I stepped closer and lowered my voice.

"My sister is waiting for me."

"I have work at the shop."

"Every day I'm away costs me a day's pay."

"If you're going to keep me here, at least tell me why."

His eyes rested on my face, then moved down. I followed his gaze. Running had folded back the split sole of my shoe, exposing a dusty toe. I drew my foot behind my skirt.

Cassian called Adrian.

"Get her some shoes."

I planted my hands on my hips and looked up at him.

"I'm talking to you."

"I'm listening."

"Then why are you looking at my feet?"

Someone nearby coughed. Cassian glanced over. The man immediately turned and raised his sword, standing as straight as if he were receiving a medal.

Cassian looked back at me.

"Change your shoes, then come to my study."

"We can talk here."

His eyebrow lifted slightly.

"You want to discuss your father here?"

I shut my mouth. He knew that would make me follow him. Worse, it did.

His study was in the stone building behind the training ground. The door stood open. Maps covered the desk, and a cup of cold tea sat on the windowsill.

Adrian brought the soft shoes. I set them beside the door instead of putting them on. Cassian noticed but said nothing.

I held out my hand.

"Give me the badge."

He drew a thin leather cord from beneath his shirt. The old badge hung from it, cradled in his hand. He had been wearing it against his skin all along.

My eyes stung. I reached for it. He released the badge but didn't take off the cord, so I had to stand closer.

The silver settled into my palm, warm from his body. Father's name had worn shallow. An old brown mark stained the metal beside the chip. I rubbed it with my thumb, but it didn't come off.

"Where did you get it?"

"The northern way station."

My hand went still.

"Three years ago?"

"Yes."

Boots sounded on the stone corridor outside. I listened, and it took me a while to find my voice.

"You were there?"

"I was."

"Then do you know how he died?"

My eyes filled. I held my breath, refusing to cry in front of him.

Cassian didn't answer at once. He was close enough for me to see an old pale mark beside his collar, probably rubbed there by his armor.

"What did they tell you?"

"A fire."

"They said his body and belongings were gone."

His gaze moved from my face to the badge. I closed my fingers around it.

"But you have this."

"Elara..."

I stared at him.

"Don't say my name."

"Answer me."

Two knocks sounded. Adrian stood in the doorway with a folded document.

"The Inquisition has sent men."

"They want additional testimony from those released this morning and intend to take both Vale sisters back."

I turned.

"Where's Mira?"

"At the apothecary."

"Our men are still there."

Cassian gently drew the cord out beside my fingers. I tried to catch it, brushing only the cool edge of the badge.

"Now you know why you can't go home."

"You can keep them outside your grounds."

"You could post men at the shop too."

"People live there, and patients come and go."

"Three alleys open onto the back courtyard."

"I can't guarantee that nobody entering carries an Inquisition warrant."

"So you decided for me?"

"Yes."

He admitted it without hesitation. I stared at him, the anger in my chest suddenly trapped beneath something heavier. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong.

Others could arrest me, and he could stop them. Where I wanted to sleep, or whom I trusted with my life, wasn't something either side needed to discuss.

I closed my eyes.

"At least let me see Mira."

"I'll have someone bring her."

"Ask whether she wants to come."

"Don't drag her into another wagon."

Cassian watched me for a moment.

"All right."

He went to the door and gave Adrian a few quiet instructions. Their footsteps receded along the corridor.

I remained beside the desk, my hand still curved as though it held the badge.

Father had been dead for three years. I thought I'd cried every tear I had for him. Yet touching that little piece of silver had brought back the way he warmed his hands before touching Mira's cheeks when he came home in winter.

I rubbed my eyes hard. The guards stayed outside. Distant voices reached me, too faint to understand.

I looked at the desk. He still hadn't answered. Then I would find out myself.

Several official letters lay beneath a map. The top one concerned northern supplies. I left them alone and looked to the other side.

A narrow gray book sat there, unlocked, its corners frayed. A paper label on the cover read Vale.

I stared at my surname and reached for it. Beneath the book lay part of that morning's arrest list. Mira's name had been crossed out. Beside it someone had written: Returned to South District.

I opened the cover. The first page wasn't about Father. It was about me.

Elara Vale. Age twenty-one. South District. Apothecary apprentice. Lives with younger sister.

Twenty-one. I was twenty-four now.

I turned the page. Its edge scraped my finger.

"Seventeenth. The Vale sisters moved into rooms behind the apothecary. Elder sister pawned a pair of silver earrings to pay the rent."

I remembered those earrings. Mother had left them to me. They weren't worth much. I'd walked a long way to pawn them, afraid of meeting someone I knew.

I read on.

"Twenty-third. Elder sister feverish. Remained indoors. Returned to work the following day."

"Sixth. Individual inquiring about Thomas Vale's former associates identified as a creditor."

The handwriting changed every few pages. Some was careless. Some recorded exactly how many bags of herbs I'd bought.

Occasional orders appeared in the margins.

"Continue."

"Do not approach."

I turned to the latest page. Three days earlier, I had asked the North Gate carriage office about fares to the border for two people.

I hadn't even told Mira that.

Footsteps sounded outside. I looked up. Cassian stood in the doorway, looking at the book in my hands.

This time I didn't ask whether he knew me. I turned the page toward him.

"Your men even recorded that I asked about carriage fares."

He didn't come closer.

"Elara."

"Three years."

My hands were shaking so badly that I pressed the book against the desk.

"Why did you ask my name in the square today?"