want your grave, you’ll certainly find it in the palace.”
Fie scowled. She’d no patience for more riddles. “I was hoping for something more like ‘Here’s exactly how she plans to murder the Crows.’”
“You already know how.” Little Witness tilted her head. “There’s a young man waiting for you downstairs. He isn’t a Crow.”
The most terrible question yet arose before Fie could stuff it down: “Am I?”
Little Witness blinked. “What else could you be?”
“I spent a moon and a half sneaking a prince and a half across Sabor while they mummed at being Crows,” Fie said. “They wore our clothes and ate our food and walked our roads, but that didn’t make them Crows. Am I any different?”
“Aye.” Little Witness stood and dusted herself off. “We’re dead gods. And you, you go where you’re called. Come on, that young man needs to speak with you.”
She led Fie to the platform but didn’t get on herself, instead hauling at another lever set into the wall. “Send Gen-Mara up when you get down there. The lever’s by the urn of Pigeon teeth.” The planks shuddered. Fie wondered for a brief moment if Little Witness had decided to kill her off before Fie could strike first. Then the platform began to sink, steady and even.
“Fie.”
Fie looked up. Little Witness stood at the edge of the stairs, watching her go.
“This is a gift,” the dead god said. “Something to remember. You are not what you were.”
Little Witness vanished back the way she’d come before Fie could ask what that was.
When the platform touched down, Wretch and Khoda were waiting, faces drawn. Pa, Varlet, and Bawd all shared their unease, and so did Fie: whatever called for leading a Hawk into Little Witness’s watchtower had to be dire.
“I-I’m sorry,” Khoda stammered, “but we need to get on the road as soon as possible. The queen’s blaming you for the king’s death.”
The worst part wasn’t her surprise, nor was it her fury, though both rushed ice-cold down Fie’s bones. The worst part was that deep down, she’d known it would come to this. Of course Rhusana had found a way to fault a Crow for it.
Still, she asked, “How? There were hundreds of witnesses the night we went to the palace. He never showed his face, not even to watch Jasimir get carted out.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Wretch said with a grim shake of her graying curls. “On Her Majesty’s word … the king died of the Sinner’s Plague.”
CHAPTER THREE
TEETH AND MAGNOLIAS
“We were there when the message-hawk arrived from Dumosa.” Corporal Lakima dragged the back of her hand across her sweat-beaded cheek. Even in the flatway’s blistering midafternoon sunlight, she refused to discard her helm. “Her Majesty says you brought the plague into the palace.”
Fie scowled at the dusty road. The moment Pa had finished with Little Witness, they’d swept up the rest of the Crows and all but bolted for the flatway. He’d been right: with Rhusana trying to blame the Crows, they’d need as many active haven shrines as possible, and Gen-Mara’s was the largest by far.
“What a load of dog shit,” Khoda mumbled, then seemed to recall he was in the presence of his commanding officer. “I mean—beg pardon, corporal. That sounds like … like…”
“Dog shit,” Fie finished helpfully. “You had it the first time. What’d they do with the king’s body?”
“Her Majesty claims his most faithful servants burned him this dawn, then threw themselves on the pyre. She says they needed no Crows.”
Fie gave a harsh laugh, then coughed at a sudden mouthful of road dust. “Solid dung. If he died of the plague the day before yesterday, and they waited to burn him until today, half that palace would be wearing the Sinner’s Brand right now.” The Covenant had made a curious punishment of the Sinner’s Plague: the disease spread fast and far only after its victim died.
“Maybe the Oleander Gentry’s leaders are pushing her,” added Pa. “They must be worried, with the prince so close to the throne.”
Fie tripped, then caught herself. “R-right,” she said hastily, brushing it off. In the rush to clear out of the watchtower, she hadn’t had time to tell Pa of the oath they’d both thought kept, and now she didn’t reckon she had the nerve. “Rhusana just gave towns an excuse to turn us away.”
Lakima glanced over her shoulder, then lowered her voice. “Whatever the reason, she’s also targeting you. The report says to look out for a Crow carrying Phoenix teeth.”