choose them, I leave up to you and your people. I will be doing the same.”
Tavin inhaled sharp at Fie’s side.
Jasimir stood. The parchment shook in his hands. “This decree forfeits my claim to the Saborian throne in favor of a governing council. It takes effect a little under a year from now, on the next summer solstice. My reign will only last long enough to establish the council, the limits of its authority, and the rules by which it governs. I’m sure you all have questions, and some of you may be thinking it’s a fool’s way out. I’m afraid it’s already signed. As for the questions…” He smiled. “We have a year. Let’s get to work.”
The gold circlet in his hair caught the morning light. For a moment, Fie would have sworn it burned like fire.
* * *
The Sunrise Pavilion was the eye of a small storm for the next hour, but eventually it dwindled to Tavin, Fie, Jasimir, and Khoda, who had kept his distance and fussed with Mango-Jasifur until the orange tomcat hid under a bench.
When it was just the four of them, Khoda trudged over, distinctly avoiding Jasimir’s gaze. “Officially,” he said, “you are the only survivor in the royal family. Not counting Tavin, since … Crow.” He shrugged. “Unofficially, you should know Rhusomir survived. I’ve been ordered to take him to be raised on Yimesei with the rest of the Swans. It doesn’t seem like he’s a witch, and he’s too young to remember much.”
“You’re going back to the Black Swans, then,” Jasimir said, just stiff enough for Fie to hear a cramp in his voice.
“Oh, I’m almost certainly going to be cast out for”—Khoda waved a hand at the swaths of charred rubble—“all this. Probably for the best.”
Jasimir straightened, startled. “You want to leave them?”
Khoda didn’t answer a moment, throat working. “You were right, you know. Both you and Fie. We helped a monster like Surimir stay in power, and we let everyone else pay the price. And they said it was all to do the best for Sabor, but if that was the best, I don’t want any part of it.” He finally looked Jasimir in the eye, as if he had more to say, then bowed. “Take care of yourself, Your Majesty.”
Jasimir didn’t say a word as Khoda strode from the pavilion.
Fie seized Jasimir by the sleeve. “Tell. Me. Everything.”
His cheeks darkened. He clapped his hands over them, cringing. “It was just—when you sent me to go find Barf in the guest quarters, I was trying to get her out from under the bed, and then Khoda showed up because he thought someone should save the cats, and we were both scared out of our minds, and. Things. Happened.”
Fie looked at Tavin. Tavin looked at her. Then he looked at Jasimir. “On a scale of one to window seat—”
Jasimir shoved him.
Fie thought of Wretch’s parting words to her when she’d left Pa’s shrine: Just because the lad loves you doesn’t mean he does right. It was easier to forgive Tavin than Khoda, and easier never meant easy … but it might yet be managed.
“You still have to hold Sabor together for a year, you know,” she said. “You could probably use a spymaster.”
Jasimir let out a long breath. “I probably could. Especially since … neither of you can stay, can you?”
Fie shook her head. “It’ll be a hard year. Those outbreaks will have wiped out whole crops, herds … I don’t know if we can put the land to rights like we did here. It might be just the grave, and even here, it needed to burn.”
“And I’m a Crow now,” Tavin said. “There’s something about that, isn’t there? Going where I’m called?”
Jasimir cracked a smile at that. “Then I’ll call you both back when I need you.”
Fie returned his smile. “And we won’t always wait for a call. Though we’ve a lot of ash to harvest first.”
Jasimir pulled the circlet off his head, staring at it a moment, and sighed. “It always should have been the palace. That was supposed to be the price. But I suppose this means we have something to rise from, right?”
“Aye,” Fie said.
Jasimir handed her the golden circlet. “Here. Just to make it official. Fie, Ambra Reborn, Oath-Cutter, the Crow Who Feared No Crown … I give you mine. Do with it what you will.”
The crown sat in her hands a moment, and it felt like fire.
But she had teeth for that. And she’d seen