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“No,” she answered.

“I admit I haven’t seen the Shield in some time, but does she complain of her duties when you’re in bed together?” I asked Hildegard again. She pursed her lips, green eyes narrowing slightly and shook her head.

“Just as I thought. That leaves you then, Gerarda,” I said, turning toward her. “Are you making an official complaint? Is being the Dagger and organizing missions too much for you?” I raised a brow and flashed a smile.

“Absolutely not,” Gerarda said through clenched teeth.

“Then no need to speak of it,” I said, waving my hand. “Today. Or in front of the king.” My last words were flung at Gerarda. She at least had the decency to look at her boots. I had not forgotten the king’s lecture the last time I was in the capital.

“Enough with the pleasantries,” Hildegard said, her face hard. “There was an attack in Volcar. We haven’t identified the culprits, but we lost four Shades.” I sucked in a breath. Attacks against the Shades had always been a part of life at the Order, but lately it was getting worse.

“Add that to the three we lost in Mortal’s Landing, and the group that never came back from the Fool’s Trap, our numbers have severely waned,” Hildegard said, chewing the inside of her cheek. She took a deep breath before she continued. “The king believes it’s time to call the Trials.” Her eyes dropped to the parchment on her desk.

I clenched a fist against the arm of my chair.

“So soon?” I said. “The last ones were only two years ago.” The Trials were what every initiate trained for. A series of five challenges created to test each initiate in the most brutal of ways. Only those who passed all five became a Shade.

Hildegard gave a grim nod.

“How many are you calling to take them?” I demanded. The Arsenal selected the initiates they thought were ready before each set of Trials. Since I had been Blade, I left that responsibility to the other mistresses.

“The king believes that anyone with eight years’ experience is trained well enough,” Hildegard answered. Her voice was calm. Too calm.

My jaw clamped shut. I picked up the vase on her desk and chucked it across the room. Gerarda and Hildegard didn’t flinch as it shattered against the wall.

“Eight years?” I scoffed, pacing back and forth in front of her desk. “Eight years is barely enough to master basic skills. If you call initiates with so little experience, you’re calling them to die.” My chest heaved as I stared at Hildegard.

Her eyes were soft, but her jaw was set. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“I am at the king’s command,” she said. “We all are.”

“Fuck the king!” I shouted.

Gerarda’s attention snapped toward me, eyes wide with warning. Hildegard walked over to the door and shut it.

“The Shadow has the king on edge,” Hildegard said. “He thinks these attacks are connected and he’s worried about his numbers. His army has dwindled, and there are fewer Shades now than there used to be—”

“Maybe if he didn’t insist onhangingevery Halfling he decided was a traitor for no reason, he would have more bodies to fill his service!” I snapped. I waved my arm across her desk, accidentally hitting a bottle of ink. The dark liquid spread across a loose page of parchment.

“Keera, that’s enough,” Gerarda hissed, helping Hildegard with the ink.

I shook my head. Every ragged breath pulsed against my skull. My skin was raw, burning with rage at the king’s indifference. He didn’t care how many Halflings died in the Trials. He didn’t care that they would serve him better with more training.

He wanted more Shades. Whatever the cost.

“He already makes us hunt them,” I spat. “Search all over the kingdom for Halflings hiding their children. Do you know how many parents I’ve slain just to bring their daughters to this cursed island? And for what? So she can die before ever passing her Trials? Or be struck down on her very first mission because she doesn’t know how to protect herself? Has the king learnednothingfrom last time?”

“Apparently not,” Hildegard whispered. For the last Trials, the king had insisted that all initiates with ten years’ experience be called forward. Half the graduates were dead within a year.

“This is madness,” I said, crumpling back into my chair.

“And yet these are our orders.” Hildegard sighed. “There’s no changing the king’s mind. I’ve already tried.” She bit her lip and looked out the window. I could see the glassy sheen covering her eyes.

“If only you had come back with the Shadow’s head,” Gerarda muttered, picking up the broken pieces of glass off the floor.

“I was sent to Cereliath to surveilLord Curringham,” I said. “Which, by the way, was a waste of time.” Gerarda’s fingers clamped against a large piece of vase. She didn’t know about the assistant and the Shadow; I certainly wasn’t going to tell her.

“Regardless,” Gerarda said, “the king is in a state over this Shadow. Until the menace is stopped, he won’t change his mind about the Trials.”