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I nodded, somewhat stunned by his forwardness. Once the stretcher arrived, Saga’s Clawsguard, Sian, Filip, and Vale helped raise Sir Qildor off the floor.

It wasn’t easy. Even the tiniest of motions sent Sir Qildor into great pain, but once he was on the stretcher, his guttural moans lessened.

“We’ll be at the healer’s sanctuary soon, my friend,” Vale murmured and then met my eyes, his own filled with anguish. “Clear the way for us, ladies.”

I shivered at the command in his voice, honed from many turns of leading fae on battlefields. Despite being distraught, Vale fell back on his training. Though the circumstances were dire, I would be lying if that didn’t heat my blood.

“On it.” Sayyida positioned herself in front of the stretcher. Intending to use my body to protect the stretcher, I took the right side next to Vale, and Saga took the left.

In the corridors, we passed hundreds of fae, but none met our eyes. None dared to look down at the brutalized knight.

Anger burned inside me. This was how powerful, horrible people got away with things. No one looked, no one dared, because deep in their hearts, they knew Sir Qildor’s fate might have been their own.

After what felt like an age, we reached the healers’ wing, a quiet part of the palace. Or at least, it was today.

Bursts of sage and vinegar filled my nose as I held the door open so that the males could shuffle the stretcher inside. A step into the sanctuary, Vale called for a Master Healer. Before I crossed the threshold, however, Saga caught my arm.

“Can I speak with you?”

I stopped and cocked my head. “Sure. What’s wrong? Other than the obvious.” I gestured into the sanctuary, noticing for the first time the insignia by the door. An eight-spoked wheel with four stars laid atop in the shape of the goddess of healing’s constellation. I wondered what that meant.

“I haven’t gotten to talk to you yet.” She cleared her throat. “About what I saw.”

My spine straightened. I’d not expected this, but if anything was a welcome distraction from what had happened to Sir Qildor, this was it.

I shut the door, leaving us alone. “I’m yours.”

The princess swallowed. “Well, keep in mind that I don’t have full control over my seer powers yet. I’m better with winter magic, particularly using wind. But my seeing powers come and go as they please, and I’m not great at deciphering what I see. Sometimes it’s symbolic, not real truth, and I?—”

“Saga.” I laid a hand on her shoulder. “Whatever you saw worried you. Please, tell me.”

“Obviously, I saw a vision of your fight with the vampire and everything that happened there, but I heardwhat he said to you too.” She swallowed loudly. “Aboutowning you.”

My hand dropped from her shoulder. I’d been so worried about what I’d done, the deal I’d made with the Faetia to save Anna’s life, and how others would react to the killing of a vampire prince, that I hadn’t stopped to consider my past.

“Is it true?” the princess murmured. “You were a blood slave?”

A pregnant pause filled the air, tinged with the lingering copper scent from Sir Qildor’s blood. I could lie to her, but why would I? In the short time I’d known her, Saga had shown me great kindness. I considered her a friend and felt we could become even closer. But not if I continued to lie to her, not if I told her that part of what she saw was incorrect.

So I exhaled and explained. “I was a blood slave, have been for most of my life. I escaped, but not before killing a vampire. One connected to the royal house. Roar took me in, and we made a deal so he could avoid your father matching him.”

Saga’s eyes widened. “It wasn’t real?”

She meant my relationship with Roar.

“No. I thought we had a friendship, but I was wrong.”

Saga’s eyes dropped to the ground. “I’m so sorry, Neve. You must think us all so silly. So flippant and wasteful and?—”

“I don’t think that about you, Saga,” I assured her. “Since the moment I arrived here, you’ve been so kind to me. But please, don’t tell anyone about mypast?”

I did not add the part about the deal I’d made with the Faetia. Had she heard that too?

“I won’t. And I haven’t told Sayyida and Marit. I only told them enough to get them out of bed and on to horses so we could find you and make sure everyone was alive.” She swallowed. “That I hadn’t seen it all wrong. That’s happened before, and I . . . I had to be sure.”

“Thank you. And I must know,” I prodded. “What else did you see?”

Saga looked like she wanted to apologize again, but instead, she cleared her throat and rolled her shoulders back. “Nothing more from last night. But therewasa flash of another time too. In a place I’ve never seen. It confused me at first because it didn’t fit and then I worked out that I was seeing a different vision on the back of the first.” Her gaze shifted into the sanctuary again before she continued; her usually bright blue eyes somehow darker than normal. “It was of you and Vale. Both of you were covered in blood and somewhere dark. So dark, Neve.”