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But then Fox’s shoulders straightened and lifted as if released of a weight they’d been holding for decades. She watched his face as his father’s body fell to the ground; though pale, it remained free of tears. He’d needed this moment just as much as she did. It was okay. She’d have her own retribution in the end. She would be the one to kill the chief commander and she’d make it slow and painful when the time came.

“Are you okay?” she asked when Fox didn’t move immediately, still looking down at his father.

“I am,” he said, looking up at her at last. “Does that make me a horrible person?”

She didn’t know the answer to that. She’d never killed a family member or even a friend. “Hewas a horrible person. Cruel for the sake of cruelty. If it takes a horrible person to rid the world of that, then perhaps it’s worth being one.”

His lips lifted, just barely before his face turned serious again.

“We need to leave. You’re already supposed to be on your way out of the city.”

“There is something I need before we go.”

His eyes narrowed. “I swear to the dragon gods myself—if you are going to try and kill the chief commander after all of this.”

She shook her head, looking around and seeing the staircase up in the distance.

“I’m not going to kill the chief commander. Not today. I know I can’t do that on my own. But I need information.”

“You need to live through this day.” He grasped her arm and forced her to look at him. “Every moment you spend here is dangerous. We should get back to the others.”

Her hand reached out, against her own volition, and she rested her fingers against his cheek.

“Trust me, please.”

His throat bobbed before he nodded reluctantly. He released her and she saw the blood he’d left behind, his hand imprinted on her.

She ran, talking the steps from the basement two at a time until they crashed through a set of heavy doors and into the main manor.

She didn’t explain where they were going, knowing he’d follow. She darted through the all-too-familiar hallways. The chief commander’s home was practically dead, but it wasn’t empty. She caught the whispered sounds of servants behind doors, but they were too scared to poke their noses out anyway. The chief commander didn’t have a family. He hadn’t had a family in over three decades, before Sofia had even begun to work for him.

As they came to the third floor, her heart was hammering in her chest, bile rising in her throat. She could mark the exact day she’d last passed these doors—the day Mina died.

The closer she got to the chief commander’s office, the louder her heart seemed to beat, and by the time she grasped the handle and turned it, she could barely even hear the click of the latch opening over the roaring in her ears. She didn’t bother looking around the office, instead going straight to the bookshelf and pulling the book she knew so well. The shelf slid aside.

Behind her, Fox let out a muffled curse as he stood back and watched.

She paused only long enough to shoot him a told-you-so smirk before she slipped inside.

The closet was just as she remembered, and yet nothing like she remembered. There were more books than there used to be, and she wondered whose collections he had stolen—how many had died to fill this room. But there were also some missing. At least she couldn’t find them in the chaos. She doubted he organized the room, likely throwing in books and walking away. Still, there was a clear pile that had been recently shuffled through and read, their covers clean of dust.

A History of Suvi and Wueco Peninsula

Dragons and Demons: Religious Fanaticism of the Wuecan People

Myths, Monsters, and Magical Thinking of Savages

Fox stepped in close to watch her, not questioning what she was doing, only grabbing a couple books off the shelf and handing them to her.

She smiled when she saw the titles. Works on dragons and the history of the great king’s hunt. Fox hadn’t needed to ask.

“Keep this one for yourself,” she said, pressing a small tome into his chest. “I memorized it when I was younger.”

He nodded, fingers wrapping around the leather cover.

“I’ll find a bag, you can’t walk out balancing all of those without drawing attention.”

She nodded, focused on the task of finding the most relevant titles she could. The chief commander would know exactly who had broken into his study and stolen his precious books. This would be the last time she’d see any book she left behind. Whether he hid them, locked them away, or burned them.