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“I will take that crucible, girl,” Master Ostrum said, stepping closer.

Attack, I thought desperately to my sister.

Nessie had just single-handedly defeated more than a dozen guards, but she showed no strain. She moved silently and quickly against Master Ostrum. He countered her initial attack, but Ernesta slammed her arm against his. He dropped the knife from numb fingers, and Nessie swooped down, spinning the blade in her hand and plunging it into his chest.

He looked down at the hilt sticking out over his heart.

Then he looked up, meeting my eyes. He pulled the knife out of his body.

There was no blood.

“You cannot kill what is already dead,” he whispered.

SIXTY-SIX

Nedra

“This has notgone according to my plan, but things rarely do.” Governor Adelaide’s clear, strong voice cut through the room.

I turned slowly—still keeping an eye on Master Ostrum—as the governor straightened, rolling back her shoulders. She was still sick, just not as ill as she had seemed moments before. She rolled Bennum Wellebourne’s crucible in the palm of her hand.

Noticing my gaze, Governor Adelaide held the iron bead up, looking at the cracked surface. “It belonged to a master,” she said, admiration in her voice, “but its time has passed. I’d hoped for something better when I raided the treasury.”

“It was enough to cause the plague, though,” I said. My eyes darted to Grey. He was closer to the door, but I knew he couldn’t escape.

The governor beamed. “The plague was already in the crucible. I just released it from its slumber.”

“Is that what you want?” I asked, spitting out the words. “To follow in Wellebourne’s footsteps?”

“To succeed where he failed,” Governor Adelaide said, as if it were obvious. “All of this, from the very start.” When I looked at her blankly, she added, “There would be no change without rebellion. Even Lord Anton, my opposition, knew that. But he had been a fool. Ofcoursethe boy Emperor would veto any election that elevated someone like Lord Anton as governor. If we want our island to be free, we have to take it. And we need an army that cannot fall.”

I pushed aside what I had believed about the governor—that she was good and kind and generous—and forced myself to instead see her actions as part of a plan.

She had entered politics in order to gain access to Wellebourne’s crucible, protected in the treasury.

She had released the plague. Her opponents—like Lord Anton—had died. The poor had been fodder, supplies created in advance for an undead army to lead against the Emperor.

But the plague had been more than that. It had made her into the people’s hero. She had been the only government official to serve the sick. She had fed stories to the news sheets about the weak Emperor, and those articles had run beside glowing editorials of her own generosity.

She had already gained the trust of the people, and ensured that even in the remote villages, everyone thought the Emperor was a feeble coward. I glanced at him now, still passed out on the floor from Master Ostrum’s blow to his head. Perhaps that part had been true.

“He put himself in the tower,” Governor Adelaide said. “After the inauguration. I’d hoped to starve him out, but he had help somehow. And Wellebourne’s runes protected him.”

“But you have the crucible,” I said. “Why didn’t you—oh.”

Governor Adelaide nodded grimly. She had Wellebourne’s crucible, but it was old and cracked. It could call forth the plague it had already developed once, but it would not have been strong enough against the door to the Emperor’s room. It could raise some dead—like Master Ostrum—but I doubted the governor would be able to raise and control an entire army.

Master Ostrum... My heart ached for him. He had never been my enemy. I felt such bitter sorrow for his fate. He’d been arrested, killed without trial, just so the governor could use him.I could do that,I realized. I could control my revenants the way Governor Adelaidecontrolled Master Ostrum, stripping him of his personality and forcing him to bend to her will. It had just never occurred to me to be that cruel.

My eyes roved over Governor Adelaide’s body. Her frailty wasn’t an act. Using Wellebourne’s crucible drained her.

My hand clutched my own crucible. It was new and strong. That’s why she wanted it.

I wondered why she didn’t make her own crucible. Perhaps she was not strong enough. Perhaps she was a selfish coward—not afraid to kill her people, but too scared of sacrifice to make her own crucible. Or perhaps it was simply that she had no one to love or any who loved her that shecouldsacrifice.

Regardless, she wasn’t getting mine.

To me!I called for my revenants.