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“No. I’ve come to tell you that while I do not understand what you did, I do not blame you. I cannot keep you liable to every life lost on the Ledge, or in the Chasm, or at the hands of the Glacians. The only one I should blame is Vasteel.”

“Then, by all means, child, stop wastingourtime and pay a visit to the King instead. It would save us the length of rope we’d use to hang you,” Cressida snarls, her creased face blushing with slow-burning rage.

“We did,” Dawsyn says, and her voice seems to bounce and amplify off the domed ceiling. “Vasteel is no longer the King of Glacia. He is gone.”

Silence.

The guards cease moving, cease breathing, while the Queen… she appears shaken, utterly disturbed.

“You… you lie.”

“The pure-bloods were overrun by the mixed,” Ryon adds, his quiet voice not matching the tension of the moment. “We led them.”

“He is dead?” Queen Alvira whispers, her lips turning a ghostly white.

“He escaped… along with a few others,” Dawsyn corrects. “The rest were killed. Only eight pure-bloods remain in Glacia, and they are chained and guarded. Glacia has fallen.”

The guards seem unsure of how to react. They look to their Queens, but Alvira and Cressida are stunned. They share a look, and in it, Dawsyn sees disbelief and then slowly, unmistakably, fear.

“Your Grace,” Ruby gasps, her chest rising and falling despite the constraints of her armor. “Could it be true?”

“It is,” Ryon says abruptly. “Glacia is now in the hands of the mixed-bloods, and they have no desire to harm humans, neither here nor on the Ledge.”

“Which means those who remain on the Ledge can be freed,” Dawsyn adds, “if they will allow the mixed-bloods to carry them over the Chasm and into Terrsaw.”

Queen Alvira hesitates, her lips pressed firmly together. “And are the mixed-blooded Glacians willing to do so?” she asks Ryon, her voice slow, cautious.

He nods. “I am. I have friends who will help as well.”

“But… do the mixed-bloods not eat humans, like the pure-blooded Glacians did?” Ruby asks and then blushes with shame at her outburst.

Queen Alvira scowls, and it is like a knife cutting the air.

“The Glacians never ate humans,” Dawsyn tells her, wondering if they truly never knew. “There is a pool in the Glacian palace–”

“I am aware of the pool’s existence and how it works, Miss Sabar,” the Queen cuts in. “What is it that you need from me?” Her tone is flippant, businesslike.

Yet the guards seem to rock on their feet, unbalanced by this revelation, confused. They look to one another, and Dawsyn can almost hear the questions:What is the pool? If they did not consume humans, then whatdidthey do?

“I want you to undo your mistakes,” Dawsyn says, anger heating her from within. “I want you to help your own people off the Ledge. We need ambassadors to go there with us, to prove they will be safe, to explain the downfall of Glacia. We need you to welcome them to Terrsaw and help them rebuild their lives.”

The Queen nods, her eyes downcast as she considers. It seems that her thoughts race between Dawsyn’s words as she says them, searching for something.

She lifts her chin to Ryon. “And what of you, half-breed? What do you need of me?”

Ryon’s scowl grows darker at the slight, wary. “There is no reason for humans to fear the mixed-bloods. I want to propose an alliance between our kingdoms so that the mixed might roam farther than the mountains.”

“And who are you to strike such a deal? Are you King of Glacia now?” the Queen asks.

“No,” Ryon says. “There is a council with no monarch. I came to speak on their behalf.”

“And you expect me to take you at your word that our people will not be harmed by creatures who carry Glacian blood?”

“I expect nothing,” Ryon says sedately, “but the opportunity to build trust between our kinds. I do not expect it to be built in a day.”

Cressida scoffs, but Queen Alvira only looks on, consumed in her thoughts.

“The threat of the Glacians is gone for now, Your Highness,” Dawsyn says, drawing her eye once more. “Your guards can be brought to Glacia to see for themselves, if you wish, but Terrsaw can celebrate. Their people can be returned from the Ledge by your hands, and you will be their savior.”