Page 29

“Did I—I’m sorry.”

I reach up and touch his cheek. “It’s this day that’s got to me.”

He lets me go, a dark heroic figure watching after me, wind tossing his cloak eastward.

I walk the gardens, past the fountain to the rose pavilion with its stone chess set. I slump onto the cold bench and pick up the white king. My chest clenches, a mix of anger and something I can’t name burning my throat.How can I not have seen it?

Something flashes out the corner of my eye.

I set the king down on the board. Who would be working in the gardens this late? Leaves rustle and I follow the sounds all the way to the pear orchard, where the graceful figure of an akla emerges from a line of trees, carrying a basket of white petals. The slant of her shoulders, the line of her throat...

I clutch the trunk of a pear tree. Megaera.

On King’s Island.

I recall her consumed by grief in front of the guillotine, swathed in smoky magic, devastated and angry. I recall the swish of her cloak as she left with calculated intent. Has she donned akla robes and entered the royal city to bring justice—or vengeance?

Does she know I’m still alive?

Sorrow and anxiety shiver under my skin; I slink quietly down the row of trees, following her. She cuts across the lawn towards the softly lit bathhouse, a sinister bounce in her step. The basin of rose petals—if she replaces those petals with the ones in her basket, will Quin come back late tonight or early tomorrow and bathe to his demise?

My shivers turn me to ice.

I have to stop this.

I wait in the shadows until Megaera leaves the bathhouse and when I’m sure she won’t return, I slide the door open—

A dozen redcloaks step before the door in formation, the one in front shouting for identification.

Another voice cuts over their heads. “Stand down. You may all leave.”

The redcloaks part into two lines and file out either side of me. I blink, taking in the bathwater speckled with petals and Quin, fixing his clothes into place at the other end, hair wetly framing his face. His eyes fix on me as I inch down the side of the bath to the bowl of flower petals and sniff. Spring roses. I kneel and use a protective magic filter to pull a handful of petals from the water. I inhale again.

Quin moves to my side, and my chest might as well be a firecracker the way it’s firing. I turn to look at him. “The akla who last left here may have ulterior motives.”

“I’m aware. My uncle transferred her here earlier this week.”

“You let her tend to you in the bath?”

“Keep your friends close...”

Andyour enemies closer.

“I’ve looked into her background,” Quin says. “Tell me, why was I not surprised when your name came up?”

I sigh. Official Temenos’s death was my mistake, a mistake that likely led Megaera to the royal city. “Maybe it’s you who was very bad in a past life, and I’m your fated comeuppance.” I eye him for any signs. His skin doesn’t seem discoloured. His eyes are clear, not bloodshot.

He lifts a brow and extends his forearm.

I grab his wrist and slide two fingers up it until I feel the familiar healthy thump of his pulse. I press harder, reading deeper to be sure. “Nothing tingled in the bath, did it?”

“Excuse me?”

“Did anything tingle, get hot, start itching?” I clutch his wrist, frowning. His pulse has quickened. “I need to do further tests on the water.” He hooks my fingers as they slide off his skin.

I turn back to face him.

“There’s nothing wrong with the water.”