Page 32 of Bloodwitch

“And it would have been longer if the Twenty Year Truce had not ended so suddenly.” He snapped a hand toward miniature troops, ships, and supply chains placed across the table. “I had thought Her Imperial Majesty possessed a steadier head than her parents, yet breaking the Truce to claim a young woman who is rumored to be a Truthwitch…” His chest expanded with a deep inhale, as if he were tamping down the urge to shout.

A lie, though. It was all alie,and inwardly, Safi beamed.

Then his breath hissed out from clenched teeth, and he added: “Let us hope you were worth it, child.”

Child.Safi didn’t have to fake her eye roll at that.

Rokesh, however, only laughed. His eyes crinkled in his shroud. “Ask him your questions, Truthwitch, and let the general see your full worth.”

Just like that, Safi’s breath snagged in her throat, for asking those questions was the last thing she wanted to do. Suddenly her hands shook. Suddenly she saw blood and bile and stains along a floor.

She wiped her palms against her thighs, and beside her, Rokesh’s shoulders sank ever so slightly. He eased nearer, until his veiled face was mere inches from hers. “I can ask the questions,” he murmured. “If that would make it easier.”

Safi bit her lip. Itwouldmake it easier, but there would also be no point. If she couldn’t do this with Habim—with one of the only men in all the Witchlands she truly trusted—then she would never be able to do it again. And shehadto do it again. It was why she was here; it was the only way she could leave.

Unless I can make a Truthstone.

She slipped a shivering hand into her pocket and pinched the quartz between thumb and forefinger. Shecouldembed her magic into this rock. And shecouldask Habim her three questions.

Gradually, her lungs relaxed. “Thank you, Nursemaid,” she said at last, “but I can manage.”

There it was again, that smile to crease in Rokesh’s eyes. Then he nodded and backed away.

Safi turned to Habim. She turned to her mentor.

“Are you aware of the peace treaty with the Baedyeds?” The words lobbed out, controlled, and a thousand miles away. Mathew had trained her for this. She wouldn’t let him or Habim down.

“Yes,” Habim answered simply. “I heard rumors from officers with whom I still correspond, and then I heard confirmation of this treaty when I reached the capital.”

To Safi’s surprise, all of these statements rang with honesty. Habimhadheard, and hehadbeen in contact with other officers.

Habim wasn’t finished yet, though. “The entire thing was poorly handled.” He directed this to Rokesh. “It was badly negotiated, with no bounds for enforcement. We destroyed the Baedyed way of life. When they would not live in our settlements, we killed their horses. When they would not abide by our rules, we stole their children. They have no reason to work with us, and every reason to hate us. The Empress was a fool to believe otherwise, and the Baedyeds were right to abandon the agreement in favor of a better one.”

No reaction from Rokesh beyond a smooth “You may tell the Empress that yourself.”

“I intend to.” Habim cut his hawkish attention back to Safi. “Next question, Truthwitch?”

Safi notched her chin higher. “Have you heard of a plot to overthrow the Empress and claim her throne?”

Habim sighed, an annoyed sound Safi knew so well—except this time, it was a lie. The falseness fretted down her skin and gathered at the base of her spine.

“No,” Habim snipped. “Next question.”

And the lie strummed harder.

Safi tensed. For half a moment, she thought her magic responded incorrectly. That it reacted to his fake posture and fake expressions… Except there was no truth to buzz with the lies. There wereonlylies. Which meant he did indeed know of a plot to overthrow the empire.

Bayrum of the Shards had known too, though.Such rumors always abound, he’d said before Vaness’s iron disc severed through him.Wherever there is power, flies will clot.

Safi gulped. Whatever Habim had heard, he was not the source of the plots. He had come to Azmir for Safi; not for Empress Vaness.

So she pressed on. “And, General Fashayit,” she finished, “did you know of the explosion on the Empress’s ship before the attack occurred?”

“No. Next question.”

True.Safi’s shoulders relaxed. Fingers she hadn’t realized were fisted now uncurled. “That was the last question.”

“And?” Rokesh asked. “Did the general pass?”