Page 163 of Witchshadow

“Cam,” Vivia snapped, “tell the Red Sails we willnottake Captain Kadossi.”

“—and then contact the Doge,” the Empress finished. “We will want to ransom the man.”

“No, we absolutely will not.” A new heat brewed in Vivia’s chest. “I will not have Red Sails or Dalmotti captains on Nubrevnan soil, Empress. This is my homeland, and we will do thingsmyway. I believe I’ve warned you about disobedience before…” She trailed off at the sight of Cam, his face green with horror.

Clearly the poor boy didn’t want to risk disobeying either of his majesties.

And Vivia couldn’t help it: she started laughing. First it was just a bark of air, but then it quickly burgeoned and bloomed into something so fulland rich, she couldn’t contain it. And the more she laughed, the more furious and tense the Empress became—which only made Vivia laugh harder. It just toppled out of her, as relentless as a burst dam.

She couldn’t remember when she’d laughed this hard. Months ago. Years. Maybe never.

Eventually, even Cam was chuckling too, albeit nervously. Vaness, however, remained wrathful. “What,” she said in a voice made of ice chips, “is so funny?”

“Us,” Vivia squeezed out between laughs. “You… and I. The world might be a mess, Empress, but…” Noden save her, were theretearsin her eyes? “But you and I are still just two bitches in an alley who think we own the street outside.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“And you don’t need to know.” Vivia wiped her eyes and towed the Empress toward her—a familiar movement with her arm slinging around Vaness’s shoulders. And though she could tell Vaness really didn’t want to smile, the Empress also couldn’t quite hold one at bay. “Lead us to Noden’s Gift, Cam,” Vivia said, tugging the Empress into a saunter. “And as we walk, Her Majesty and I will discuss calmly—like the logical,thoughtfulWell Chosen that we are—why she is for and I am opposed to working with the Red Sails. I shall go first.”

“No.” Vaness bristled against her. “I will go first.”

Vivia only laughed all over again.

On the beach below the Origin Well, Stix stared up at the woman who was her Threadsister and her queen. Vivia had just abandoned the cliff’s edge, her arm around an empress while the wind tangled her hair and toyed with her coat. One step, two steps, three, and she was gone.

A knot clenched in Stix’s belly as the lens-shattered image of Vivia, the Empress, and Cam disappeared. It wasn’t indigestion, it wasn’t hunger, and it wasn’t her moon cycle either. Yet it hurt as much as all of them combined, and she kneaded uselessly at her belly. Ryber had been right when she had warned Stix not to come back to say goodbye.

With a harsh puff of air, she launched herself for the nearest cluster of jungle. Hunters and sailors and civilians prowled within the trees, but Ryber had traced a path separate from prying eyes. Stix ducked around a cypress and found Kahina waiting for her, leaning against the edge of the Origin Well’s plateau. White streaks of limestone marked her red coat.

“You will come here again one day.”

“I know,” Stix said, even if her gut wasn’t so sure.

“We are here to protect the people, nothing more. That was always the mistake of the Exalted Ones—pushing the levers of the land where all could see, and then growing bitter when the people did not appreciate. Praise is not ours to claim, though, Water Brawler. Paladins were not meant to rule.”

“I don’t want praise. I don’t want to rule.”

“If not that, then… Ah.” Kahina’s face relaxed, and Stix hated the pity in her eyes. “You are not the first Paladin to fall for their charge.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Stix strode past Kahina; pipe smoke wafted up her nostrils.

“Of course you do.” Kahina trailed behind, unhurried. “I loved my ruler once too, and I have never loved anyone as much as I loved them. But they could not love me in return, for that was not what they were put here to do.”

Stix walked faster, noisier than she ought to have been, desperate to end this conversation. Ferns lashed against her knees. Nettle pricked against her forearms.

“Wait.” Kahina’s hand grabbed Stix’s forearm, and though Stix wanted to bark at the other woman toleave her be, she allowed Kahina to tow her to a stop. She couldn’t help it. Rhian had once been a comfort to Baile; their souls still sang to each other. “You will see your queen in her golden crown,” Kahina told her, “just as I will see mine wearing a crown of iron. But it will not be two crowns, so much as one woven together.”

Stix gritted her teeth, wishing those words didn’t have such pointed fangs. “You mean they will rule as one.”

“I do.” Kahina sucked a long drag from her pipe. Smoke hissed out between her teeth. “That is what our great maker wants, and it is best to accept such reality now. It will save you from heartache in the end.”

Stix’s teeth gnashed all the harder, but she could no more deny Kahina’s words than she could the sea always inside her veins. And Ryber’s cardshadwarned her, even if she hadn’t wanted to see.

The Queen of Hawks, the Queen of Foxes, and the Giant.

“Come.” Kahina released her hold on Stix and pushed through the jungle. Stix followed more slowly, her fingers scraping over limestone while the jungle clicked and wheezed around her. She had come here a month ago, following the voices.Come this way, keep coming.It had been so easy back then, when she had thought she would soon return toVivia’s side. And despite what Kahina might say, Stix wasn’t abandoning that hope yet.

She missed Vivia. She missed her father. She missed the Cleaved Man and she missed home.