Page 74 of Witchshadow

And they had sent her the Truth-lens. That had to count for something.

Safi eased off her shoes, dropped them into the chest beside Leopold’s, and after hefting up her skirts and cloak, she followed the prince into the water. He moved with silent ease through the reeds, like a heron who’d traveled this way many times. Safi felt clumsy and loud in comparison, each footstep splashing and squelching and rolling through her.

The water reached only to her upper calves, but the silt was unstable. It sucked her in. Fortunately, they were cast in shadow from the Sarian Bridge. When she glanced back, only once, she found the hole in the wall was gone. Slimy flagstone stretched as far as she could see, curving with the river and vanishing from sight.

By the time Leopold reached a small shelf onto which they could haul themselves, Safi had lost all feeling in her toes and ankles. The water was beyond frigid, and somehow withdrawing her feet to clamber onto the stone ledge only made her that much colder.

Leopold didn’t slow, though, so Safi pushed herself onward until they reached a rusted ladder leading to the street. Leopold ascended first, and Safi followed with a great deal less grace.

Weak streetlamps glared down, revealing the merchants’ shops Safi and Henrick had passed earlier that day. At this hour, no lights burned within, no shoppers milled about. Two guards patrolled, but they had their armored backs to Safi and Leopold, who now hurried for a nearby alley.

Once they were cloaked in shadows again, Leopold whispered, “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” Safi said, and it was true. She still sensed no significant increase in the shivers at her heart; they remained easy to ignore as long as she kept moving.

“Then we continue on.” Leopold took Safi’s hand into his own before leading her more deeply into darkness. His fingers were warm and deceptively soft.He must keep his calluses filed down,Safi realized, for she hadseen Leopold training when they were young. He had been quick with a sword then, and she had no doubt he was quicker now.

I have spent twenty years grooming Leopold to be the perfect leader,Henrick had told Safi earlier. At the time, she’d assumed Henrick meant all the skills needed to run an empire—warfare, diplomacy, bureaucracy, and politics. Now, she wondered if perhaps it also included the art of performance.

Henrick was not the toad he seemed; Leopold was not the dandy.

They traveled several miles before finally approaching one of the city’s outer walls, beyond which were suburbs and settlements that had sprung up over the centuries and continued to spring up today.

“How do you feel?” Leopold asked, peering up at the towering gatehouse. Lights flickered within the slitted windows, and soldiers stood watch at the gaping archway. They paid no mind to Leopold or Safi or anyone else hurrying by. Buoyant voices bounced off stone, suggesting alehouses and brothels on the crooked streets nearby.

Safi had never visited this part of the city. It was not so run-down as the slums, but it had certainly seen better days.

“I feel… good,” Safi said, and to her surprise, the words were true, true,true.Yes, her muscles juddered and her toes were still blocks of ice. And yes, the Loom’s magic called to her, miles upon miles away. But this was her first taste of freedom in a month, her first trip outside the palace without guards or Hell-Bards or a chain around her neck, and her first glimpse of colors, even if nighttime dulled their edges.

“If I did not have unfinished business at the palace,” she continued, “I would leave the city right now.”

A murmur of acknowledgment from Leopold. He still held her hand. “You cannot go alone, though, Safiya.”

Her brows drew together. “But there is no one who can go with me, Polly.”

“Oh, but there is.” He tipped back his head until she could see his face beneath the hood. Skeletal in the shadows, but with bright, otherworldly green eyes. “I will go with you.”

Safi did not react. She simply gazed at him, grasping for any change in the Truth-lens. But it did not frizz with lies.

“How could you join me?” she asked. “I thought you could not risk openly helping me or execution would await you.”

“No,” he admitted, tugging Safi back toward the river. Several blocks later, the second chimes clanged, and Leopold finally continued: “It is a delicate balance. My loyalties to Cartorra are true. My loyalties to theCahr Awen as well. Until now, I have walked that line as best I could, for Iammy uncle’s heir. Idotake my future role seriously. More than seriously. It is all I have been raised for, all I have ever wanted.”

He hesitated. His footsteps briefly slowed. Then he resumed his pace, faster now, and his grip on Safi tightened.

“However, circumstances have changed.” He glanced briefly at her, his hood rustling. She could not see his face. “What is at stake haschanged.”

Safi’s eyes narrowed. “My uncle? I realize you’re working with him on this scheme to end all wars and heal the Origin Wells, but how does knowing where he is change anything? You didn’t interfere when Henrick took my magic. You didn’t interfere when Iseult was chased away. And you don’t interferenowwhen Hell-Bards hunt her down.”

“Ah, but that’s just it, you see. Everything is different.” He lifted her hand and gazed down at her fingers for several seconds. Then his second hand grabbed hold too, and Safi knew—before he could speak, before he could fully enclose her hand in both of his—sheknewwhat he was going to say next.

He pulled her to him and held her hands to his chest. “I know where Iseult is, Safiya. She is near the Solfatarra and your uncle. And I fear she is in great danger.”

Fourteen Days After the Earth Well Healed

Iseult never thought she would see her best friend marry.

And shecertainlynever thought she would see her best friend become an empress. They fled Dalmotti to avoid this; now they run headlong for it. At least this time they are following their own plan. Initiate, complete. A heist only they know of, only they can pull off.