ft crackle of the fire. I slowly lowered the piece of bread o

I said, my voice tighter than I

od like a monument carved f

"And if I wanted to poison you, I woul

of his sword. The movement looked natural, yet it carr

e Bloodguard. Your personal shadow from this

lms on my trousers. I hated how much taller h

ed my knife back, and I need

in the salt-fish alley died the moment they put her in that carriage

hit me li

ia

buried beneath ten years of grime, theft, and survival. I had go

d," I said through gritted t

r leaving mine. "She fled the palace twenty years ago during the Great Purge. She changed her name,

t the thick rug. Stopping beside the canopy bed, he pulle

t a direct heir. The crown passes through the bloodline. First went Prince Julien. A sudden il

horror settled into my bon

ied. "Which leaves you, the fourt

he firelight caught the

nted to leave you in the Lower Ward until he found

humorless laugh. "Or to keep me in

e sleep. Tomorrow you will be presented to the Court, and they will look f

cloak trailing behind him. A moment later, the lock clicked

the crackle of the dying embers a

re like a shroud than a place to rest. I climbed onto the mattress, leaving dark streaks of mud acro

ntending to drag it onto the floor so I c

something whit

parchment was tucked b

my fingers trembli

hat smelled faintly of iron

already waiting fo

led me more than t

rges moving along the river. Here, the palace was almost silent. Every creak in the old timbe