ree

he stone corridor toward the side c

ng roar of jeers and curses washed over th

ghter of the Weeks Duchy lost he

ild man! No wonder the War God made her bow to a ro

ning frost-cold as I connected the dots

utside the inner wall to gather street intel, pushed past a

defiled before entering the palace!" Nora gasped between sobs. "The vassal nobles a

with a smug sneer. "Do you hear the voice of the realm, Miss Weeks? His Highn

single word of defense. Rule number one in intelligence w

quiet but sharp enough to cut bone, "this bucket of filthy

turned around, pulled Nora up, and marched my

Chloe. "Add today's street rumors

Chloe said, he

orner, looking at my pale face and the faint, thr

gn; I needed an ironclad medical record s

a held the only royal seal a Dragonless woman's virtue could ever be cer

the Chief Healer kept a ledger of

palace where Damien was hosting Cora's celebration feas

m the main kitchens, Chloe released our m

of gold, he pressed a small clay pot and a wrapped bundle of dried herbs into my hands th

bitter wild weeds from the courtyard cracks in a chipped cl

inst the rotting back window-three short knocks and one

black cloak flipped silently into the room, dropping

velvet bundle and a letter sealed wit

ked with a hundred high-purity royal gold coin

chment. My father Alistair's furious hand

d tolerates no such insult. If you wish to leave, I will f

rough my chest-the only genuine care I had

the final piece of my

it to the shadow guard. "Take this to the southern sl

armor used by city patrol squires, and two o

nt in my eyes. "Deliver this note to Chief Dragon Healer Elena's pri

owed and vanished

ack only what you can carry on your backs. Tomorrow night, we t

will refuse the meeting outright. She always does. So you'll slip a second, sealed note to her clerk in

hinks we're blackmailing her, she'll bri

She'll come to see who has the book-and she'll come cursing. That's when I'll pay her honestly, for an

dded and tucked the seco

wn breastplate, and posted where the whole realm could read it. The rooster th

Scroll would go up last-heartbeat behind the proof-so that no one in