“Forgive me, then, Rising Queen Sabine.” Kendan bows again. “And apologizes for the cumbersome titles. Now thatyou’re here, we’ll ready everything for the coronation. In mere days, you two shall be King and Queen of Astagnon.”
I shift from one foot to the other but can’t manage to feel at ease.
“First things first,” Ferra exclaims. “We have to change you out of this questionable attire! You need a bath, food, rest!” Ferra slips her arm in Sabine’s, and Suri takes her by the opposite arm.
“And you must tell us everything about the wedding!” Suri chirps, practically dragging Sabine up the stairs. “Goodness, and I must know everything about your time in Norhelm. Are there really cloudfoxes? And where is Tòrr? What about the rumors about...”
As Suri chitters on, Sabine tosses me a look over her shoulder. I have to stop myself from taking a step after her, the shadow always in her wake.
You can’t be at her side in every moment.
Once the women are gone, Folke abruptly drops his smile. He and Kendan exchange a loaded look.
“Come with us, you.” Folke drags me unceremoniously by the arm into a storage vestibule filled with old wooden flagpole handles and rolled banners.
Kendan sweeps in behind us, closing the door.
“What the fuck is this?” I ask, flicking a banner’s golden tassel. “Last time you abducted me, I ended up with a bruised rib.”
“We have news,” Folke says, ignoring me, eyes lighting up. He wets his lips, excited. “Lord Kendan has been working his connections. It turns out Beneveto wasn’t the only person with sway inside the Red Church.”
“Good,” I mutter, suppressing a shiver, “because I watched his soul ooze out of his body.”
This earns me cocked heads from both Folke and Kendan.
“His…soul?” Folke echoes.
I think briefly of what they’d do if they knew the God of Death walked among mortals. Or that he gets more looks from women than the three of us combined.
“Never mind,” I grumble. “Something to tell you…later.”
“Well,” Kendan cuts in, “the Red Church’s loyalists are caught between supporting Rian and supporting us, the opposition. We calculated that if we could win over their support, we’d have more than enough sway to defeat the Golden Sentinels. Even if Rian makes it to Duren, he won’t have an army anymore.”
I scrub a hand over the stubble on my jaw, nodding. “You can do it? Broker a deal with the Red Church?”
“It’s already done.” Kendan claps a triumphant hand on my shoulder. “For the past few weeks, I’ve been meeting secretly with the new head of the Red Church. She hasn’t been officially named the new grand cleric, but that’s only a technicality. Now, with Matron White on our side, we…”
His voice dies when he sees the blood drain from my face.
Folke grabs my shirt collar, pulling me close. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
I think of the last time I saw Matron White, swallowed by a chasm.
“A…slight problem,” I start, but then the vestibule door swings open.
I draw my knife on instinct, ready for a fight if needed…
…but a woman, not an attacking enemy, sidles in and closes the door behind her.
Her cold, pinched eyes meet mine.
She doesn’t smell like brimfire smoke any more, but the backs of her hands and one side of her neck are bandaged.
It’s fucking Matron White.
Definitelynotdead.
Chapter 15
