“Avery?” Silas is asking.
Avery, yes I am she. Avery, the Night Crest. Avery, the Mad.
“There is something else here in your account.”
“Yes?” I say, and as I say it, my mind comes together, a complete, if disorganized, creation. I am here, even if I am hurting. I am here, through the work of others and myself and that should be celebrated. I no longer feel that my mind is fully my own. That there is something else out there, calling to me, and I to it. But it is not terrifying, like an oath in my mouth or tattoos on my skin. It’s not ownership at all, but rather companionship.
“A tip from a Rose Tunes.”
I blink, my mind quieting. “Do I know a Rose Tunes?”
“She’s from Reign. She left you a tip of three gold coins.”
“Threegold coins?” I balk, slamming fully back into my body. “Is there a message?”
Silas squints. “It seems like nonsense.”
“What does it say?”
“Three gold coins to Avery. I never did say apple.”
Your word?I asked a naked, rose-colored fae beneath me.Utter it once and everything stops.
I-I’m not sure.
How about “apple”?
“Apple” it is.
My face flames.
Silas looks up. “I know this is overwhelming. If applied to your debt now, you could be free of all dues in a few short years.”
A sentence that I’ve craved my entire life. The game has declared that I’m special; I worked hard enough and earned this freedom. But it is like the Prize of the Pith—a glittering distraction for the few. What is liberation, if not for all?
“It’s also enough to open the account,” I say. “And then some.”
“Are you sure?”
“You said I could assign multiple beneficiaries?”
“As long as a percentage goes to a relative, yes.”
“Must I know the name of the relative who inherits my debts?”
The teller shakes his head. “You just need to specify in the contract that next of kin will get fifteen percent.”
“Draw up the contract.”
Silas does. Once the account is opened, I request that the money be placed into it, then half my income from now until my death. Any remaining unclaimed income will also be placed into the account. The longer I live, the larger the account grows.
I had to flee Reign, but I had somewhere to land, somewhere to send Lila. Perhaps it is pride, or a desire to repay balances. Yet it feels like something else, something more solid. It feels like security. Security, as all of the money goes to my loved ones, save one silver toward my current debt, and one for art supplies for a friend.
I will aid my family for as long as I live. And I will aid them after I die—no matter how near that fate is.
Chapter Forty-one
Hours later, I return toKassandra’s bedroom only to be greeted by steam flowing from her bathing chamber.Where’s Briar?Why isn’t the faerie laying out Kassandra’s clothes for tomorrow night? Checking the fabric and cleaning the jewelry our mistress will wear for two dinner guests?
