“Who else knows about your changing appearance?” I ask Death.
“Whoever asks.” But he stares down at a body obscured by black robes. He shakes his head. “My lady, you…my…my debt is now gone.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“I owe you.”
“You do not.” She glances down at her own skin, tracing a finger along one of her six tattoos.
“I cannot take you to the Pith, as there are wards in place that prevent it,” he says. “You would need to be formally invited.”
“I understand.”
“But,” he says, turning to me, “I can take you. Your invitation hasn’t been revoked yet.”
“Oh,” I blurt. “Well—”
“No.” Kassandra shakes her head. “The king is too unpredictable right now.”
“I don’t need to see him to collect Lila’s belongings.”
Another point of contention between us. While I still have my moth ring, my genius hasn’t been strong enough to lace to Reign. The only reason I was able to summon enough energy to fight was from adrenaline, and now that it’s gone, I feel drained.
“I could smother her genius so that the king can’t detect it on the plane,” Death says.
“What?” I cry.
“Using Death magic, I could mask your genius for about an hour. That way, you can still slip in through the wards without anyone detecting you once there.”
I shrug. “An hour is long enough.”
My mistress studies me. She throws up a hand, and a sparkling wall of air surrounds us. An Illusion or force of some sort. On the other side, the executioner drops his shoulders in a sigh that we cannot hear.
“What are you on about?” she asks.
“I have an idea.”
“That’s why I’m worried. Tell me.”
“It would allow you to become head of House. It would…require it.”
Kassandra’s eyes spark. “Dominik’s death may lead to war between the Houses.”
“He does not have to die to lose his spot as heir.”
She stares at her tattooed arms, rotating them. “I didn’t expect it to feel so painful. So…heavy. Yours used to go up to your shoulders.”
“I am one of the lucky ones. Most palace faeries are.”
“The boy,” she says. “The little brother of your friend Jeremee.”
I blink, shocked to hear his name on her lips. “Yes. What of him?”
“How many debt rings does he have?”
“They spanned all four limbs,” I say. “Until the game. Then you forgave some…” I stop, emotion rising.
“I forgave what I thought we could get away with. It seems I was wrong.”
