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Father’s posture shifts, and his shoulders droop a little. “Your sister is sick, Esme.”

My world shifts.

Everything narrows to just those five words. Your sister is sick, Esme. Blood rushes to my head, filling my ears with a dull roar, and the hallway tilts under my feet as if my universe lost its axis. “What do you mean sick?”

His mouth twists up as if he’s tasted something vile. “The Hushing Sickness. It’s in the early stages still, but she’s got it. Our healers have confirmed it.”

I stumble and lean against the wall for support as my father remains as still as a statue, keeping his hands at his sides and displaying no desire to touch or comfort me.

Calla can’t have the Hush. I just saw her. She was perfect. Glowing even. Nothing gray about her. Nothing hollow. I touch my throat. I didn’t see any puncture wounds on her, not like the others afflicted, and she still had her mind, recognized me, and spoke with me.

“I don’t…” I shake my head. “I just saw her. She was fine. She was…” Wasn’t she? I didn’t pay much attention. I was so focused on getting away that I barely looked at her.

“Hiding it.” Father cuts me off. “The way she hides everything she considers a weakness. But our physicians confirmed the diagnosis two days ago. The lethargy has started. The despair. After that…” He doesn’t finish.

He doesn’t need to.

I’ve seen what comes next. “Why did you bring Calla here?” The question comes out sharp. “Traveling could make it worse⁠—”

“She’s safe to travel for now.” Father’s voice returns to that flat affect, pushing down the softness he has when he speaks of his favorite daughter. “But that window is closing. Every day, she deteriorates a little more. Every day we don’t have a cure, we lose more people. More of our kingdom. I wanted to bring her to one last tourney before…”

Before she forgets everything.

Even though she hates me, I can’t bear the thought of her forgetting me, or herself. Calla is a tour de force. The thought of her as a dead-eyed victim of a Hollow One who stops recognizing her family roils my stomach.

“Tirene has what we need.” Father hides his shaking hands behind his cloak. “General Kerrin can get it. Will you bring him to me? To save your sister?”

The question sounds so simple. Calla is my sister. And the only heir, if I can’t complete my Warden training. The next in line after her is disputed, meaning possible civil war.

My mind splinters into fragments, each one pulling in a different direction.

Calla and I may spend most of the time at cross purposes, but I still love her. She’s my sister, and she’s dying. The same sister who asked if I was eating enough and looked at me with something that might have been concern will soon forget about me for real. She’ll turn pale, and life will leech out of her day by day until she begins to hurt herself in a futile attempt to remember. Father is offering me a way to save her.

I can finally give Father something no one else can. I can do something for the crown, the country, that no one else has been or will be able to do.

But Agnar claimed there are no eggs. He was so certain.

Except he’s lied about everything else. His name. His position. His entire identity. Why would I trust him about the eggs when I can’t trust him about anything?

Caught up in all my what-ifs and buts, I apparently take too long to answer.

Father sneers and slaps his gloves against his thigh. “You’ve fallen for him. A princess, no matter how unseemly, is still a princess. And you’ve fallen for a foreign invader.”

“I haven’t… He’s not…” The denial dies in my throat.

Because I have. Somewhere between the dancing, fighting, and the way he regards me like I’m valuable, I managed to fall for Agnar.

And Father recognizes that. “So be it.”

He pivots and marches away, leaving me torn.

He doesn’t want Agnar. He only wants to take him and use him. To do whatever’s necessary to extract information about nonexistent dragon eggs.

But on the other hand, once Father learns Tirene has no eggs, he’ll understand there’s nothing to extract, no leverage. He’ll let Agnar go. He has to.

Which gives me a decision to make.

Chapter Forty-One