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UNLIKE ON THE JOURNEY THAT HAD BROUGHT ME from Corlivo to Panpirion months ago, this time I was our leader and navigator, and I worried over every bump and turn we took during the long journey. We didn’t see or hear so much as a hint of Jovinian’s soldiers—yet every unfamiliar sound caused a jolt of anxiety. I consulted the astrolabe so often that it hardly ever left my hands. It reassured me that we were still on course, and it made me feel that I was holding onto a connection to Sebastianus as the miles between us grew. Despite the way we had parted, thoughts of him filled my mind.

Pollux was a warm, funny companion, quick with a joke or even a hearty song. But as our journey went on and the mountain range stayed far away to our left, he began to squint his dark eyes in distrust at my astrolabe and retreat into gloomy moods. Ismene spent most of the journey in a stunned silence, her elegant braids pressed against the wooden side of the carriage. She looked as though she couldn’t believe she had taken such a bold step—that her thoughts were still catching up with the impulse that had caused her to come with us.

WE REACHED MAREUS in a numbing rain that soaked Pollux to the bone and seeped into the carriage, coating everything with damp. The village’s small plaza was sodden and desolate, with a few decrepit buildings: a forge, a bakery, and one public house: a crooked, two-story wooden structure on the east end of the small dirt plaza. I had lived my whole life in the splendor of Corlivo and, for the past few months, in an aristocrat’s seaside villa. The humble circumstances of this place reminded me just how sheltered I had been.

Pollux jumped down from the carriage, sending mud flying in all directions. He looked around at the ramshackle inn and the dirt-covered plaza, where a single waterlogged chicken pecked at the edge of a puddle.

He wiped the cold rain out of his eyes with a sinewy forearm. “Why do you want to stop here?”

Drops pelted the carriage and the thatched roofs of the little buildings. A stiff wind blew.

I slung my satchel over my shoulder and climbed down into the mud. “It’s a good place to rest for a day or two. A few miles north of here is a road that leads west up into the mountains. Once we’re refreshed, we’ll take that route. It won’t be more than a few days’ ride from that crossroads to Corlivo.”

Pollux frowned but said nothing. He went inside to find the innkeeper, splashing through puddles all the way. Ismene and I stood in the shelter of the inn’s eaves and watched the rain fall on the desolate plaza while he made arrangements for our stay. Before long, the horses had been led to the stables, while we were shown to our dusty rooms to dry off with the promise of a hot meal. The innkeeper was a laconic man with a thick black beard and a large belly that strained the seams of his stained apron. He didn’t try to disguise his curiosity about the three of us, and I was grateful when he left us alone and lumbered back down the stairs.

Ismene and I had agreed that we would honor the code of secrecy surrounding the sanctuary. I was sorry to deceive Pollux, but I shared her feeling that we were bound to keep the knowledge hidden from everyone, and especially from men. It pained me even more to think that I was also keeping the secret from the rest of our little band of friends, who had become so dear to me, and who were risking so much to keep me safe. And yet, if Corlivo women had found a way to escape the mountain city and live freely, we could never endanger that.

However, Pollux had sharp eyes and a keen mind, and he was not satisfied with my explanation for why we had stopped at a small town in the middle of nowhere. Over our meager supper of lentils and brown bread, he probed gently at the edges of the topic.

“Surely there is a more direct road from Panpirion to Corlivo? If I’m not mistaken, we’ve gone out of our way to the east. Maybe your device isn’t working.”

“I think it was safer to take this way,” I said quickly. “The straighter road was more obvious, and therefore more dangerous.”

He slurped up his lentils with a spoon. “We still could have been followed, and the Imperator has spies everywhere. We shouldn’t linger here in case someone is behind us on the road.”

“We would have seen some sign of pursuit, I think.” I wasn’t entirely sure this was true, but I tried to sound confident. “And I don’t think anyone would expect us to take this road, or to stop here in the middle of nowhere.”

Ismene jumped in. “I agree with you. We should rest here for a little while.”

Pollux crossed his wiry arms and surveyed us both with a frown. “You know, I was born in a small village like this one, far away on the other side of the inland sea. My father was a fisherman. He sold me to a slave trader for money to repair his fishing boat. He had struck a rock, and he needed the boat. It was his livelihood.”

“That’s terrible,” I said.

Pollux shrugged. “He did what he had to do. I survived. Maybe that means he did the right thing.”

I considered this for a moment. “But you might have survived anyway and lived a life with less hardship.”

“We never know the lives we don’t live.” He scraped up the last of his lentils with a hunk of bread. “And I’ve had my share of glory.”

“Does your father know you became a great champion?” Ismene asked.

“Yes. He received gold from the Imperator when I won my tenth race.” Pollux stretched and got up from the table. “My point is, if you think you’ll be able to hide here, you’re wrong. The people of this village won’t protect us. They’ll do what they have to do.”

His words rang in my ears long after he said goodnight and departed for his own room. We needed to find what we were looking for quickly.

Ismene and I washed our faces in the cold basin, undressed down to our tunics, and got into bed. It was a lumpy straw mattress, but better than some we had endured over the past week. I lay there thinking about the risks I had taken, about Sebastianus’s anger the day we parted, about what I hoped to find in this little village.

I thought Ismene had fallen asleep, but after a few minutes, she turned toward me in the dark, rustling the blanket. “When we find the sanctuary, will you stay there with me?”

I hesitated. I had thought about this many times since leaving Panpirion. Could I be content to give up my dreams of adventure and live quietly, in safety?

“I plan to continue to the mountains and meet up with the Archidux.”

“But what if we really do find your mother at the sanctuary?”

I stared up at the dark ceiling, listening to the rain pounding on the roof. This question had tugged at my heart over the many miles from Panpirion to Mareus. If I found what I had been looking for all these years—what then?

When I didn’t answer, she let the matter drop. “What do you think ‘the moon’s path’ means? Do you have any idea where to start looking?”