them to think she was a coward.
Quintana flinched at whatever Japhra was doing.
‘I’ll hold your hand,’ Tesadora reassured.
‘I can hold it,’ Phaedra said. ‘She’s beginning to trust me.’
‘She snarls at you all day long,’ Florenza said.
Tesadora turned to them, annoyed.
‘Go away. Both of you. Go speak to Rafuel. He has news from the camp.’
Phaedra stood and walked outside onto the rock face, where Rafuel was speaking to Cora and Jorja.
‘What is the news, Rafuel?’ Phaedra said, her voice weary.
‘Not good. Your father has stopped the grain, Phaedra. The older valley dwellers aren’t faring well. Donashe and his men are the lowest of dogs and they are growing in numbers. There is also one who watches me. As if he suspects. You all need to be careful. How could you have allowed the Princess out of your sight?’ he said, anger in his voice. ‘Her throat was almost slit by Isaboe of Lumatere. What were you thinking, Phaedra?’
‘How are the men?’ Jorja asked. ‘How is my Harker?’
Rafuel shook his head. ‘Angry. I fear he will do something foolish and get himself killed for it. Donashe’s men don’t have the discipline of an army. They don’t have a bond to anything or anyone, including each other.’ Rafuel’s eyes met Ginny’s. ‘Your husband and some of the other men in the valley have taken to being Donashe’s lackeys. It means their bellies are better taken care of than the rest, but they have sold their honour.’
‘Well, that’s your fault,’ Ginny said spitefully. ‘Gies is despairing without me.’ She looked at the other women, nodding in satisfaction. ‘He’s smart to have aligned himself with those in power.’
‘Those in power, you stupid girl, slaughtered seven innocent men,’ Cora said.
Ginny looked away. ‘Well, my Gies and me, we weren’t here to have seen that and according to Gies, those scholar lads were traitors.’
Rafuel’s stare was murderous. The seven scholars had been his men and Phaedra knew he would never forgive himself for not dying alongside them. By the look on his face, she thought he’d strike out at Ginny. She was relieved when Tesadora and Japhra were finished with the Princess and joined them.
‘Will you come again soon, Matteo?’ Cora said.
Rafuel didn’t correct her.
‘Now that Donashe and his men believe that I’ve taken to Japhra, they may not question me slipping away more often,’ Rafuel said.
‘The Princess is fine for now,’ Japhra said in Lumateran. ‘The babe will be born in the spring.’
And then Tesadora, Rafuel and the girls were gone and Phaedra stood on the rock face watching until the last flicker of their lamps disappeared. Back inside she lay beside the Princess, turning away from her. But then she felt Quintana lean over her, her lips close to Phaedra’s ears.
‘I do believe we’re going to have to kill that piece-of-nothing girl, Ginny.’
Phaedra’s heart thumped to hear the words. She turned to face Quintana.
‘Are you mad?’
‘A knife to her side and a slit ear to ear. It’ll take us less than five seconds.’
‘That’s evil.’
Her Royal Awfulness gave a laugh.
‘Can you honestly say with the clearest conviction that Ginny will not betray us the first chance she is given?’
No, Phaedra thought. She couldn’t honestly say that. But nor could she sanction anything this mad girl suggested.
‘Find a better way of securing Ginny’s trust,’ Phaedra said. ‘It would help if you were nicer to your own people … and not just the Lumaterans.’
‘Well, only one Lumateran has tried to kill me so far, as opposed to the number of Charynites who have attempted.’
What kind of a girl was this who would speak of taking another’s life so freely?
‘I think –’
‘Go to sleep,’ Quintana said dismissively. ‘You’re useless to me when you feel sorry for yourself.’
Chapter 14
Froi woke to see five faces staring down at him.
‘You fainted,’ Lirah said.
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Yes, you did,’ Gargarin argued.
‘You climbed down well enough and the moment we touched the ground, you fainted,’ Finnikin said.
‘I’ve never fainted a day in my life.’
‘Well, you fainted today,’ Finnikin said, leaning closer, ‘and you’re going to really upset Perri and my father if you don’t speak Lumateran,’ he added, feigning a whisper.
Froi’s eyes met Perri’s and then Trevanion’s. Neither looked happy.
‘Reckon I stumbled. Hit my head on a rock,’ he said in Lumateran. It felt so strange on his tongue now.
‘You fainted,’ Perri said, his voice flat.
If Froi had fainted in front of Gargarin he wouldn’t have cared, but it was different in front of his captain and Perri and Finnikin. Warriors didn’t faint. Froi was shamed.
‘If you like, I can tell you in Sarnak or perhaps a bit of Yut and then we would have made it clear in quite a few languages that you fainted,’ Finnikin said with a grin.
‘I fainted,’ he concluded miserably.
Lirah made a sound of disgust. ‘I can’t understand a word anyone’s saying,’ she said, walking away.
Froi watched Finnikin stare after Lirah, shaking his head. ‘Rude, rude woman,’ Finnikin muttered. ‘She spat at me, you know.’
Froi wanted to sink into the earth beneath him. He sighed and sat up, but the movement was too abrupt and he found himself lying back down again, his head spinning.
‘Slowly,’ Finnikin said, holding out a hand for a second time that day. ‘We’re going to have to move from here. There are still some riders out in the woods.’
‘From which direction did you come?’ Froi asked.
‘South.’
‘We head east,’ Perri said.
‘There’s no path east through these woods,’ Froi said.
‘Perri’s found one,’ Finnikin said. ‘Come.’
Gargarin and Lirah were looking at each other as Froi approached them, and they grabbed their packs ready to follow the others.
‘Perri’s found a path east,’ Froi explained, leading his horse along.
‘Well, thank the gods for Perri,’ Gargarin muttered, following.
Perri stopped and turned to face Gargarin, his stare deadly. But Froi stood between them, giving Gargarin a warning look.
Perri’s path was unmarked and they followed him into a thicket of trees that joined overhead, shielding them from all sides. The horses were there and Perri tended to them. Trevanion collected kindling and tried to nurture a flame, but the twigs were too damp and it took some time for the smallest of fires.
‘For warmth, not food. We can’t draw attention,’ Trevanion said.
Froi watched them all. Strangely, Lirah and Gargarin looked like nobility with their cold haughty stares and dressed in the best De Lancey had to offer. They all continued to study each other with suspicion.
‘Take him,’ Gargarin finally said to Finnikin, pointing at Froi. ‘No matter what he says, take him with
