Bitterblue

'I understand, Lord Prince,' Saf said meekly.

I, on the other hand, do not understand, Bitterblue thought to Po, and I could kick you. I want him angry. When he's angry, we get to the truth.

Po assumed a bland expression, turned on his heel, and left the room.

'He has no idea,' Saf said, 'does he. He has no idea what a snake you are.'

Taking a breath, Bitterblue said quietly, 'I didn't manipulate you.'

'Horseshit,' Saf said. 'You told Prince Po every last detail about me, every minute of everything we've ever done, yet I'm to believe you never told your little people? You think I'm so naïve that I haven't figured out how I got pulled in for a murder I didn't commit, or who's paying that witness to lie? Or who's responsible for the attacks on Teddy and me?'

'What?' she cried. 'Saf! No! How can you think I'm behind all those things when Po and I just saved you? You're not thinking!'

'And that last little bit of fun—did you enjoy that? Do you get a kick out of debasing yourself with commoners and then telling others? I cannot believe how much feeling I wasted in worry,' he said, voice going low, stepping toward her again. 'Fearing I would injure you somehow. Thinking you were innocent!'

Knowing it was a wild and unwise thing to do, she took hold of his arm. 'Saf, I swear to you, I'm not your villain. I'm as baffled about that as you are. I'm on your side! I'm trying to find the truth! And I've never told anyone your every last detail—anyone but Po,' she amended desperately, 'and even he doesn't know the private things. Hardly anyone else even knows I go out at night!'

'You're lying again,' he said, trying to push her off. 'Let go.'

She clung to him. 'No. Please.'

'Let go,' he said between his teeth, 'or I'll punch you in the face and shame myself before my prince.'

'I want you to punch me in the face,' she said, which wasn't true, but at least it would be fair. Her guards had punched him in the face.

'Of course,' he said, 'because then I'll land right back in prison.' He twisted his arm away and she gave up, turned her back to him, wrapping arms around herself, hugging herself desolately.

Finally, she said in a small, clear voice, 'I have lied, Saf, but never with the intention of hurting you or your friends, or any truthseekers, or anyone, I swear it. I only ever went out to see what my city was like at night, because my advisers keep me blind in a tower and I wanted to know. I never meant to meet you. I never meant to like you and I never meant to become your friend. Once I did, how was I to tell you the truth?'

She couldn't see him, but he seemed to be laughing. 'You're unbelievable.'

'Why? What is it? Explain what you mean!'

'You seem to have this daydream,' Saf said, 'that when we were spending time together and I didn't know you were the queen, we were friends. Equals. But knowledge is power. You knew you were the queen and I didn't. We have never once been equal, and as far as friendship goes,' he said—then stopped. 'Your mother is dead,' he said in a different kind of voice, bitter, and final. 'You've lied to me about everything.'

'I told you things that were more precious to me than the truth,' she whispered.

A silence stretched between them, empty. A distance. It lasted a long, long time.

'Let's suppose for a minute that you're telling the truth,' he finally said, 'about not being the person behind the attacks.'

'I am telling the truth,' she whispered. 'Saf, I swear it. The only thing I lied about is who I am.'

Another short silence. When he spoke again, it was with a sadness and a quietness that she did not know how to associate with the Saf she knew. 'But I don't think you understand who you are,' he said. 'I don't think you realize how big it is, or how it maroons me. You're so high in the world that you can't see down as far as me. You don't see what you've done.' And Saf moved around her, vanishing into the foyer without leave, shouldering through the outside doors, so abruptly that, finding herself alone, she made a small noise of surprise.

Slowly, Bitterblue unfolded herself, turning to take in the room, the midday light. She searched for the clock on the mantel, to see how many hours of this day were left to live through before she could hide in the covers of her bed.

Her eyes didn't make it as far as the clock, for the crown was missing from its velvet cushion.

Bitterblue spun frantically, her body refusing her mind's immediate comprehension, but of course, the crown was nowhere else in the room either. Hissing Saf's name, she ran after him, burst through her outside doors, and found herself staring into the faces of two very startled Lienid guards.

'Is anything wrong, Lady Queen?' the guard to the left inquired.

And what was she going to do, anyway? Race through the castle, higgledy-piggledy, having no idea of his route, in the hopes that she'd cross his path in a courtyard somewhere? And then what? Ask him, before an audience of passersby, to please give back the crown he was hiding in his coat? Then, when he refused, grapple with him for it? He'd be arrested all over again, and this time for a crime he had committed.

'Everything is marvelous,' Bitterblue said. 'This is the best day of my life. Thank you for asking.'

Then she went to kick in her bedroom door and demand of Po why he'd let this happen.

The answer was straightforward enough. Po was asleep.

22

WHEN PO BURST back into her rooms an hour later, he was not carrying the crown.

'Where is it?' Bitterblue hissed from her place on the sofa, where she'd spent the hour pushing away the food Helda pressed on her, fending off visits from her puzzled advisers, and pulling at her cuticles.

Po collapsed beside her, rumpled and soaking wet. 'I lost him.'

'You lost him! How?'

'He had a head start, Bitterblue, and his sister met him just outside, and they ran together, splitting up sometimes. And it's raining, which makes things harder for me. And I cannot keep all your streets in my mind, and all the houses, and all the moving people, while also focusing on someone who grows farther and farther away; I got lost, I had to backtrack. And all the hundreds of folk who saw me were having dramatic reactions at me, wanting to know why I was running around like a lunatic, and I cannot even begin to describe how distracting that is. The power of the rumor mill, if you could feel it as I do, would boggle your mind. Too many people out there know, somehow, that Katsa left abruptly in the middle of the night, sobbing her eyes out, wearing Raffin's clothing, and taking a horse over Winged Bridge. Every one of them who looked at me wanted to know what horrible thing I'd done to her.'

'In addition to that,' a dignified voice said from the doorway, 'look at what a sight he is, Lady Queen. I've never tried running after young men through the city streets myself, but I expect it's difficult with heavy legs and tired eyes. He looks as if he hasn't slept in days, and who can blame him, with his lady up and leaving him?' Coming into the room, Helda went to a side table, poured a cup of cider, and brought it to Po.

'She left because I asked her to, Helda,' he said quietly, accepting the cup.

Sitting down across from them, sniffing, Helda said, 'Who's going to tell me what's going on?'

Bitterblue was lost. Had Po told Helda his truth, then? Or was he revealing it to her this very moment? Had he even meant to, or had she snuck up on him somehow? If one of the Lienid guards stepped in, or one of the spies, would Po reveal it to them too? Why not hang a banner from the windows?

She tore a hangnail too close to the root and sucked her breath in through her teeth. 'Well,' she said to Helda, watching the bead of blood grow. 'Today, a city person I know was arrested for a murder he didn't commit. He was acquitted. Then Po brought him here so that I could talk to him.'

'I saw him when he came in, Lady Queen,' Helda said severely, 'before Prince Po shooed me back to my rooms and told me to stay there. He looked like an incurable ruffian. And when he began yelling at you, and I came out to knock some sense into him, Prince Po shooed me away again.'

'His name is Sapphire,' Bitterblue said, swallowing, 'and he didn't know until he saw me in the High Court today that I was the queen. I'd told him that I worked in the kitchens.'