Bitterblue

'Right,' Saf said again, accepting the fork. 'Thank you, Helda, I'm sure.'

'Saf,' Bitterblue said. 'Be careful.'

'Don't worry, Lady Queen,' he said, catching her eyes, holding them for a moment. 'I'll bring your crown back in the morning. I promise.'

His exit brought cold air rushing into the room. When he'd closed the window behind him, Bitterblue went to the fire to capture some of its heat. 'How are you, Giddon?'

'Thiel was walking on Winged Bridge last night, Lady Queen,' said Giddon without preamble. 'It seemed a bit odd at the time, so we thought you should know.'

With a small sigh, Bitterblue pinched the bridge of her nose. 'Thiel on Winged Bridge. Fox, Hava, and Saf on Winter Bridge. My father would be so pleased with the popularity of his bridges. Why were you on Winged Bridge, Giddon?'

'Bann and I were making some improvements to Saf's hiding place, Lady Queen. Thiel walked by just as we were about to leave.'

'Did he see you?'

'I don't think he saw anything,' said Giddon. 'He was in another world. He came from the far side of the river and he had no light, so we didn't see him at all until he walked directly past our window. Moving like a ghost —made us both jump. We followed him, Lady Queen. He took the steps down to the street and entered the east city, but I'm afraid we lost him after that.'

Bitterblue rubbed her eyes, hiding her face in comforting darkness. 'Do either of you know if Thiel knows about Hava's Grace for disguise?'

'I don't believe he does, Lady Queen,' said Helda.

'I'm sure it's nothing,' Bitterblue said. 'I'm sure he's just going for melancholy walks. But perhaps we could ask her to follow him once.'

'Yes, Lady Queen,' said Helda. 'If she's willing, it may be better to know. Runnemood is supposed to have jumped off one of the bridges, and Thiel is a bit depressed.'

'Oh, Helda,' said Bitterblue, sighing again. 'I don't think I can bear it being anything other than melancholy walks.'

THAT NIGHT, EXHAUSTION and worry pushed Bitterblue beyond sleep. She lay on her back staring at the blackness. Rubbing her arm, which still seemed marvelous to her somehow, aching with tiredness but free from that horrid cast, and, finally, dressed in her knives again.

Eventually, she lit a candle so that she could watch the gold and scarlet stars glimmer on her bedroom ceiling. It occurred to her that she was keeping a sort of vigil, for Saf. For Teddy, Tilda, and Bren, who were stealing a crown. For Thiel, who walked alone at night and shattered too easily. For those of her friends who were far away, Po, Raffin, and Katsa, perhaps shivering in tunnels.

When drowsiness began to soften the edges of her exhaustion and she knew sleep was near, Bitterblue allowed herself to linger with a thing she hadn't allowed herself in some time: the dream of herself as a baby in her mother's arms. It had been too sad to touch recently, with Leck's journals so near. But tonight she would allow it, in honor of Saf, for Saf had been the one, that night she'd slept on the hard shop floor, who'd told her to dream of something nice, like babies; Saf had pushed her nightmares away.

37

SHE WOKE, AND dressed, to a peculiar gray-green daylight and a shrieking wind that seemed to be racing around the castle in circles.

In the sitting room, Hava sat as close to the fire as one could without actually sitting in it. She was wrapped in blankets, drinking a steaming cup of something.

'I'm afraid Hava has a report that's going to upset you, Lady Queen,' said Helda. 'Perhaps you should sit down.'

'Upsetting about Thiel?'

'Yes. We've heard nothing about Sapphire yet,' Helda said, answering the question Bitterblue had actually been asking.

'When will—'

'Lord Giddon was out all night on other business,' Helda said, 'and promised not to come back without a report.'

'All right,' Bitterblue said, crossing the room and sitting on the hearth beside Hava, shifting to avoid her own sword. She tried to steel herself against something that she knew, somehow, would break her heart, but it was difficult. There was too much worry. 'Go on, Hava.'

Hava stared into her drink. 'Across Winged Bridge and a short distance west, Lady Queen, there's a black cavern in the ground, tucked under the river. It smells like—something thick and cloying, Lady Queen,' she said, 'and in a place in the back—sort of a second room—there are piles and piles of bones.'

'Bones,' Bitterblue said. 'More bones.' His hospital is under the river.

'Last night, very late, Thiel left the castle through the tunnel from the eastern corridor,' Hava said. 'He crossed the bridge, went to the cave, and filled a box with bones. Then he carried the box back onto the bridge, stood at the center, and tipped the bones over the edge. Then he went back and did it two more times—'

'Thiel threw bones into the river,' Bitterblue said numbly.

'Yes,' said Hava. 'And partway through, he was joined by Darby, Rood, two of your clerks, your judge Quall, and my uncle.'

'Your uncle!' cried Bitterblue, staring at Hava. 'Holt!'

'Yes, Lady Queen,' said Hava, her strange eyes flashing with misery. 'All of them filled boxes with bones and dumped them in the river.'

'It's Leck's hospital,' Bitterblue said. 'They're trying to hide it.'

'Leck's hospital?' asked Helda, appearing at Bitterblue's elbow and slipping a hot drink into her hands.

'Yes. 'The dampness and the roundness of the ceiling make for such acoustics.''

'Ah. Yes,' said Helda, then tucked her chin to her chest for a moment. 'There was a bit in a recent translation about the smell in the hospital. He stacked the bodies instead of burning them, or disposing of them in any normal way. He liked the smell and the vermin. It made others ill, of course.'

'Thiel was there when it was happening,' Bitterblue whispered. 'He saw it, and he wants the memory of it to go away. All of them do. Oh, how stupid I've been.'

'There's more, Lady Queen,' said Hava. 'I followed Thiel, Darby, and Rood back into the east city. They met some men in a brokendown house, Lady Queen, and they all passed each other things. Your advisers gave the men money, and the men gave your advisers papers, and a little sack. They hardly said a word, Lady Queen, but something fell out of the sack. I searched for it after they'd gone.'

At the sound of the outer doors opening, Bitterblue sprang to her feet, burning herself on her sploshing drink but not caring. Giddon filled the doorway. His eyes went straight to hers. 'Sapphire is alive and free,' he said grimly.

Bitterblue sank down onto the hearth again. 'But it's not over,' she said as her thoughts scrambled to interpret. 'You've just given me all the good news, haven't you? He's free, but hiding. He's alive, but hurt, and he doesn't have the crown. Is he hurt, Giddon?'

'No more than Saf ever is, Lady Queen. At sunrise, I saw him step onto the merchant docks, coming from Winter Bridge, calm as calm, and begin to walk west toward the castle. He walked right past me—saw me—gave me the barest nod. I began to wrap up my own business so as to keep an eye on him. The docks were busy—work starts early on the river. He passed a small knot of men loading a brig and suddenly three of them broke off and stepped in behind him. Well, he picked up his pace, and next thing I knew, all of them were running, and so was I, and the chase was on, but I couldn't get to him before they did. There was a fight—he was getting the worst of it —and all at once he pulled the crown out of his coat and held it in his hands, clear as daylight. I'd almost reached them,' Giddon said, 'when he threw it.'

'Threw it?' repeated Bitterblue hopefully. 'To you?'