A hiss of air. A line of sharp bronze darts burst from the wall, whistling across the chamber. Williams dived, dragging Breck to the floor with him, and the darts thudded into the stone where Breck’s chest had been. A second volley followed, then a third, until the whole room rang like a smith’s forge.When the noise stopped, the three of them lay in a heap on the floor, covered in dust, and Breck was laughing, high and shaky and slightly hysterical.“I told you I hated this,” he gasped.“You did not hate it,” Williams said, wiping his face. “You failed a stealth test.”“I nearly died.”“That is part of the curriculum.”“It should not be.”“I will take it under advisement.”“Please do.”Williams rose, brushing dust from his sleeves, and pulled Breck up by the arm. “You did well until the tile,” he said. “Your stillness was excellent. Your focus was good. Your only mistake was stepping where you were told not to.”“I did not see it.”“Black tiles on a black floor. That is why they are

“Hear, hear,” Master Adrian said gruffly, raising his cup.“Hear, hear,” the others echoed.Williams looked down at the table, visibly moved. “I am not accustomed to praise,” he said, after a moment.“We noticed,” Breck said.“It makes me uncomfortable.”“We noticed that too.”“I find I do not mind it as much as I expected.” A faint, shy smile. “Thank you. All of you.”Thorne rose slowly to his feet, his cup in his hand. “I would like to add something,” he said.“Please.”“When I first heard your name, I was afraid. I thought you would be another man who wanted to use me.” He hesitated. “I was wrong. You have been honest from the start, even when it hurt. You told me the truth about my father, and about myself. You made me face my fear, and you stood beside me while I did it.”“I did what any teacher would.”“No. You did what a good one does.” Thorne raised his cup. “To Elder Williams, and to Kester. May the Blackwater Clan never run out of masters.”“To Williams and Kester!” Maya sai

I always do.”“Do you intend to go through with it? Truly? Do you mean to help Darius kill the boy?”Melissa did not answer at once. Her fingers tapped a slow rhythm against the stem of her goblet.“I told you,” she said. “I am undecided.”“I know. But I need to understand. If we attack the island and the boy dies, the golden clover dies with him. And if the Hand is truly trying to free something that—”She stopped.Melissa’s head had turned, very slowly, toward the far corner of the room. Her grey eyes had gone flat and cold, fixed on a patch of shadow behind the heavy tapestry beside the hearth. The goblet in her hand stopped moving.“Sister?” Elvyn said, uncertainly.“Hush.”The word was barely a breath. Elvyn froze. The fire popped. A log shifted in the hearth. And in the silence, faint and thin and utterly out of place, came a tiny, almost imperceptible sound, the soft scrape of a boot against stone.Melissa rose.She did not rise quickly. She stood up from the table like smoke u

She did not move. She knelt beside him, utterly still, the dagger steady in her hand, and the minutes stretched out like cooling wax. The fire popped. A log sank into the ashes. Outside in the corridor, one of the guards shifted his weight and then froze again, as though he had been caught breathing.Pell’s breath grew ragged. Sweat ran down his temples and soaked into the carpet. His eyes closed, then opened, then closed again. Every so often his lips moved in a silent prayer, and each time they did, Melissa’s fingers twitched, and the prayer died unspoken.“You are stalling,” she said at last.“No.”“You are waiting for something. Or someone. Or you are telling yourself a story about how brave you are.” She sighed. “I have seen it many times. A man decides he will say nothing, and he builds a wall in his mind, brick by brick. He thinks of his family, his duty, his master’s gratitude. He tells himself that the pain will end, that the Sorceress will tire, that someone will come.”“No

“Who pays me,” Melissa repeated, in a very quiet voice.“Yes.”“He wished me to remember.”“Yes, Sorceress.”“How thoughtful.” She rose slowly, the dagger loose in her hand. “And what else did your captain say about me?”“That you are dangerous. That you are not to be trusted.” Pell wiped his face with a trembling hand. “That Lord Varek believes you may turn against the crown.”“Does he.”“He said that if you did, he would see to it that you were—” He stopped.“That I was what?”“Removed.”The word hung in the air. Elvyn felt something cold coil in the pit of her stomach. She looked at her sister, and her sister’s face was perfectly smooth, perfectly calm, a mask of white porcelain without a single crack.“Removed,” Melissa said. “That is a gentle word.”“Yes.”“What would it entail?”“I do not know.”“Guess.”“Poison, perhaps. Or the Scribes. A knife in the dark.” Pell’s voice shook. “I truly do not know. I am only a watcher.”“A watcher who was told to deliver a threat.”“I was told