Elewisa had always believed she would repay the man who served her. She never imagined she would die trying to do it.Pain came first — a dull, pounding throb at the back of her skull, keeping time with her heartbeat, and then came the dark.Elewisa's eyes snapped open to nothing. Cloth pressed against her face, coarse and suffocating, stinking of dust and old grain. Her wrists burned where rope bit into skin, crossed behind her back, and when she tried to cry out, only a muffled whimper escaped past the gag cutting into the corners of her mouth. Her feet were bound too, ankles lashed so tight she couldn't feel her toes. The world rocked beneath her — she was being carried, slung over someone's shoulder like a sack of grain, jostled with every step.The tea. That was the last clear thing she remembered — steam curling off Master Caius's evening cup, the corridor outside his study, the sound of footsteps behind her a heartbeat before something struck the back of her head and the world

The first thing Caius heard that morning was the sound of something breaking.The porcelain bowl shattered against the floor before the maid even realized her hand had gone slack, and for one heartbeat too long, no one moved to clean it up.Caius barely noticed the mess.His entire world had narrowed to the small, cold hand cradled between both of his, to Elewisa's closed eyes and the faint rise and fall of her chest. She hadn't woken once through the night.Her fever had broken twice.It had returned twice.And each time it did, something in his chest tightened like a rope being pulled around his ribs."By the gods," the maid stammered, already dropping to her knees to gather the shards, "I'm so sorry, I—"Caius looked up.It was only because he happened to glance towards her face at exactly the wrong moment that he caught it — the flash of something dark and venomous in her eyes as she looked at Elewisa's still form on the bed. It was there and gone in an instant, smoothed over so q

The golden shimmer was still hanging at the edge of her vision when Elewisa realized she'd frozen solid in the doorway, and it was that — not his voice — that made her heart lurch first."Are you okay?" Caius's voice cut through her spiraling thoughts, and she blinked hard, forcing the strange, glowing text to blur into nothing before he could see whatever expression had settled on her face."I'm fine," she stammered, the words tumbling out too fast to be convincing. "Have a pleasant day, my lord."She was gone before he could respond, feet carrying her down the corridor faster than propriety allowed, faster than her still-aching head could really tolerate. She didn't stop until she'd reached her own small room, until the door was shut behind her and her back pressed hard against it, chest heaving like she'd run twice the distance she actually had.The small mirror above her washstand caught her reflection, pale and wide-eyed, and just beyond it — impossibly, maddeningly — the golden

The three froze mid-motion.Their eyes darted between one another in silent, panicked agreement before they bolted into the darkness, disappearing between the trees before either Cedric or Nevan could get a clear look at their faces.Nevan's hand flew instinctively to his hip. He shifted forward, ready to give chase.Cedric's arm shot out, stopping him."Let them go.""Captain, they were assaulting—""The priority," Cedric said flatly, already walking toward the shivering figure crouched on the riverbank, "is finding the young lady something to wear before she freezes to death in front of us."Nevan's face went spectacularly red."Right. Yes. Of course."He quickly shrugged off his jacket and thrust it toward Cedric without looking anywhere near Elewisa.She sat hunched in the mud, soaked from head to toe, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her teeth chattered too violently for her to speak.Cedric took the jacket and draped it over her shoulders in one efficient motion.His gaz

The hand on her shoulder was warm and friendly, and Elewisa nearly screamed anyway.She spun so fast her hood slipped. A young man in a black coat stood grinning down at her, sharp-featured, dark hair tied at the nape, the edge of a B-Class mark showing on his wrist. Nevan."Easy," he said, lifting both hands. "I don't bite. But you, my dear, are one of the worst spies I have ever met. You hid behind a barrel. A barrel, with half your skirt hanging out the side.""I wasn't spying.""Then what were you doing in a training yard full of armed men?""Fetching water."Nevan looked at the barrel, then at her empty hands. "With what?""I got lost.""In a mansion you've served at for years?" He tilted his head. "Half these men can crack a wall with one punch. If a practice blade slipped, nobody would have found you until supper."Her mouth opened and nothing useful came out. Her cold still sat in her chest, a thin rattle under every breath, and her scalp ached where Petra's fingers had been.