“Donnae look at me as if I’m the mastermind behind this,” Jesse said quickly. “This wasnae my plan. Ryan and Esmerelda are both fools, but Ryan is my brother, and I made him a vow.”
“But how?” Kaslan asked.
“How?”
“How did she… that is, to say…”
“She left her father a letter announcing her intentions to take matters into her own hands, spending her promise before the Guardians were ready for it. She had reason enough, with being sold off in marriage to the pretender king. They believed she’d thrown herself to the mercy of the sea. An absence of a body makes for simpler explanations, and a greater level of acceptance among those who loved her best. As a Southerlander, we lose many of our own to the sea, both by accident and by a man’s own hand. Women in particular fill their pockets wit
