Alyrra and Kestrin escort me to my cousin’s apartments where I am enveloped in hugs and plied with tea and biscuits.
As soon as the royals depart, I write my messages for Bren’s page to deliver: one to my mother, and a second to Kelari Bakira as a backup. Melly bustles around as I work, opening up my old trunks, lined up against the wall, to find me a change of clothes. It feels as if I have somehow fallen back into a piece of my old life, but it doesn’t quite fit right anymore. My edges are sharper, and when I turn to give Melly the letters for the page, it feels like I might inadvertently cut through the fabric of this world to a darker, more dangerous one underneath.
“Is there anything else we can do?” Melly asks.
All I want is to lie down again. But as I start to shake my head, I re
