She was standing behind Mayah's desk, a handful of letters spread out in front of her. A bloody knife acted like a paperweight, holding down one edge of a particularly large report. Nearby, Mayah was tied to a chair, with a wad of cloth stuffed in her mouth. She looked angry but unhurt. My mind felt like it was moving in slow motion. I looked down at the damp carpet under my foot, and realized that it was soaked with blood. My eyes followed the stain towards a body.

Angelys, eyes open and glassy, blood still seeping from the slice across her neck.

"Don't," Kassia said. Her tone mimicked idle boredom, but her fingers reached for her bloody knife. "Get in here. Castin, I see you. I'll kill Lady Mayah and both of you before help can get here."

Castin stepped fully into the room and let the door close behind him. He tried to step around and get in front of me, and I caught his arm. I appreciated that he wanted to protect me, but I thought Kassia was less likely to hurt me than to hurt him.

"What do you want?" I asked, as steadily as I could manage.

Kassia still hadn't really looked at me. She flipped open another letter, and her eyes skimmed it as she replied, "Come sit down. Castin, take off that sword and go stand in the corner."

I caught his gaze and nodded. He frowned but started to undo his belt. I left him to it and crossed the room to take my usual chair on the other side of Mayah's desk. I spared Mayah a quick glance, but couldn't interpret the look she was giving me.

"What do you want?" I repeated.

Kassia glanced up. She was dressed all in black, in clothing that was actually quite similar to Mayah's Navirian training clothes. The biggest difference was that Kassia had numerous knives on her belt. Her hands were nowhere near her knives, but I knew not to underestimate how quickly she could grab them.

Kassia dropped the letter. "Your army is starving my city."

That wasn't the direction I imagined our conversation taking, but luckily, I had been hearing all the reports. "That's not true. Deorun has food stored away."

She shocked me by laughing. "Is that what you've been told? Everybody in the three kingdoms knows that until the Ady and Muss rivers flood, most of Deorun's food comes from Deor-Morcea."

That rang a bell in the back of my mind. "And the Co Navy has been blocking trade from Deor-Morcea for months."

"Hmm. So you're more aware of what's happening this time around." Kassia picked up her bloody knife, and wiped it off on one of the letters. Blue wax caught my eye, and I realized it was one of Jalor's letters to Mayah. Carelessly ruined by Kassia. "What I want is leverage against King Zianna."

I tried to put her comments together. She wasn't going to simply tell me everything, but she would probably confirm if I guessed right. "Mayah is the closest noble Telt who isn't with the army, and you knew the city would still be in disrepair."

Kassia raised an eyebrow, which I took as both confirmation and odd encouragement. She liked this game.

"There's also Prince Kalvahi's grudge against East Draulin."

"A minor contributing factor," Kassia said. Her gaze snapped over my head briefly. "Castin. Believe it or not, I can talk to Finn and watch you at the same time. Finn, what is he doing here, anyway?"

"He enlisted," I said. "He's acting as my guard."

"Hmm. That's unfortunate."

I didn't want to ask her why, so I continued with my guessing, hoping to distract her. "It also helps that Mayah is their friend."

"Ah, you're almost there," Kassia said.

It clicked. With noble Telts, there was something more important than simply being friends. The conversation with Tandrin the night before the army left came back to me, mixed with other pieces of politics I had picked up over the past year. "She's their ally." I spoke slowly, as the idea formed in my head. "She's one of the few big mainland nobles who likes the Tandrans."

Kassia slipped her clean knife into a sheath on her hip, and dropped the bloody letter. "You're fascinating. People don't think when they talk around you, do they?"

I didn't want to encourage that line of conversation, but I thought that if I kept her talking, maybe I would have time to come up with some sort of plan to get us out of this. "No. Are you going to kill me?"

"Not if I can avoid it. Lady East Draulin was my target, but you are quite the added bonus. Leverage against the Tandrans, indeed. I see you reaching for you knife, Finn. Stop it."

I spread my hands so she could see that I wasn't moving. At least if she was watching my hands, she might not watch Castin as closely. "You would be suspicious if I didn't try."

"That's just because, unlike everyone else in the world, I'm not going to underestimate you." Kassia walked around Mayah's desk, and hopped onto it so she was sitting right in front of me. Elegantly, she crossed one leg over the other. "You escaped from my jail."

"It wasn't that hard. Like you said, people underestimate me. And once I had a key, the knights were unstoppable." I glanced around, trying to get a feel for the layout of the room and where we all were.

"They are quite the impressive bunch," Kassia agreed. Then she tutted and tapped my knee with her foot. "Finagale, I know what you're doing. Stop it and behave yourself. How is your hand?"

I turned back to her. "The one you tried to crush? Fine."

"And your shoulder? You know, when I whistled at you, I didn't expect you to throw yourself in front of the arrow. Very noble."

I couldn't help but glance towards Mayah. "So you were trying to help?"

Kassia shrugged and brushed her dark hair over her shoulder. "Oh, I wouldn't go quite that far. But I am glad you had such a low dosage of poison. Kalvahi wasn't going to risk his men shooting Tandrix with a full dose. Still, it's a little surprising that you survived. Without proper medical treatment, even low dosages of bloomshade are incredibly fatal. Ah, well, you're a lucky young man. If a frustrating one."

"Why? Because I got Tannix and the knights out of Deorun?" I asked. "Because I stopped you from killing King Edarius?"

"Those are minor nuisances," Kassia said with a dismissively wave. "No, you're frustrating because I can see your untapped potential. I've seen it since I sat with you to check on your broken wrist, and you told me about how you taught yourself how to gamble. Back then, gambling was the only intelligent outlet you gave yourself. It was the only risk you took. I understand, don't get me wrong. Being different can be dangerous. If people had known how smart you are, you might have been a target. But you couldn't completely hide who you really are, so you gambled."

I had never thought of gambling as an outlet. It was just something I was good at. Something that could get my family a lot of money with comparatively low risks. But Kassia's words were making sense, and I wasn't sure if I liked that.

"Then." The way she was watching me made me think she could read my internal confusion on my face. "Tandrix came along and gave you an opportunity most people could never imagine. You have the ear of Lord West Draulin, and King Zianna. And still, you're hiding yourself."

Maybe she didn't know me as well as she thought she did. "No, I'm not. Tannix knows how smart I am."

Kassia rolled her eyes. "Yes, and that's why he left you here instead of taking you along, isn't it?" She hopped off the table and leaned over me. "You're blinded by your feelings, but he isn't properly challenging you." She danced her right hand over my chest, and slid her left behind my head. "Come with me. You don't have to just be leverage in this war, Finn, you could be someone important. I can help you reach your full potential." She leaned in.

I went still as she kissed me. When she pulled back, she was smiling. "You really are adorable, aren't you?" She slipped her left hand into my hair. "So stubborn."

I narrowed my eyes. "What about Kalvahi?"

"You already know how I feel about Kalvahi," Kassia said. "I let it slip, and I'm not about to insult you by pretending that never happened." She leaned in again.

I moved, ducking out of the chair and rolling to my feet behind it, one of my throwing knives out. Instead of looking annoyed, Kassia just grinned.

"Look at you. Full of surprises. But you're not really going to throw—"

I threw the knife.

It flew harmlessly past Kassia, instead hitting the chair Mayah was tied to. I grabbed for a second knife, fear making my hand fumble.

Kassia vaulted over my chair, knife already in hand. Now she looked annoyed, but her voice was still light. "Your aim is terrible. I could help you work on that."

"No, thank you." I backed up a few steps and held out my hands, like that could ward her off. "Let's go back to talking. I liked that. Or you can kiss me again if you want, I'll—"

"It's too late for that. I can't trust you to behave." Kassia twirled her knife in her hand and stepped closer.

"It was a mistake," I agreed. It was harder to maintain a placating tone when she was actively threatening me. "Please, I'm reconsidering your offer. Maybe I should come with you. You're the only person who's really seen through my act." The wall bumped against my back. Castin's sword was nearby, almost close enough to reach.

Across the room, Mayah was wiggling against her bonds. The knife I'd thrown with nearly perfect aim was embedded in the armrest next to her right hand. Castin was still frozen in Kassia's line of sight.

I needed Kassia to turn her back on him, so I dashed towards his sword. Kassia came after me. She knocked the sword from my hands before I could even pull it from the scabbard. Together, we tripped over a low table and ended up on the floor. My head crashed against the floor, and pain shot through me. Without meaning to, I closed my eyes.

Kassia pressed her knife under my chin. "Are you done?" she growled.

I couldn't nod or speak. I opened my eyes, but instead of looking at Kassia, my gaze landed blurrily over her shoulder.

Kassia was off of me in an instant. Mayah wasn't ready. She ducked away from Kassia's first swing, but before she could attempt an attack in return, Kassia kicked her. My throwing knife clattered from Mayah's hand.

I tried to sit up.

Mayah had a slight advantage—she knew Kassia didn't want to kill her. She jumped forward, ready to fight with her hands. It was admirable, but she really stood no chance against Kassia. A moment later, Kassia slammed Mayah back against the wall. Blood dripped from Mayah's nose onto her dress.

Kassia opened her mouth to say something, only to jump back as Castin's sword swept past. With a growl, Kassia threw herself at him. She slipped around his sword and tried to drag him off balance. He slashed out with his sword, and even with my pounding head I could see that the weapon wasn't right for this fight. Kassia was too close, spinning and slicing with her knife the way Angelys had.

But Castin held his own far longer than Mayah and I had. It almost seemed like the fight might swing in his favour, when Kassia finally managed to hook her foot around his ankle and made him stumble. He went down, and Kassia sprang to straddle him. She jabbed her knife under his neck. Then, her gaze flickered to his hip, where his tunic had slid up to reveal a pale, crisscrossed scar.

Kassia ran a finger over the scar. "When I sewed this shut, I never imagined I would have the pleasure of slicing it back open." She drew a second knife from her belt and pressed the tip against the scar.

"Wait. Kassia." I tried to get up, but my vision swam and I only just caught myself on the table before falling over. "Please don't hurt him. Not for me. But for Stria. And their son."

They both went still. Castin, chest heaving as he caught his breath, stared up at Kassia. For a moment, Kassia kept her knives against his skin. Then she lifted the one against his scar and slipped it away, while still keeping him under control with the one at his neck.

"For Stria," she said, so low it was nearly a whisper. "I won't kill you. But you're coming with us, and I can't promise that's preferable." In a flash of movement, she had a rope and was winding it tightly around his wrists. When she was done, she stood and dragged him to his feet.

"Finn, get up," she snarled across the room at me. "I've had enough of this. It's time to go."