Isla looked around, desperate for anything that could help. A nurse walking by with a tray filled with herbs and ointments. Another herald escorting a fellow dhayang through the adjacent door. Isla recognised the epprakin who had defeated Phrae, but what help would a complete stranger give?

The door opened to a leather-clad guard, and the herald nodded Isla in.

What could the rajini do? Isla steeled herself and stepped inside. Rama's wife or no, she was unblooded.

And unprotected.

But for the one leather-clad guard and her menacing owl perched upon a curtain track, Rajini Chei was completely alone. 'Give us a moment.'

So confident her status would keep anyone from attempting to assassinate her. Isla dipped into a deep curtsy, wondering whether she would be daring – and foolish – enough to prove the rajini wrong.

The guard closed the door behind him, and the rajini continued. 'Lilja Shapor.' Her voice betrayed the age her face kept hidden. Had Isla not studied the royal pedigree and known the rajini's birth year, she would have thought her much younger.

'Your Honourable Consort.' Isla opened her core and dared a light sweep of her exterior. Something was there, guarding her mind. Something hollow and cold and drawing her in like a hurricane. Isla quickly pulled away.

'Rise. Look me in the eye when I address you.'

A stern face, but striking eyes. Isla could see the beauty her youth must once have carried. 'As it please you, rajini.'

'Do you know what it is I've summoned you for?'

Isla's eyes trailed towards the owl. 'No, Your Honourable Consort. But I must confess, I have seen much of Huu these past few days.'

'Mm. He has told me about you.' The bird leapt off the window and glided gently onto the rajini's arm.

'I beg pardon, but he ... he speaks to you, my rajini?'

'A creature does not need to speak to offer information.' The rajini smirked. 'Surely you, of all, should know this. Indeed he has been watching you. Do the mentors know you keep a daemon as a pet?'

Neru's mercy. What have I walked into?

Pepper scampered out of her pocket and onto her shoulder, where it hid beneath the curtain of her hair. Huu's keen eyes found the element.

If the bird was Haana's bondmate, perhaps it knows about Pepper. Perhaps that's how they found me out. 'I suspect not, rajini. My salamander keeps largely to itself.'

'It is forbidden to keep dangerous entities in our academy grounds.'

'It – it isn't dangerous. It's just an element. The lowest class of daemon –'

'A basic household necessity, yes.' Rajini Chei turned away from the floor-length window. The balcony outside was brimming with people – much fewer than the lower terraces, but lively all the same. No wonder the rajini felt comfortable in the absence of guards, when a hundred loyal subjects were just a glass pane away.

'I hear your father was a fisherman?'

'Is a fisherman.' Isla did not know whether the tense was used mistakenly or a deliberate attempt to catch her out.

'Of course.' The rajini smiled. 'I've read your student profile, though I cannot for the life of me recall where it said you came from ...'

'Biripor, rajini.' Isla's pulse quickened.

'Biripor. An important town. Our largest harbour yet.' Rajini Chei strode gracefully to one corner of the chamber and lowered herself onto a seat.

She's toying with me. Isla schooled herself and gave the rajini her best impassive look.

'Do you miss it?'

'I miss my family. We don't live in the best conditions, so I can't say I miss the town too much.'

'Of course. Especially not now, having lived at the palace. I see you are adapting well, here. Playing in the woods with the early-bloomer ... I don't believe I know her name.'

Neither did Isla offer it. 'Yes, Your Honourable Consort. We travelled here together from Biripor. I like to spend time with her when I can.'

The rajini smiled again, and from this close, Isla could see the fine lines crinkling around her cheeks.

So it was Huu in the woods. Isla glanced at the bird, wondering once more how they communicated.

A shadow fell from the window. Kiet, looking in at them with as much surprise on his face as Isla felt. The rajini clicked her tongue. Huu took flight and with a talon yanked the curtain shut.

'You know,' the rajini started, as though never having been interrupted. 'Early bloomers are rare. Exceptionally rare. We only have a handful at the palace.'

Isla waited for her point, the dread already sinking in before it came.

'I once knew of an early-bloomer who came from a village north-west of Kathedra. A long time ago.'

Is she talking about Arikit? Isla steadied her breathing. Whatever the rajini was playing at, if she was who Isla thought ... then she should be dead by now. What's stopping her? Surely the people outside couldn't care less if their rajini murdered some unknown dhayang.

'It's a pity,' Rajini Chei said slowly, studying Isla, who stood unmoving in the centre of the room. 'She slipped away from me.'

'I knew of one, too.' Isla steered the conversation away. Her only chance was to convince the rajini that she was Lilja Shapor, daughter of a living fisherman. 'She was gifted to my master. They should be wed some time this year.'

'Your master. Indeed, I have read you used to work in Pior Lam. For a subdistrict chief of some kind?'

'A minor baron, rajini. You would not have heard of him. Raj Danu, of Jeddar. I was born there, and my family lived in Jeddar until the kind raj gave them their freedom.'

Rajini Chei nodded, her gaze elsewhere. 'So you have practice serving the nobleborn.'

'Almost all my life.'

'That explains your diction. There's something a touch ... foreign ... about it. A little too erudite for a fisherman's daughter, but slightly misarticulated at times. I suppose that happens when a baseborn often attends to the genteel.'

'I ... I apologise if my pronunciation offends Your Honourable Consort.' A slight bow of her head.

'I've called you here to offer you a position in my household.'

Isla's head shot up. Had she heard her correctly? The rajini was watching her, unsmiling, waiting for a response. She wants to keep me close. Keep friends in your heart, but foes in your fist, the Elings say.

'The academy allows their students to leave only under the guarantee of a noble male patron. But as you must well suspect, they make exceptions for women of the royal house,' said Rajini Chei when she was met with silence. 'Should you accept my offer, you will complete your studies and remain in the asraam for the year. But you will answer to me, and when your year is over, you will be transferred to my domestic quarters.'

'A position ... like a silver-servant?'

'Don't be foolish, girl.' The Rajini frowned. 'A silver-servant when I hardly even know you or your capability? No. You will perform as one of my attendants.'

'Why?' She was walking on fine glass, but it was a legitimate question any other student would want to know. 'Forgive me, rajini, but I am a simple mind-reader. There are many others who could surely serve you better.'

'Mind-readers are indeed common. But second-ranks are not. Only two of you are currently in the academy. I believe your second blooding is soon due?'

Ifrit's breath, I've forgotten about that. It had almost been two turns of the month since Mistress Hanopol sliced her wrist open. Isla reached for the prickling in her skin, though the scar had diminished. 'Yes, rajini. In these coming weeks.'

'I will look to its result. My offer stands so long as your theurgy shows no decline. Think wisely upon it, Lilja Shapor. Of course, if you prefer a marriage rather than a life of hard work under my patronage, I will respect your decision.'

And refuse her? Isla almost laughed. Declining a rajini would be a most heinous affront. It would give Rajini Chei more reasons to have her murdered in her sleep. Perhaps that's exactly her plan. This is, after all, the strategist Master Chendra spoke of. 'How long does my rajini give to consider this most honourable offer?'

'You have the whole year.'

A generous amount of time. Isla curtsied once more after the rajini dismissed her. Too generous.

She doubted the queen consort would wait that long before enacting whatever she next had planned.

Isla made her way out of the infirmary as calmly as she could, her mind already weaving one scheme after another. It's her. There's no doubt about it. The only question now is where she's keeping Tamma.

She waited until she was at the peak of the stairs before lifting Pepper off her shoulder. 'Find Sir Edric. The Grand Palace guest wing. I need to speak to him.' She placed it gently on the banister. 'Mind that cursed owl.'