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"I don’t think so," Dad offers, neatly finishing her thought His words are few but expressive "This place is different"

Gisa nods along with theether like this Back in Norta, when I went to sell with my mistress, Silvers wouldn’t even look at us Wouldn’t touch us" Her brown eyes, the salaze a little as she reo, before a Silver officer s hand "Not here"

In his seat, Tra away Like a cat s his fur after a scare "We feel like equals"

I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of irl, a valuable asset to the Montfort premier Of course they’d be treated well But I don’t say any of that out loud, if only to ht After that, the conversation beco up a sizable spread for dinner The food is siary, dark purple berries spread over toast The food is mostly for my benefit and Kilorn’s, but Bree and Tramy help themselves to full portions Gisa favors a tray of fruits and cheeses, while Dad fixes himself a plate of coldale hout Ascendant Bree swi So a bottle of icy water on his head Gisa has an ale of the shops and rounds of the preh ardens in the city, terraced down the slopes Dad has been honing his walking abilities, going deeper and deeper into the valley every day, strengthening his new s with every step down and every step back up

Kilorn fills in as well as he can, detailing our exploits since we left Montfort last It’s a sparse recollection, and he is gracious enough to leave out theanyby the way she spoke about a young girl and the jeweler’s shop she worked in, I think her old crush on in to droop It’s been a long, difficult day I try not to re, in the dark of Cal’s royal bedchaht I’ll sleep in a bed by h Gisa will be just across the room I still can’t sleep without someone else there Or, at least, I haven’t tried since I escaped Maven’s imprisonment

Don’t think about hi the words over and over

Cal’s face seeainst , distant dreams Those stupid boys They never leave y It’s a constant pull, a tug behind my stomach, like someone has a hook around o Down into the city, toward the central barracks of Ascendant The structure squats over the city prison, drilled into the bedrock of the mountainside I try not to picture hi animal Why I want to see him, I can hardly understand Maybe some part of me knows he’s still useful Or wants to understand him a little more, before time runs out We’re alike in some ways, too many ways I’ve tasted darkness, and he lives in it He represents what I could become, without my family, without an anchor, if I’m pushed into the abyss

But Maven is the abyss I can’t face hih inthe screws embedded too deeply I need to heal a bit, before he can pick opendown into the city, I go up And up And up

At first I follow the road we took over the mountain, when the raiders struck down on the plain We kno that it was a planned attack, meant to distract us while the Lakelanders rescued Prince Bracken’s children The raiders were paid to do it, and paid well I kick at stones as I go, replaying the battle inalive and unnatural beneath , I push the thought away and turn off the road, into the rocks and trees

The hours pass, and the air see down my throat It’s matched only by the fire in my muscles They scream with each new step, every foot forward and upward over the rocks Snow puddles in the shadohite and pure even in the late su over dirt and pine needles, gravel and naked rock In spite of the pain, I push on

Strea down the h the gaps in the pines, into the valley The n capital looks like a child’s toy from this distance White blocks strewn around ribbon-thin roads and winding stairs The ed wall of stone and snow dividing the world in half Above, the clear blue sky beckonsat the streams to drink and splash my red, sweaty face

Occasionally I fish out crackers froht lure a bear or a wolf across , of course, close as the breath in s But no predator ever coerous as they are

All except for one

At first I ainst the perfect blue, still in gray clothing The pines are sparser at this high altitude, offering little shade froat

Who I’ranite boulder beneath hi off into the rocks

"You bastard," I snarl, advancing with speed, the adrenaline sudden and surging in my blood It drives me, as does frustration Because I know, no , I’ll never catch hihter echoes over the slope, coher up I snarl to hs and laughs, and I climb and clih for anything to grow, the air has turned harsh and cold I choke down a gasp of anger, letting the teo any farther Unwilling to let Jon, or anyone, control where I go and what I do

But ainst a large boulder s wind and snow

My breathing coht never catch my breath, just as I’ll never catch the damned seer

"The altitude," his voice says "Itdifficult if you aren’t used to it Even your fire prince would have a hard ti his first lance at hi Jon is dressed for the mountain weather, in a thick coat, orn boots on his feet I wonder how long he’s been walking, or how long he had to wait up here for me