Hope. Frail, flimsy, pathetic hope.
Aimery gestured toward the door and a servant scurried forward, carrying a shattered portscreen and a holograph node on a tray. “This is the portscreen that Sir Kinney mentioned. Our investigation has confirmed that there was, indeed, an anonymous comm sent to Sybil that morning.”
“What did it say?” asked Levana.
Aimery nodded at the servant, who turned on the node. A holograph shimmered into the center of the room—behind it, Jacin faded away like a phantom.
The holograph displayed a basic text comm.
LINH CINDER TO KIDNAP EC EMPEROR. ESCAPE PLANNED FROM NORTH TOWER ROOFTOP AT SUNSET.
So much importance pressed into so few words. It was just like Jacin.
Levana read the words with narrowed eyes. “Fascinating. Thank you, Sir Kinney, for bringing this to our attention.” It was telling that she did not thank Aimery, and Winter shifted with embarrassment on his behalf, her own internal pleasure barely surfacing amid the cloud of dread. Levana continued, “I suppose you will tell me, Sir Clay, that this was the comm you sent.”
“It was, My Queen.”
“Have you anything else to add before I make my verdict?”
“Nothing, My Queen.”
Levana slowly leaned back in her throne and the room hushed, everyone breathlessly awaiting the queen’s decision.
“I trust my stepdaughter would like me to spare you,” said Levana.
Winter winced at the haughtiness in her tone. Jacin had no reaction at all.
“Please, stepmother,” she whispered, barely able to form the words around her dry tongue. “It’s Jacin. He is not our enemy.”
“Not yours, perhaps,” Levana said, her gaze ever pinned on the prisoner. “But you are a na?ve, stupid girl.”
“That is not so, My Queen. I am a factory for blood and platelets, and all my machinery is freezing over.…”
The court burst into laughter, and Winter recoiled. Even Levana’s lips twitched, though there was annoyance beneath the amusement.
“I have made my decision,” she said, her booming voice demanding silence. “I have decided … to let the prisoner live.”
Winter released a cry of relief. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late to stifle the noise.
There were more giggles from the audience, but Jacin’s eyes stayed stoically glued to the queen.
“Have you any other insights to add, Princess?” Levana hissed through her teeth.
Winter gathered her emotions as well as she could. “No, My Queen. Your rulings are always wise and final, My Queen.”
“This ruling is not finished.” The queen’s voice hardened as she addressed Jacin again. “Your inability to kill or capture Linh Cinder will not go unpunished, especially as your incompetence led to her successful kidnapping of my betrothed. For this crime, I sentence you to thirty self-inflicted lashings to be held on the central dais, followed by forty hours of penance. Your sentence shall commence at tomorrow’s light-break.”
Winter flinched, but even this punishment could not destroy the fluttery relief in her stomach. He was not going to die. She was not a girl of ice and glass at all, but a girl of sunshine and stardust, because Jacin wasn’t going to die.
“And Winter…”
She jerked her attention back to her stepmother, who was eying her with disdain. “If you attempt to bring him food, I will have his tongue removed in payment for your kindness.”
She shrank back into her chair, a tiny ray of the sunshine extinguished. “Yes, My Queen.”
Three
Winter was awake hours before light brightened the dome’s artificial sky, having hardly slept. She did not go to watch Jacin receive his lashings on the city’s central dais, knowing that if he saw her, he would have kept himself from screaming in pain. She wouldn’t do that to him. Let him scream. He was still stronger than any of them.
She dutifully nibbled at the cured meats and cheeses that were brought in for her breakfast. She allowed the servants to bathe her and dress her in pale pink silk. She sat through an entire session with Master Gertman, a third-tier thaumaturge and her longstanding tutor, pretending to try to use her gift and apologizing when it was too hard, when she was too weak. He did not seem to mind. Anymore, he spent most of their sessions gazing slack-jawed at her face and Winter didn’t know if he would be able to tell if she really did glamour him for once.
The day had fully come and gone, one of the maidservants had brought her a mug of warmed milk and cinnamon and turned down her bed, and finally Winter was left alone.
Her heart began to pound with anticipation.