THE LIGHT IN THE tent had faded by the time Cassia managed to be silent. If she was not quiet, Nurse
would make her drink an infusion. If Cassia had to take it, she would fall asleep.
She could not sleep, not while this was happening to Solia. She held Knight’s soft, floppy body
close to her and swallowed her tears.
She was still awake when she heard the catapults.
A shiver moved down her back. It was night. She had heard the guards say the siege would not
begin until dawn, when the rest of her father’s army arrived.
Had they come early to rescue Solia? She heard the crunch of heavy boots on the icy ground
outside and the clank of swords. Voices mixed together, and she couldn’t understand.
She eased out of her bedroll and scooted toward the tent flap. A furry form wriggled close. With
one arm around Knight, she raised the tent flap an inch. A chill crept inside.
Nurse’s arms wrapped around both of them and hauled them back. Her crooning words drowned
out the voices outside. She pulled a thick woolen cap onto Cassia’s head and down over her ears, and
all chance to hear clearly was lost. Wrinkled hands pressed her face against a bony chest, as if
expecting her to start crying again. But that wouldn’t help now. If someone was attacking the castle to
help Solia, Cassia had to know.
In a display of obedience, Cassia crawled back into her bedroll and hid her face against Knight
instead. Nurse let out a sigh. Her hand came to rest on Cassia’s back and stayed there for a long time.
Cassia lay very still and slowed her breathing.
It seemed she waited forever. If Nurse tried to stay up the whole night, Cassia didn’t know what
she would do. But eventually Nurse withdrew her hand, and a blanket rustled as she settled into her
own bedroll. At long last, she began to snore.
Cassia put her mouth close to Knight’s keen ear and whispered one of the new words she had
learned from the kennel master. “Baat.”
Her puppy laid his head on his paws and waited in the bedroll while Cassia found her cloak by
feel. With it tucked under her arm, she crept to the back of the tent and squeezed between the floor
pelts and the wall. Cold bit at her skin as she slithered out onto the ground. The slush of ice and mud
made it hard to keep quiet, so she moved very slowly.
The huge moons loomed overhead. She unfolded her cloak and wrapped it close around her. She
could see no one else from where she stood. The noise from a moment ago had all gone quiet. It
didn’t sound like anyone from their camp was attacking the castle. Surely someone, somewhere, was
still talking about what had happened.
Cassia was actually very good at being quiet, except for when she had cried today. She got a lot of
practice making herself unseen and unheard, and everything in the camp was much bigger than her,
which meant there were lots of good hiding places. She darted from one to another, listening.
Finally faint voices caught her attention, and she followed the sounds. She crouched at the back of
one of the long tents where the soldiers slept.
“They sent her retinue over the walls first,” a man said. “What was left of them. Then her.”
Cassia slid to her knees. She couldn’t think. Maybe they didn’t mean what she thought they did.
“I can’t bear to think of it,” came another man’s voice.
“Then don’t,” a third said, “and whatever you do, don’t say it.”
“I don’t care if it is treason. I’ll say it. It’s immoral, what he’s done.”
“Hypnos take you. I won’t be caught listening to such things.”
“It’s you I hope Hypnos takes,” the first man cried, “and the king with you. Someone ought to speak
the truth aloud. How could he do such a thing to our Solia? He abandoned her. Her. Left her to suffer
and die. There’s no telling what they did to her before the end. We don’t even know if she had her
rites. This is unholy, leaving her and the guards and servants who died for her on the field without a
proper burial. You heard the royal mage. Honored Master Orumos said the—”
His voice faltered. “The Hesperines are abroad tonight. They will desecrate her before dawn.”