Lucia continued to pepper them with questions. Corten’s unease only grew as each one revealed more gaps in their knowledge.

“What I don’t understand,” Lucia said with obvious frustration, “is who these shadows are. And, if they intended for you to help them, why give you so little information?”

It was a good question. Someone knocked on the door before either Corten or Naya could come up with an answer.

Naya muttered a curse. She turned toward the door and Corten felt her draw aether. Her eyes widened, then her face went carefully blank. “Hide,” she whispered to Corten.

“What is it?” he asked.

Naya shook her head. “Trouble.”

Corten wanted to ask for more, but something in her voice stopped him. “Where should I hide?” The sparse room wasn’t exactly brimming with options.

Naya scanned the small room, then pointed to a spot next to the door. “Stand there. They shouldn’t be able to see you.”

“What if they come inside?” Corten whispered back.

“I’ll make sure they don’t.” Naya squeezed his hand once, then let go and turned to face the door.

The knock came again. “Miss Garth?” a man’s voice asked. The speaker sounded older than Francisco. When Corten drew in aether, he could sense a prickle of unease mixed with steely anger. Whoever was on the other side, it didn’t seem he’d come for a friendly conversation. Corten crossed the room to stand beside the door. Creator, he wished he had a pair of pants. It was bad enough to be hiding on a ship in Talmiran waters with no cursed idea what was going on. Having to stand there with nothing more than a blanket wrapped around his waist while Naya answered the door was somehow so much worse.

Naya opened the door partway, putting it between Corten and whoever was on the other side. “Captain Cervacaro,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

“Miss Garth,” Captain Cervacaro said, “I came to inform you that three squads of Talmiran soldiers are rowing toward our ship. They raised signal flags declaring their intention to come aboard. I also couldn’t help but notice three Talmiran vessels have pulled anchor and are readying cannons in our direction. Lord Francisco is up above and seemed to think all this has something to do with you. You wouldn’t happen to know what’s going on, would you?”

Naya tensed. “I don’t know. Give me just a minute and I’ll join you on deck.”

“Be quick about it. Those soldiers don’t look happy.”

Naya nodded, then shut the door. Lucia rose, clutching the table. “You don’t think…” she began.

“He’s right,” Naya said. “They’re here for me.”

“Then we must hide you quickly,” Lucia said, looking between Naya and Corten. “I saw you come in through the window last night. Could you and Corten go out that way? Maybe hide under the water until they’re gone?”

Naya hesitated, and Corten used the opportunity to cut in. “Anyone want to tell me what’s going on here?”

Naya looked at him. Exhaustion shone in her eyes, and for just an instant he thought he saw her lip tremble. Then she clenched her hands into fists and seemed to steady herself. “Those soldiers are here to arrest me.”

“Why?” Corten asked.

“Because I broke into the Academy of Magics and stole some of the books of forbidden necromancy they were secretly hiding there.”

Corten stared at her. From anyone else it would have sounded absolutely insane. But Corten had watched Naya escape the executioner’s platform by using one of her own bones as a bomb. There was a force to her that somehow made the impossible seem normal. “Oh,” he said. “And now I guess we have to jump out a window so they don’t kill us?”

“We can’t,” Naya said. “There are too many ships in the harbor. If someone sees us go over, they’ll just keep searching until they find us. We’ll be putting everyone else on the ship in danger.”

“What choice do you have?” Lucia asked. “You can’t let them take you.”

“Yes, I can,” Naya said. “If I don’t resist, then hopefully they won’t have any reason to search the ship. You two will be safe.”

“And you’ll be locked up in a Talmiran cell waiting for execution,” Lucia said.

“Not necessarily.” Naya smiled, though Corten could still see the worry in her eyes. “I doubt Queen Lial wants the Congress to know about her secret weapons program. Those journals I brought back are proof that Talmiran scribes kept some of the works they were supposed to destroy during the purges. I saw more in Hest’s office, and I saw one of the new weapons they designed. We can use that information against them. I’m still technically under the Congress’s protection. She’s sent enough soldiers that she can’t just make me disappear and pretend she had nothing to do with it. And if she formally accuses me of breaking into the academy, there will have to be a trial.”

“You think you can convince her to let you go if you keep her weapons program secret?” Corten asked. It sounded weak, far too weak to risk her life on.

Naya hesitated, then nodded. “I think I can make a deal with her. I’ll offer to leave Talmir. Delence won’t like it, but at this point my being here will only cause more trouble. Regardless, I need you two to stay free. You can protect the journals, and I gave Felicia a description of the weapon I saw. Get a copy from her if you can. If this goes badly, then someone has to warn the Necromantic Council that Talmir’s been designing new ways to destroy the undead.”

“I don’t like this,” Lucia said.

“Neither do I. But it’s the best chance we have of everyone getting out of here safely. I’m the one who pushed to come here. If anyone has to face the consequences, it should be me,” Naya said, glancing at Corten.

“No,” Corten said. He stepped forward and grabbed her hand again. “Naya, I may not know everything that’s going on here, but I know enough about Talmir to be sure that giving yourself up to their soldiers is a terrible idea. We’ll come up with something else.”

“There’s no time!” Naya snapped. “Didn’t you hear him? The soldiers are on their way. Any delay when they get here will only make things worse.”

Corten faced her, his own anger bubbling up despite his best efforts to keep it down. “I did not come back from the dead just to watch you face another execution.”

“And I brought you back because you were never supposed to die for me!” Naya said. “If those soldiers take me, at least I have a chance of talking my way out of it. I have permission to be here. You they’ll kill on sight as soon as they realize what you are.” Her voice broke around the words. Color had flooded her cheeks and she looked away. “Besides,” she said more softly, “this is about more than just us now. I don’t know what those things in death were, but I know they didn’t send you back out of kindness.” Naya met his eyes. “If the threat they saw is real, then someone has to be around to stop it.”

“That isn’t fair,” Corten said. He squeezed her hand tighter, some irrational part of him whispering that if he could just hold her there, then somehow everything would stop going so wrong.

Naya looked up at the ceiling. Corten drew in aether, but he couldn’t stretch his senses far enough to detect whatever it was she’d felt. “They’re here,” she said. “I have to go.”

“Naya—”

He expected her to pull away from him, but instead she stepped closer. He froze, looking into her eyes—somehow bright and sad at the same time. She tilted her head up and kissed him.

This kiss was softer than the first. Corten leaned into it, wrapping one arm around Naya’s waist. Her lips parted, and her tongue touched his, hesitant like a songbird leaping between branches. In that touch he could taste her sorrow and her uncertainty. He drew her closer, wanting to hold her there, to make her see that she didn’t have to do this.

But as his grip tightened, she broke from the kiss, stepping smoothly to one side and out of his grasp. Her eyes met his. “Wait for me?” she asked.

Corten opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn’t find any words. His chest was a tight knot of turmoil. He felt like he’d been dumped headfirst into a mire of politics and magic. He stumbled blindly while Naya strode confidently ahead. He hated that he couldn’t find the path. He hated that part of him wasn’t sure he could trust her enough to follow hers.

Naya didn’t wait for him to find an answer. Instead, she gave him one last smile before slipping out the door.