I pace near the window, rubbing my growling stomach. Halla has sent a maid to bring food, but this one’s new and a little slow. She’s taking her time biting all my cheese and tasting all the meat. We’re probably getting the best stuff in the castle, so no wonder she’s being pokey. I do my best not to glare at her, but staring out the window as men die is surprisingly hungry work. “What do we do?” I ask Halla for the millionth time today. “What if your husband refused to go out on the battlefield with Aron?”

Solat watches me pace as he leans against the wall. “Ask a cyclops warrior not to go to war? Better luck asking the sun not to shine.”

I scowl at him. “Not helping, buddy.”

“He’s right,” Halla says. “He will never refuse Lord Aron. This is the greatest honor he can imagine. You don’t know how it’s rejuvenated him to fight alongside Aron. Having him here makes me have hope once more. I’ve been so worried.” She pauses and closes the book in her lap. “So no, my Mathior would never agree to that.”

The maid drops a piece of cheese on the floor.

“Dude, seriously,” I say. “That’s my lunch.”

“Sorry, my lady.” She bobs in a curtsy. “Almost done, I promise.” And she picks up another one of the myriad cheeses and nibbles on it.

The cook should just send up an entire wheel of cheese so I can gnaw on it, instead of all these teeny tiny wedges that all have to be tasted. I bite back a sigh.

“Will Lord Aron consider a parlay with the enemy?” Halla asks. “To discuss terms?”

“Seeing as the whole goal is for them to kill each other? Highly doubt it.” I clasp my hands behind my back and pace back and forth. “The goal here is for each one to murder the other’s anchor so they can be the last one standing. There’s no peaceful way about this—”

“What are you doing?” Solat’s low, casual voice distracts me.

I turn to look at him, confused, but he’s not watching me. He’s staring at the maid, who’s frozen in place as she hovers over the tray.

Halla and I exchange a look. “What’s the problem?” I ask.

“I’m done, my lady,” the maid says brightly, curtsying again. “All safe.” She turns and heads for the door, but Solat steps in front of it, blocking her.

The queen’s guards bristle with attention, and everyone’s staring at the maid.

She bows her head. “Please, I would like to go back to the kitchens now.”

“You weren’t eating Lady Faith’s food,” Solat says casually, arms crossed. “You were just pretending to.”

“O-of course I was,” the maid stammers. She looks at me and the queen. “I ate a bite out of everything, just like I was asked. You can look at the cheese.”

I pick up a piece, which does have tooth-marks in it. “It’s bitten—”

“I’m sure it is. But I also saw her spitting out each bite. That’s very curious, isn’t it?” He tilts his head, his handsome features growing hard as he stares at the maid. “You put the food in the front of your dress.”

The woman looks shocked, her hand going to the front of her gown. “You just want to see down it. Is that what this is? Harassing a servant—”

This entire situation seems odd, but after all the time I’ve spent with Solat? I trust him. “I’ll look if you’re worried about a man seeing your boobs,” I offer. “If he’s wrong, I’m sure he’ll apologize nicely.” And I smile at her.

Her face goes pale as she looks at me. A second later, she turns and tries to race to the far end of the room, not that there’s anywhere to go. She just wants to get away. As the men run after her, she races toward the window, as if she’s going to fling herself out of it. Solat tackles her before the guards can, and then the sobbing girl is lifted to her feet even as bits of food spill to the ground around her.

“You were trying to kill Lady Faith, weren’t you?” Solat snarls, and I’ve never seen him so angry.

“No!” she cries.

“Then eat this.” He grabs a cake from the tray and holds it to her lips. “Go on. Take a bite out of it right now and swallow.”

Her mouth trembles and she stares at him long and hard, but never moves toward the food.

My jaw drops. I stare, hoping that he’s wrong, that she’ll eat the damn thing and show him he’s overreacting, but she just starts to cry.

“Did the Adassians send you?” He grabs her jaw, startling me with how rough he is. “Did they?”

“I am faithful to Lord Aron of the Cleaver,” she cries, collapsing at his feet.

I can’t believe it. Someone just tried to kill me and I wasn’t even paying attention. I was freaking impatient because I was hungry. I knew my food was being tasted for such a thing but I didn’t really think someone was going to do it. Numb, I watch the girl weep as two guards move forward and pick her up from the floor.

“I don’t understand. How did they find out I’m here?” I ask, approaching the woman.

“Who else would sit with the queen?” She cringes back from me, trying to wrestle free from the guards. “I am faithful to Lord Aron!” she wails again when Solat leans in.

“So am I! What the hell?” My shout startles her and she stares at me with wide eyes. I thump a fist against my chest. “You think I’m not loyal to him? Bitch, I am the most loyal person there is!”

“It’s not the same—”

I make a sound of frustration in my throat, turning away. I hate that she’s right. It’s not the same. Just because she’s working for Aron of the Cleaver doesn’t mean that it’s my Aron. I rub my brow, frustrated. I’m hungry, I’m scared, and I feel really, really alone right now.

Nothing is safe. They’re going to try to kill me. Everyone is.

Why wouldn’t they? The gods command it. I can’t fight against that.

And even if they don’t succeed…I still have to die. I close my eyes, and I can still see the snap of my thread under the Spidae’s fingers. They knew all along. Just as they knew that Hedonism Aron would be meeting us here in Yshrem, they knew I was going to die.

It occurs to me that maybe the Spidae have known the outcome of things all along. They’re guiding it in their own, warped little way. That my coming from the Earth web to this one “just because the veil between worlds was thin” is a crock of shit and it’s another thing they’ve manipulated. How do I know they’re not teasing and toying with outcomes just to guide things? How do I know they haven’t been drawing me towards this ever since I got my fortune read? Even the cards back then had spiderwebs on the backs.

I know, suddenly, without a shadow of a doubt that this is their doing.

They want me here.

Which means they want my Aron to win.

Which means I’m going to die to ensure that happens.

A strange calm settles over me. I continue to pace even as the guards take the woman away. Solat remains at my side, a furious scowl on his handsome jaw, like he’s personally offended that someone tried to get rid of me.

New guards arrive in the room and settle at the doors. Queen Halla gets to her feet, picks up her cup, and then tosses the contents into the fire. “Get my chamberlain,” she says to one of the guards. “From now on, tasters will only be my ladies. The kitchens will be guarded. All food will be tasted, even that granted by the goddess—”

“And we won’t tell any of this to Lord Aron,” I add.

The queen turns to look at me in shock. “We cannot keep such a thing secret. The enemy knows—”

“—that a stranger’s hanging out with the queen? It’s not hard to put two and two together.” I tap my hand against my thigh, trying to think. “They’ll try again. If not poison, then something else. Arrows. Maybe someone will burn down the whole keep. I don’t know. As long as they know I’m here, though, everyone’s in danger. They’ll take out the whole city just to get to me and you know I’m right.”

Halla purses her lips. “Then what do we do?”

“We have to act before they try again. We have to get the upper hand. Somewhere over there is his anchor. Unless we have a way to poison their entire encampment and can live with murdering thousands, we need to figure out who his anchor is and take him or her out.”