Book 5: A Dinner

Ingrid

After Amval proves that there’s no point in talking to him, no matter what kind of evidence I have, my life in Som Palace barely changes. No one else even knows he’s here.

Joli still hangs out with me when she can, but I realized a while ago that her smuggling business expands far past wartime needs. She’s often gone from the palace for days at a time—days her siblings only sometimes notice and always chalk up to “just missing her.”

The more time I spend with them, the easier it gets to see why they don’t notice a murderer in their midst. They all still act like they’re in hiding, sharing one tiny room. There’s a whole palace to hide secrets in now, and only Joli and Kaloni seem to have realized that. Even Cirocco, who seems like he always has his head on a swivel, glances right over his siblings.

At night, when I can hear them laughing in nearby rooms, I sometimes wonder if Candace and the rest of them are right. I should just go hom