Chapter 68. Roads The Court Doesn’t Own

At first light the Hollow put work in our hands like gifts. They had a map cut into a slab of slate, the roads more memory than line: goat paths and smugglers’ tracks; dry creekbeds and wind lanes; tunnels under the old salt where men used to hide from taxes and now hid from gods. Rhea fell in love with three alternatives at once and had to be reminded she could only walk one at a time.

We split the day between lessons and quiet diplomacy. Syra traded techniques with a pair of Ashfall captains who fought like cliffs. Neris taught three girls how to vanish between two blades of grass. Orla sat with a woman who had been having the wrong kind of dreams and unwound them until they were simple sleep again. I stood with the Matron and learned which family would answer fast and which would answer first and why that wasn’t the same choice.

Kael went to watch the boys run. He came back smelling like dust and pride and something else I didn’t want to name. The bond tried to drag t