Whatever Hikami and I had done together to heal the Baker, it had taken more out of me than even the Deep Ones had. I was barely out of bed for several days, deep under blankets, unable to get warm. Hikami, nestled up with me, provided hardly any warmth. Whatever he was, it was not a fire daemon.

Marisa, Havella, and Tokar had arrived that same evening and were given housing in the barracks with the Baker. They heard the story from the guardsmen, it had spread and magnified so that they said I had burned as bright as the sun and the spirits had sung my praises while I worked. Windy didn't bother me or anyone, he rode away from the manor the next day, and Paulson fumed quietly out of sight. Pidgeons had been sent to various corners trying to seek out Thomas Caldwell and inform him of the location of his bride-to-be. A part of me still wanted to run away, but I wasn't equipped to navigate Kanton politics and I'd seen one person almost die already. I was preparing myself to convince Thomas to help me.

It was two weeks before he arrived. During that time, I had fully recovered and perused Paulson's meagre library. It contained nothing of use to me. Havella and Marisa were well liked in the barracks, and Tokar and the baker were always nearby to assure nothing untoward was attempted. I used a charcoal stick to seal my room from spirits as I'd done in Kouros, it seemed the prudent thing to do. It was hard to say how well or how far my father's daemons could search.

When Thomas came, he was riding alone with a string of three horses that he'd been resting in a cycle. He was wearing riding leathers, and his hair hung down around his face in a dusty curtain. Paulson and I came out to meet him along with a number of the guard and servants. It was the closest Paulson and I had been to one another since the duel, and there were still traces of green under his eyes from bruising.

Thomas swung down and handed his reins off to a servant without looking.

"Master Paulson," he called, "you've done me a great service."

"At cost to myself," Paulson said, "we have that to discuss."

"We will." Thomas was unconcerned. He strode up to me, the hard planes of his face offset by something like amusement . "You've proven interesting. Certainly a more engaging chase than I expected."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"No, you're not." He brushed past us into the house, and we followed. I sat in the dining room while the servants brought out dishes and glassware. Hikami busied himself by squeezing into a long stemmed wine glass, he'd regained his full size and brightness over the last two weeks. The servants treated me with reverence I took for granted, it was like being home. Beth and Anne fawned over me as well, something I was less accustomed to.

"He's so handsome," Beth said.

"And brooding," Anne added with a frisson.

"He does like to brood," I agreed.

Paulson and Thomas joined us after a quarter of an hour, both freshly shaven and scented. Thomas had his hair in a topknot, further revealing the hard angles of his face. Paulson had waxed his mustache. The meal was uncomfortably silent, though quite delicious. They served beef cubes and potatoes in a savory gravy, carrots with brown sugar and greens. I ate without trying to break the standoff. The men were having some kind of contest between them and I knew it would be pointless to try small talk. Anne ventured a few comments and was rebuffed, so I felt bad and told her she looked nice.

The meal finished and the plates were cleared. Beth and Anne left as if they'd been waiting on their cue but I stayed behind.

"Shall we retire to the sitting room?" Paulson suggested.

"Fine," Thomas said, looking at me.

Glasses were poured and the fire stoked. The liquor was stronger than I'd have liked.

"She is a guest in my home," Paulson said, "and has signed a compact with me. When she tried to run away, her manservant attacked me."

"Was she a prisoner?"

"No, but we both know she couldn't legally cross into another territory."

"Did she?"

"No."

"Then we're left with the assault." Neither of them had acknowledged my presence. Hikami was looking back and forth between them as they talked, his eyes like little blue fish circling a bowl. "How was it resolved?" Thomas asked.

"With a duel," Paulson said. "All proper, my men will attest, and to the third blood. I was the victor."

"So you had your blood. There isn't a claim there."

"It isn't a claim, what I've done is a favor to you, and might I add, an inconvenience to myself. I want it recognised."

"I am grateful, and I'll convey your usefulness to my father. For now, I'd like to speak with my betrothed."

Paulson shot me a sour face and left us alone.

Thomas leaned back in his chair and swirled his drink. "Why'd you run?"

"Do you remember the question I asked you on the Skycleaver about sacrifice, about giving an innocent for the sake of others?"

"I remember."

"My kingdom is founded on that choice, the giving up of a child to preserve Euphoria. My dynasty is aligned with a powerful daemon who demands it as his price. But I think there's another way, and I left to find it."

"I thought you were running from me."

"That was a part of it. I didn't like you when we first met."

"That I knew."

"Whom I marry isn't important. What matters is my kingdom, and its future. I won't allow Euphoria to fall because of my choices, but I also won't accept an alliance with Ahriman either."

"Ahriman? Isn't he your god?"

"Most Euphorians don't see him that way, but yes, he protects us. Our mountain wouldn't support a kingdom like ours in the natural course of things. It wouldn't support our crops. There are storms that the great koi stir up in the air around Cloud City that should destroy it, but their anger is spent harmlessly. We know him as the king of daemons, and by his authority we command his lesser kin."

"What about him?" Thomas pointed to the red gold anemone carresing my arm.

"Hikami is different, I don't understand it myself. According to what I have been taught, daemons do not take physical form, and they can only be seen through mirrors. My father said we commanded daemons by Ahriman's power, but I have bargained with them on my own."

"And now you are looking for a different patron."

"Yes," I said, "her name is Leethia."

Thomas tilted his head. "That sounds familiar."

"It's a Kanton story, a queen in a kingdom that sank under the sea."

"The Lost Kingdom. Your spirit was its queen?"

"I think so. We have to find a map that still has her kingdom marked so we know where to look."

"And if you find Leethia, you will return to Euphoria?"

"I have to."

"Then I will help you."

"Why?"

"Because I am obligated to marry you, and it would be inappropriate for you to die on a foolhardy journey before then."

"You won't try to stop me?"

"My baron could order me to, but he won't. I'll send a message that I've found you and we're taking a trip while preparing for the wedding. Your father might have him order me to, but we will be gone by then and no one will know where to send the pigeon."

"So you agree with what I'm doing?"

"It presents a dillemna. Under normal circumstances, the lack of fealty you've shown your father would disgust me. I'm not comfortable with it as it stands. Disobeying the law is never good, but it can be necessary if in doing so one acts in service to a greater law. You're acting out a duty to your own future child, who is also my future child. If there is any law greater than to honor your father, it is the duty of a mother to our child."

I wasn't sure I was entirely ready for him to be saying "our child," but it was better than having him try to drag me back to Euphoria.

"Do you know where we can find a map?"

Thomas looked at the bookshelf. "There's a library in Alexandria, they have maps predating Kanto as we know it, predating Euphoria as well. We can travel there at once."

"At once?"

"Waiting is wasting."

We collected my friends and Thomas worked out a deal with Paulson for provisions and horses. There was no need for papers now, as Thomas's status allowed him to vouch for whoever he pleased, and travel wherever he wanted. There weren't princes in Kanto, but he was as close as one came.

The six of us set out that afternoon into a hot, dry season I'd never experienced on the mountain. My natural climate was cool at its warmest due to altitude, and our clothing was sewn with layers of quilting to act as insulation. Gracia had been warm but wet, with light flowing tunics. In contrast, the Kanto sun was unrelenting, and the air seemed choked with dust. Our horses kicked it up as we went, and I covered my mouth with a cloth. I was wearing the lightest dress I'd been able to find, loose on me because it had been one of Anne's, and I prayed for a breeze.

Kanto was a realm of wide plains and deserts. After we left Paulson's mansion the road faltered into a trail largely recognizable from the wagon ruts worn into the dirt. When we stopped for the night I couldn't see a human structure in any direction, and the trees were sparse, gnarled specimens with which I sympathized. I was out of water already.

"We'll cross a stream in the morning," Thomas said, "there's a town not far after."

Tokar built a fire and we all put out bedrolls. Marisa selected a spot close to mine.

"I feel like I haven't seen you since you started being a princess again, you know."

"Have you been alright?" I asked.

"Oh, you know, it isn't what I'm used to but I don't mind the change of scenery."

"Castor trusts him." I caught her looking over at Tokar. "I think he's a good man."

Marisa showed me her dimples. "You've got trouble in that department. Thomas is so serious."

"Yes," I said, "but he's surprised me in some good ways."

"You've had sex?"

"What? No! I meant he's dependable."

"Whatever you say."

The night seemed to come on all at once, and it got cold fast. Where had all the unforgiving heat gone? Hikami crawled into my bedroll with me and I was warm. The horses weren't bothered by him, I wasn't sure they could see him at all. But he'd slunk around all day without any problems.

My eyes opened hours later, when the stars were bright above and the sparse grass was glazed with frost. Something had woken me, was it a scorpion? Thomas had warned of those. For a moment I panicked, but there was nothing creeping under my blanket but Hikami, who roused now that I was awake.

A huge grey figure stood ten paces off, the Baker was holding his sword. Everyone else was sleeping.

I got up, and approached close enough to whisper.

"What is it?"

"I don't know," he said, "we're being watched."

"An animal?" I asked.

There was nothing around us but dirt and scrubs, the sound of insects chirping their love. But he was right. There was something pricking at the edge of my senses, refusing to be heard, refusing to be seen, but chafing my inner eye.

The wind blew, carrying dust that made me shield my eyes. I heard the Baker expel a hard breath and thump onto the ground. The wind intensified around us and I turned my back on it but it was everywhere. We were in the middle of a dust devil.

"Eff." The baker got himself up, buffeted from every direction. It hit me with the force of a charging horse, knocking me from my feet. I was out of the dust devil, and I saw the wind rip across our camp. The fire had died down to embers, and the wind caught them up in its hand and cast them out. They seemed to catch again, if only for an instant, limbing a vague figure, a large head with a stallion's mane, hooves burning imprints in the air, and it was gone.

The rest of our group was awake and reacting in surprise. There was no enemy to attack, and the night was dead still around us.

"It was a daemon," I said. "My father has found us."

We were on the road again before dawn, Thomas riding beside me.

"That spirit, you said it was your father's?"

"It probably came all the way from Cloud City," I said. "He's got a tower with compasses and diagrams that allow him to call daemons of all kinds to do his bidding, even from a great distance. That wind spirit could have been searching for me for weeks. Without my wards it was bound to happen eventually."

"Your wards?"

"In Gracia, I used diagrams to deflect attention from spirits. It protected a location. Now I'm in the open."

"Why can't you use them here?"

"It would take me too long to surround a campsite, and then we'd just leave them behind."

Havella had been listening from behind us. "What if you put them on your clothes?"

"The charcoal wouldn't stay."

"You could sew them in."

It was an ides that hadn't occured to me before. In Euphoria, most diagrams were written predictions, and only the king and my ancestors had put signs into steel and stone apart from compasses. They were never embroidered, but I couldn't see why it wouldn't work.

"I could try," I said, "but I'm not skilled with a needle."

"I am!" Marisa chimed in from the third row, we were all in on this conversation apparently.

The road became more distinct and we reached a town by midmorning. It wasn't any larger than Paulson's settlement, and there was a manor there as well.

"The landgrave will be amenable to providing us with rooms for the day. You and Marisa should try to protect your clothes, then we can move on."

The lord of the manner was a middle aged man, soft around the middle, who was ecstatic to be of service to us once he found out who Thomas was. The manor was broad, a single story building built like a horseshoe at the end of town, with a massive fenced in grazing area occupied by reddish brown cattle.

Marisa and I commandeered a sitting room, of which there were several, and I chose my vest as the subject of the experiment. It would be warmer than I liked, but I could wear it overtop of anything and wouldn't have to take it off. Besides, it was the smallest item of clothing I had that still seemed substantial enough to afford protection. I spent about an hour with the charcoal marking and remarking sigils into the fabric for Marisa to go over with thread. Having gone through the process with an entire rooms, it was easy to bring the appropriate diagrams to mind.

Marisa had a quick hand, and was confident in her work.

"This is half the reason I ran away," she said lightly. "Mending nets and clothing, embroidering, you know. I wanted the big life in the big city, not tedium. I found a way out, but the way out made me miss this."

"We don't know what the world is until we see it for ourselves," I said.

"Or have it laying on top of you." Marisa jabbed my vest.

"That isn't your life anymore," I said.

"Maybe."

She worked for most of the day, and I brought her lunch when it was served. I was impressed by how well she followed my outlines, black thread on a yellow vest. It was the royal color, and here, it didn't mean anything.

It was evening when we were done, and as soon as I put my arms through and buttoned it at my waist I felt the difference. The diagrams were active, and because they was so close to me, there was a faint electric sense, like the air before a thunderstorm. It would confuse the next spirit that came hunting, hopefully enough to keep us out of trouble on our way to the coast.

"Thank you," I told Marisa, and she smiled at me.

Thomas decided we would stay for the night and I didn't argue. We'd all lost sleep because of the wind daemon. Havella and Tokar had rounded out our supplies at the general store, and also picked up some local gossip. There was a group of outlaws that preyed on travellers who camped at night on the roads out of town.

We had a pleasant dinner with the landgrave, who plied me with questions about life in the Atlan mountains. He had a buxom wife who said little but I gathered did most of the thinking for the both of them. Kanton society tended to put men first, but it was nice to see there were exceptions.

Because of my status, I was assigned my own room, elegantly furnished and a tad oversupplied with carpets, where I washed up and went directly to sleep. When I opened my eyes again it was still dark.

There was a knife at my throat.