Soldiers surrounded Jane - lifting her, supporting her. Every movement seemed to embed more glass into her skin. She whimpered.

"I'm the avtorka!" she babbled. "I'm the avtorka and you have to listen to me, Phillip - my brother -"

"I'm sorry, but we have to question you, Miss, since you are an unfamiliar person who has just crossed over the border."

"No, you don't understand!" Her voice felt cracked and raw. "My brother's still out there! My brother, Phillip. You have to rescue him!"

A tall figure appeared behind the soldiers. "What's going on?"

Jane had never been so glad to see Casimir in her life. "Please," she said, "My brother's still on the battlefield - please, you have to help him."

Casimir's face paled. Without a word, he spun away, vanishing into the night. Jane collapsed onto the ground with relief. Casimir would make sure Phillip was all right - Casimir would fix everything -

"Miss," said the soldier sharply. "You have to get up now; we need to ask some questions. Miss!"

Jane shook her head. She wanted to sleep. She wanted to sleep, and maybe in the morning the pain in her hands would be gone, and her feet -

"I will be the one to interrogate the avtorka. Her injuries need assessment. Let me by."

Jane's eyes fluttered open to see Nikolay staring down at her, devoid of emotion. "Did it have to be you?" she whimpered.

"If I displease you, I could take you to the opposite side of the border. I'm sure the Kanachskiy would be ecstatic to interrogate our avtorka. Where are your injuries?"

"My feet - they're full of glass -"

"Anywhere else?"

"Hands, knees, I - I don't know - there was glass everywhere, and I breathed in poison gas during the storm - Phillip's worse off, my brother -"

"Hold still. This will hurt."

It was all the warning she had before Nikolay snapped his fingers, and the world exploded in pain. It felt like dozens of shards were dragged forcibly from her body. Her nerves were on fire. It felt like he was ripping glass out of her knees - her feet - her hands - suddenly, painfully, brutally. Gradually the pain subsided, though Jane still sobbed for breath.

Nikolay tossed away the handful of bloody glass that had appeared in his palm. "Emergency healing," he said. "Temporary measures until you find a real healer."

A commotion rose nearby. "Stay here," said Nikolay, as if she was actually capable of moving. Jane closed her eyes, wishing for the night to be over.

When she next opened her eyes, Nikolay was standing beside her once again, a slip of paper clasped in his hands.

"Your brother is alive," he said. "Also, congratulations. You passed your first Godstest."

Jane took the slip of paper with shaking, bloody hands and burst into tears.

-v-

Ignoring her protests, Nikolay transported Jane back to the palace. Phillip, who was too weak to be moved, remained at the encampment with Casimir. An unfamiliar healer tended Jane's mutilated feet. Nikolay threatened the poor woman with all manner of horrible things should Jane lose the ability to walk.

Once Jane was bandaged, Nikolay ordered her to recount the details of her Godstest. He seemed most interested in her time in the catacombs, and he forced Jane to recount every detail about Zakhar's plan to deploy the sudok in the north.

"You're sure he said he had a contact in the palace? In Sengilach? Those were his exact words?"

When at last she could recount no more, Nikolay left - whether to relay her warning to the tsar or to call a war council, Jane didn't know - and Jane was finally, finally allowed to sleep.

The next day was a haze of sleep and potions. She wasn't allowed to stand, her magical reserves were dangerously low, and the healing potions she was forced to drink were incredibly soporific. Jane vaguely registered a parade of visitors - Kir's worried face - Casimir's pale one - Drazan, Olesya, the tsar, and Nikolay, but it was hard to know where reality ended and her fevered dreams began. The healer told her they were a side effect of the magic-replenishing potion, but that didn't make it any easier to re-visit the battlefield, or to relive Phillip's rescue - again and again and again...

When at last these fever dreams subsided, Jane dreamed of the gods.

She was in a long room with many mirrors. In the center of the room, the goddess Avdotya sat at a table, eating ice cream from a parfait glass. Her golden locks spilled around her face like wood shavings. Her plump mouth smirked at Jane.

"I see you have survived my godstest! Well... Divna designed it, but technically it was mine. What a dramatic and admirable escape. Would you like some ice cream?"

"No, thank you."

Avdotya pouted. "I want to get you to open up about yourself! You're so frustratingly close-mouthed."

"What do you want to know?"

"What do you think of Prince Kir now?" She leaned forward, eager, like one of Jane's gossipy aunts. "You never talk with anyone about your feelings."

"I've been too busy recovering from the godstest to talk about my feelings. My feet were half-destroyed. I've mostly been asleep."

"I told Divna she shouldn't have made the test so violent." Avdotya pouted. "Your brother and Casimir would be an adorable couple to ship, if only Phillip wasn't in a coma. So very tragic. I always did love that boy."

Jane's insides twisted. "Is my brother really sick?"

Avdotya sighed, her many chins wiggling ponderously. "See for yourself."

Jane's eyes flew open.

It was midday, judging by the sunlight. She was in the palace's healing rooms, and the goddess Avdotya was nowhere in sight.

She felt a surge of irritation. Why did her emotions always seemed blunted whenever she dreamed of the gods? She would have liked to give Avdotya a piece of her mind!

Jane looked around. The other half of the infirmary was walled off by a curtain. Beyond the curtain, she saw the shadow of a second bed and a tall figure moving beside it. Jane tested her weight on the floor and shuffled forward, wincing as pain lanced through her bandaged feet.

"Phillip?"

But it was Casimir who emerged. "You shouldn't be up yet," he said softly.

His eyes were very red. His hair was tousled, as though he hadn't slept in days. Jane's breath caught in her throat.

"Phillip's - he's not -"

"He still lives. Here, come and see him."

Deep shadows lined Phillip's eyes, but his face had regained some of its color. His right arm was bandaged, and a cast encased one of his legs. He breathed slowly and evenly.

"Will he be all right?"

"I hope so. But he hasn't woken since he arrived, despite all our healing spells, so I can't be sure. Some prison cells have curses that trigger when the victim escapes. Based on your report, he grew less and less lucid the longer he had been out of his cell - if that is the case, I don't know..."

Casimir's face was still. His tense expression, combined with Avdotya's earlier remarks, brought realization inching into Jane's mind.

"Earlier, you told me your husband had not been seen in many months..."

Casimir bowed his head.

Jane's mouth opened. A deep sense of betrayal churned in her gut.

"You could have told me my brother was alive. You should have told me!"

"We didn't know he was alive. If he was, it was imperative that we not compromise his mission. Six months ago, Phillip left Somita to spy on the Kanachskiy. He is an excellent illusionist, and he has the avtorka's gift of tongues - he can comprehend and speak other languages fluently without effort or study. The tsar advised us not to tell you for his safety. Only a few people in Somita knew of his mission."

"Did he succeed?"

"I don't know."

"What did they do to him?"

"He's been tortured, badly. He has suffered things no one should have suffered. According to our diagnostics, they cast illusion spells on him - starved him - tortured him. It's amazing he was able to make it as far as he did on his own strength. And he's been asleep for days now... he hasn't awoken - he could be -"

Casimir's eyes shone with tears.

Jane sucked in a breath. She thought about turning around, about leaving Casimir and returning to bed.

Instead, she reached over and gave him a hug.

"You're still healing, too," he said faintly. "I shouldn't burden you with this."

"We're family now," Jane said firmly.

"I wanted to tell you about Phillip," said Casimir. "I'm sorry for hiding the truth. The tsar was adamant you not know. Avtorkas have an unfortunate history of careening into danger to rescue their loved ones. He didn't want you storming Kanachskiy territory before you were ready."

"I wouldn't have -"

"I know."

She stared down at Phillip. "He's not going to die," she said. "I mean, I could heal him if I wrote in the Book of Truths, right? I just have to pass the next two godstests -"

Even as she said the words, Jane felt an overwhelming urge to curl up and weep. Two more godstests - she still had to pass two more godstests -

Casimir seemed to notice her sudden stiffness. "Shh," he said. He took her arm and led her - slowly and gently - back toward her bed. "The godstests are typically spaced far apart, and you will have plenty of time to heal and recover before you are tested again. And who knows? Your next Godstest could be completely different. They often are."

Broken glass and tar pools filled her mind - an agonizing walk across the battlefield - the thought that she wasn't good enough to pass her first godstest, not like Phillip, not like Eloise - that she would fail - that she must fail - that Phillip would die because she had failed -

"So," Jane said, wrenching her mind away from bad memories. "So, you and Phillip, huh?"

It was hard to imagine her brother married, but at the same time she couldn't think of anyone better able to calm her brother's temper.

"We married a few years after his Godstests," said Casimir wryly. "I was his teacher. I suppose you would call our relationship 'highly inappropriate'. Phillip is a brilliant magic user - strong mages are drawn to other strong mages of course - but he is also kind. Arrogant, of course, but..."

"Sounds like Phillip."

It didn't surprise Jane that her brother was just as brilliant at magic as he had been at everything he'd applied his mind to back on Earth. The look in Casimir's eyes was one of adoration, and she felt a moment's insecurity. This was followed quickly by a stab of guilt. She hated petty people, and it was the height of pettiness to be jealous now, while Phillip was so ill.

"What were Phillip's godstests -" she began.

But at that moment, the door opened, and Kir burst in with the enthusiasm of a small child who has just spotted a bubble machine.

"We thought you would sleep forever!" He threw his arms around Jane, and before she could register what was happening, he had kissed her, lightly and quickly on the lips.

Olesya, who followed at a more sedate pace, took in Jane's appearance with an arch smile. "Walking again, I see. That's good. You'll be back on the practice courts in no time!" She clapped Jane on the shoulder. Jane winced.

"What happened while I was asleep?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

Kir's face fell. "The Kanachskiy are assembling an army in the south to cross the border. And so, we're putting together a counter-force. As for Dalnushka's pass -"

"It's too bad your brother won't wake," Olesya interrupted. "We could have used his information. There's a spy in the castle -" (Kir flinched) "-and if what you told Nikolay is true, the Kanachskiy will be sending monsters against us, the likes of which haven't been seen in decades."

Sudok.

Jane shivered.

"I... saw one," she said. "Actually, I think I've seen two. Once, when I was escaping with Phillip on the wyvern -" Those red eyes, burning into her across the stable. "And before that... the night I was taken from Earth. One grabbed me and dragged me through the portal, out of my world and into this one. Except we materialized in a temple, and the sudok just... vaporized. I think being inside that temple hurt it somehow."

"Possibly," said Olesya. "Both Dalnushka - the northern fortress where you materialized - and this castle, are protected by a very strong, very ancient sort of magic designed to keep evil forces at bay." She snorted. "They say the mages were so paranoid about keeping it a secret, they wrote the spell in three layers of code, stuffed it in a lock-box with twelve locking runes, and hid it in some corner of the Imperial vault."

"Oh...?" said Jane bemusedly.

"No one finds anything in the Imperial vault."

"It's a mess," Kir agreed. "Very disorganized. Father thought about hiring professional cleaners but was never able to find someone he trusted enough."

Jane filed this information away for later. Perhaps if she didn't pass her godstests and needed a backup career...

"What are sudok, anyway?" said Kir. He lounged at the foot of Jane's bed. "What do they want? Can we reason with them somehow?"

"How should I know?" said Olesya grumpily.

"You're ancient - or at least, older than I am. Older and wiser -"

"Not old enough to remember the Burning days, brat!"

Jane grinned.

"I doubt anybody alive knows what sudok are," said Casimir. "I've heard everything from demons, to inbred dragons, to enemies of the gods. Kanachskiy religion says they are servants of Velos who will bring about the apocalypse. Who knows what the real truth is?"

"Dragons don't like 'em," said Olesya. "They're supposed to be enemies. I remember that from Gathuk's history lessons."

"That man I saw during my Godstests, Zakhar - he seemed pretty convinced he could get them to do what he wanted." Jane shrugged. "It sounded like he had some way to control them."

Grim silence fell over the gathering. The shadows seemed suddenly longer.

"How were they defeated in the last war?" said Casimir. "Do you know, Olesya?"

"In the Burning Days," said Olesya, "the gods intervened in their banishment. Before that, the dragons -"

"Right, the dragons stepped in! I remember that, too!" Kir's voice was eager. "Perhaps we could go to Cliff Cherodyn and entreat the dragon queen -"

"You're more likely to get eaten than to get help," said Olesya. "Dragons hate humans almost as much as they hate sudok."

Jane shuddered. She would rather not ally with dragons, seeing as how she was pretty high on one particular dragon's hit list.

"Do we have any idea who the spy is?" she asked, in an effort to change the subject.

This question seemed to further dampen the mood.

"There's a couple names being tossed around. Nothing definite." Olesya frowned. "...I know one person who would love to see us rot, but it seems unkind to name him in this company."

"Who - hey!" Kir looked distraught. "Nikolay's not a traitor! He would never do such a thing. He couldn't, not with his Oath."

Olesya's face was bland. "Of course not, Your Highness. I misspoke."

No, you didn't. Jane stared at Olesya's blank face and wondered what the woman knew. Would passing information to Kanach constitute a violation of Nikolay's Oath? Could Nikolay do something that harmed the tsar indirectly?

If someone on the Kanachskiy side offered Nikolay something he wanted, would he betray them?

-v-

It seemed wrong to hold a celebration with Phillip ill and the war escalating, but Somitan custom apparently demanded a party after a successful godstest. And so, the evening of the fourth day after her godstest, a series of maids came to Jane's room in the healing quarters to help her prepare for the ball.

Jane was skeptical. Her feet were finally out of their bandages, but they weren't happy about being forced into sparkling slippers with tiny embroidered flowers.

"You don't have to stay long!" said Kir. He had visited her bedside often over the last few days, when he wasn't occupied with war councils. "It's mostly for show. Everyone wants to see you healthy. It boosts morale!"

"Is stuffing my sick lungs into a corset really a necessary part of morale-boosting?" Jane eyed her dress askance.

"Um."

In the end, Jane managed to talk the servants into a less fancy dress and shoes that didn't pinch her toes, but she couldn't talk them out of turning her hair into a forest of pearls and gold flowers.

"You look stunning," Kir said, when the maids had finally finished.

He looked... tired. There were lines beneath his eyes that spoke of sleepless nights, and the bounce in his step was reduced to a mild spring. There was an unhappy set to his jaw that made Jane wonder what had been happening while she was confined to the hospital wing.

"Have you been very busy with war preparations?" she hazarded.

"A bit busy, yes," said Kir distractedly. He leaned forward and kissed her.

Jane let him. She was used to it enough by now that it was not unpleasant, and it was definitely better than offending Avdotya. And -

And if you do fail your godstests, said the treacherous little voice at the back of her head, then you'll need some sort of backup plan, won't you? Kir's a good person. You could probably love him if you tried hard enough. It wouldn't be an epic romance, but being queen would keep you from starving to death, keep you safe from that dragon. Plus - let's be real about this - Kir will probably need all the help he can get as a ruler.

Sometimes, Jane hated how practical her mind was.

A chorus of hurrahs greeted them as they entered. It seemed like everyone in the castle wanted to congratulate her. Their cheers rattled her eardrums. She felt overwhelmed. She smiled awkwardly at the crowd and followed Kir to her chair, hoping that would be the end of it.

But the festivities had only begun. Kir bounded around, laughing and chattering. He seemed absolutely in his element. Jane looked around for people she knew. She spotted Drazan and Olesya and tried to head toward them, but she kept being interrupted by people thanking her and drinking toasts in her name. She thanked them and took obligatory sips of wine, but their gratitude made her want to scream.

I have two more godstests to go - I could very well fail the next one - this all seems very premature -

"Avtorka!" cried Drazan as she approached. His green eyes twinkled. "A toast?"

"Oh no - not you, too," said Jane. "I'm toasted out. Isn't there any beverage here that doesn't have alcohol?"

"Your cheeks are red."

"Yes, exactly -"

"I think that means you need another toast!"

"No - wait -"

"A toast! To our lovely avtorka!"

Jane gave up. She retreated to the corner of the room and for a time just admired the twinkling lights and floral masterpieces that floated above the hall. Kir chattered away in the middle of the ballroom, but he was not a tall man, and she kept losing him in the crowd. And despite her bid for anonymity, people were still approaching her, asking her to bless them.