Dawn found the white hull where she had left it.
Elizabeth went down to the water stairs in a plain coat, hair pinned, no blade in her hand. She had meant to go alone. I was already in the boat. The thread had spent the night pointed at those gold ribs, and I was not going to sit in a compound while it did the choosing.
She looked at me once.
"If you sing, I throw you over."
"If she names you again, I will not hold your wrist."
That was the bargain. Vale stayed on the stair with a hooked line and a look that said she hated both of us. Sael was a shadow on the quay. No circle. No constructs. A small boat and a woman who had decided the witness had eaten enough of her city.
Shen Yuelan let us aboard.
