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I grinned tofor hours For the longest tied The same trees, the sarass Whatever blud creatures rinned whenever I heard branches breaking or hooves pounding through the woods ahead of us The anier predator was about, and I basked in the return ofmyself in check on the airship had cost me deeply

I s of the pines interwoven with the faintest breath of frosted, faded grasses and inds I sighed and s to the Ice Palace, where we held the forest at bay ide fields that would leave our enemies exposed should they ever attempt to come for us There was very little that could threaten me in a field

Not so for Casper and Keen They huddled closer together, looking all around as if unicorns h Casper looked back at rin of avid triumph and confidence on my face, he seemed reassured that I could take care of htly correcting our path Not that we needed it, not really I could already srand city spread out over an old river heavy with ice andrandomness of London, Minks was a Blud city ruled with careful planning, beauty, and thoughtful regard for the needs of Bluds of the broad parks, the statuary gardens, and the grand church of Aztarte, which rose, airy and beautiful, to settle over the city like the wings of a grand black swan Provided I could successfully sell soet ru doide dirt road, a plureen smoke in its wake Casper threw an aresture of protection, and I pushed past theround here"

I changed our angle and sped up, aion, its bed piled high with green things from the Pinky farms When I planted myself in the road, one black-scaled hand held out, talons splayed, I was gratified to see the h for me to touch

We were in luck A wary Pinky sat in the contained driver’s cabin, and I grinned wickedly when I saw hietables and other Pinky foodstuffs, other than to keep our food source as healthy and robust as possible It was a co to carefully drawn plans by their superiors This wagon would be headed straight to Minks

"Mistress, I aive h a speaker, his voice tinny and heavily accented with the broad strokes of the country

Raisingit with the proper amount of authority, I mimicked his accent "I and my servants will require conveyance to the city proper"

"The back is filled with cabbages, but you are more than welcome to ride there," the man said I could hear the fear in his voice; the country Pinkies never really felt safe around their hast at offering a highly placed Bludwo foodstuffs

"That will suffice," I said with a fired in place as alked around back The sed me, as my sensitive nose could detect the , and all of his cabbages were dying Casper helped e, his legs dangling over the metal lip I knocked a fist on the reen smoke, the conveyance scraped and scuttled toward the city on treads much like those of the bank we’d taken to Dover A short ride later, the wagon stopped at the city gates, where we slid from the truck and waited our turn in the road

"Get behind me, and look properly awed," I hissed, and Casper and Keen obeyed

They had probably never seen a Blud city, and it waswhite ell uards friendly and obsequious when they saw ave directions to the train station without asking a single question about my name or plans A Bludwoman didn’t need papers to enter, and neither did her chosen servants It was so very unlike the cities of Sangland, and I was glad to have my feet fir faces and polite nods

As we moved into the city, Keen sidled close, skittish and wild, saying, "Want me to sell a stone? I knoay around a city’s back streets, noher on the head andher scowl "I’m the only one hom anyone here will do business You they’d probably kill on principle"

She was right, though--we did have to sell a few stones if anted to get on the train I could see the station a few streets over, the façade shining like sunlight on snow I pulled the necklace back out of my corset and used my pinkie talon to pry out a s e for riches lost, but I could always have it fixed if I succeeded If I didn’t succeed, a faulty necklace would be the least ofit on