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I nodded and Tobias i Mott to return to our horses for a clean rag and a waterskin Turning to me, he described a plant with thick, pointed leaves that would need to be cut free and gathered He said it had a gel inside that Mavis needed

"Where do I find it?"

"Near water, and in full sun"

I nodded at him and hurried toward the stream After Mott and Tobias had kept such a careful watch overto be alone and htened We were so close to Avenia Surely others in his group would eventually notice Mavis’s absence and co for any plant that fit Tobias’s description, and questioning my decision to spend soto do I knew that, and yet Mott’s suggestion that I was strengthening an eneht not be any sort of warrior, but that didn’t e

Finally, I had wandered far enough downstream that I saw Tobias’s plant I pulled out le, soht my eye, a sparkle of ruby, cut in the shape of a diamond That was odd

When I turned to look at it, I inized the object the ruby was attached to It was a shoe, but not just any ordinary shoe With nothing better to do while riding in Tobias’s escape carriage so o, I had stared at that saed to Amarinda The princess had at sorabbed the shoe and leapt to n of her, or at least so indicated how long the shoe had been here or what direction she had traveled Was it possible she had passed through as a captive of Mavis’s army?

I cut the leaves, then ran back to Tobias Mott was already there with hi for anyone’s approach while Tobias continued washing Mavis’s ankle I pushed past him and thrust the shoe in Mavis’s face "Do you knohere this came from?"

Mavis’s eyes widened, though it wasn’t clear whether he recognized the shoe, or because he was surprised to see a woman’s shoe of that quality in a place like this

"I asked you a question!" I yelled "Noer me!"

"You’re not Avenian," he replied coolly "That was easy enough to figure out You lost your accent just now and these two others with you have the accent of Carthya You are the youngest of theive the orders?" His eyes brushed overbriefly on my forearm with the mark of the pirates, the bruises that were still visible on my face, and the sword in my hand "I knoho you areJaron"

So Mavis was not as stupid as I had thought Either that, or I was less clever than I wanted to believe Neither improved h this area unnoticed

In his protective way, Mott walked toward us, but I didn’t think Mavis was in a position to harm me I knelt beside him with the shoe still in one hand and the plant he so desperately needed in my other

"Help me," I said "Then I will help you"

His eyes remained focused on the plant "I see Either I tell you what I know about that shoe, or you will let ht? Carthyans are no better than Avenians"