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not your fault." Now what would she do?
    The answer hit before she could sink into depression. "Soldiers!"
    "What?"
    "I bet the king's soldiers would escort me."
    "Willowbrook's too small. I haven't seen any soldiers."
    "Faldon's sworn he won't let me continue." So much for that idea.
    "Absurd!" Beth sat down again. "I've talked to the people. They said he gave his blessing to Antorin fay Renald. Now he won't let you heal the king? It makes no sense."
    "Exactly my thoughts. That's why we have to get away from him."
    "You're still determined to reach the Ivory Palace?"
    "More than ever." Selina ground the words through her teeth and glanced to the window with its cross-hatched pattern of glass. Dewel stood in view. She still pitied him, but he was feyquin. She couldn't trust any of them, but she could trust Beth to help her.
    Ideas sparked in her mind. Selina grinned and returned her attention to her friend. "I might have a plan."
    * * *
    Beth gave a nod of appraisal in the candlelight of her room. "You look like an old woman. Hunch down a bit more...There."
    "Good. Now, as soon as that farmer's ready, I'll leave with him." Selina pulled the hood over her head and adjusted the cloak that one of the men traded for her robe as a gift for his wife. Though she would miss her fine dress robe, she couldn't risk the feyquin recognizing her.
    "You're sure about this? We could return home and contact one of the others. There are plenty of men bearing the mark. They'd be stronger facing the feyquin. One of them could go to heal Antorin."
    "It would take too long. Besides, I have to do it, Beth, to see it through. I won't let Faldon intimidate me. Just keep the feyquin distracted and believing I'm still here, long enough for me to escape."
    Beth sighed. "All right. Good luck, Selina."
    Selina reached out and embraced Beth. "I'll miss you." She didn't want to leave her friend behind, but she had to go on.
    "Take care of yourself."
    When they parted, Beth wiped her eyes and smiled. "The old farmer should be waiting. His name is Corin Neprol. Good luck."
    Selina flashed her a smile and left the room. She hoped the feyquin didn't recognize her.
    At the bar in the dining area sat a lone figure hunched over a steaming drink, gray hairs peeking from under a brown hat. She saw no one else fitting the description Beth had given her. Take care of yourself, Beth. With a last glance back at the dark doorway through which she entered, she sat down next to the man.
    "Corin Neprol?"
    His sagging cheeks jiggled when he looked up. After a moment, his eyes brightened. "Ah! Yeh must be the one called Selina."
    "Sshh!" She glanced around, but no one jumped out of any hiding to catch her. A ridiculous notion; Faldon wouldn't dare enter a human establishment. Would he? "Not in the open."
    "Fine. Fine. But what name d'ya prefer?"
    "Anything else, if you'll get me out of here without the feyquin following."
    He shrugged. "Can't guarantee no doing but I'll take yeh on. Don' much like leaving at sunset though. It's the missus. She's bound to be afrighted of what's happened to me."
    "In the dark, Faldon's less likely to recognize me." And less likely to catch her, if she was right about his curse.
    "Than we'll be off." He gulped down the last of whatever he drank and slid off the stool. When he wobbled, Selina caught him.
    "Thanks, Miss."
    Her heart caught in her throat for a moment, stuck on the grief of leaving her friends behind. She hoped Reen found his way back all right. He also always called her "Miss".
    "Let's go." She ushered him out into the night, pulling her hood low over her face. A couple feyquin lifted their heads from down the street. Where did Faldon hide?
    She ducked away from them to the wagon. The hooved creature pulling it reminded her, in an odd way, of the feyquin, but it had long ears and two backwards-curved horns on its head, which attached to a short neck topped by a stubby mane. The flat back ended in a narrow tail with a tuft of longer