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acting as sentinels on the Lumateran side of the stream. So there was nothing to stop Donashe and his murderers from hunting in the woodlands and crossing the stream to where Phaedra and the women hid. Worse still, Rafuel had advised that one of Donashe’s men was feeling threatened by Rafuel’s presence around his leader. The man followed Rafuel and Donashe’s every move, which had made it difficult for Rafuel to slip away.So here Phaedra and the women were, a mile downstream from the Charynite valley dwellers, not knowing what was happening to their people upstream except that Phaedra’s father had stopped sending grain from Alonso.
    Despite Phaedra’s warnings to stay put, the Princess crossed the stream most days. It was as if she was drawn to the Lumateran side with its gullies and tall tree canopies. The girl had a tendency to disappear for hours upon end, which unnerved them all. And then they’d be unnerved again by her return.
    Phaedra didn’t know what was worse. Quintana of Charyn’s absence or presence. This afternoon’s behaviour was quite dramatic: she had tossed one of the hares at Florenza and ran off like a wild savage.
    ‘Her father’s daughter,’ Jorja had muttered. Jorja and her husband Harker despised the dead King more than anyone Phaedra had ever met, except for the Lumaterans.
    Phaedra caught up with the Princess near a moss-covered stone.
    ‘You can’t wander away, Your Highness.’ Phaedra used a brisk tone, despite the fact that she was speaking to the daughter of a king. ‘We must keep to the cave. We’ve been beside ourselves with worry.’
    The stare that met hers was hard and cold. Cora and the other women believed an entity inhabited Quintana of Charyn, and that deep inside, she was not quite human. It made Phaedra despair even more. What hope did Charyn have if this creature carried the first?
    ‘I’m the Queen, Phaedra of Alonso. Did I not mention that?’
    Oh, you’ve mentioned it many, many times, Phaedra wanted to say. Once with a hand around Jorja’s neck, squeezing tight because Jorja had dared to question what type of authority the Princess had now that the King was dead.
    ‘And I’m not going back,’ announced the Princess or Queen or whoever she wanted to be. ‘They’ll kill me in my sleep. I heard them say.’
    Phaedra sighed. ‘They said no such thing, Your Majesty.’
    And there was the ice-cold stare again.
    ‘I heard the words,’ Quintana said, with a curl to her lip that spoke of a threat. ‘Are you calling me a liar, Phaedra of Alonso?’
    Phaedra hesitated, choosing her next words wisely. ‘You frighten them,’ she finally said. ‘You snarl and rage and sometimes we believe that our sacrifice was for nothing. “She’ll kill us in our sleep.” That’s what you heard. Their fear is that you will kill us all.’
    With as much courage as she could muster, Phaedra walked to the Princess and pulled her to her feet, dragging her along in much the same way she had seen a Mont mother drag her protesting boy towards the bathhouse. She was sick and tired of being the one to keep the peace between the women. It was about time everyone else did their duty. When they reached the stream, Phaedra tore a strip from Quintana’s dress and soaked it in the water, cleaning the girl’s bloodied hands and face. If Quintana of Charyn knew anything, it was how to hunt. A frightening thought in itself, but Phaedra had to admit that the hares had filled their empty stomachs for the first time in days. And there was the satisfaction of seeing one of the hares lobbed at Florenza’s nose. Jorja believed that she and her precious daughter were above everyone else, despite their journey through the sewers. ‘She was the most sought-after girl in our province,’ Jorja had boasted just the night before.
    ‘Yes, but where are these suitors now that Florenza has crawled through shit?’ Cora asked.
    Each time Jorja and Florenza’s escape was mentioned, Florenza whimpered