That made Zara lower her head even more.
And then she began.
She repeated the lie from before, but this time she gave it more roots. Her mother was sick. Her village had the medicine. The people who came with her knew about that weakness. They had threatened to take away the herbs. They said her mother would not survive the cold if the medicine stopped. They told her that Isabella was dangerous to them all, that she would swallow smaller villages one by one, and that if Mira did one small thing, only one small thing, then no one would die except perhaps a ruler who had already become too powerful.
Her voice shook at the right places.
Her fingers trembled over the fur.
She even paused once as if guilt had closed her throat.
Isabella listened quietly.
The whole time, she looked gentle.
Inside, she was not gentle at all.
"Who gave you the poison?" Isabella asked.
Zara swallowed. "One of the older men from the alliance village."
"Which one?"
"I do not know his name."
