Blood and Answers

Sophia's POV

I found Maren the next morning in the castle's upper herb garden, moving between the rows of winter plants with the unhurried certainty of a woman who had nowhere more important to be. The garden was frost-covered and sharp-smelling, the air cold and clear, and she didn't look up when I approached, though I knew she heard me from the moment I entered the gate.

"You read the archive records," she said.

"Yes," I said.

She snipped a sprig of something grey and ...