The next day, the snow was still falling as Seraiah went through the motions of her day. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, including her. She wanted nothing more than to continue the search for her sister, but with last night turning up no clues, and the fresh snow covering up any tracks, Seraiah didn’t know where to start. Whoever had kidnapped her sister must have taken her out of Ratha, but where would they go?

Her only choice might be to leave Ratha and search the nearest cities. The problem was she knew nothing about traveling or the world at large. She’d spent her entire life in Ratha. She was more likely to end up lost in the woods than to be of any use finding Sterling.

Then there was the second problem of supplies for travel. Those cost money, and the only way she was going to get money was if she went to work. In three days’ time, she would have the coin to purchase something. She would have to wait—no matter how much it hurt—and keep looking for clues in the city until then.

Seraiah didn’t say one word to her father as each of them got ready for their respective jobs and left the house. She hadn’t forgiven him for saying there was nothing to be done about Sterling. 

While she worked, she made lists in her head of things she might need for leaving Ratha. She couldn’t take a mule and a cart because the trees would be too hard to navigate. A horse would be ideal, but they were hard to come by and expensive. There was the additional complication of having never ridden a horse.

After further thought, Seraiah decided she’d need to go on foot, which meant she would have to consider how much she could carry with her. A weapon or something to use for protection would be a good idea, but those were expensive too, and she didn’t know the first thing about using one. It would also help to have a map. There had to be one she could copy somewhere in the library.

In her distraction, the other scribes finished with their work long before her. Even Walter finally gave up on waiting. He instructed Seraiah to place her pages on his desk when she finished, before leaving her to an empty room.

Once she was alone, her thoughts turned back to her sister and the hopeless situation. The words blurred before her eyes as she struggled to hold back her tears.

Don’t cry, Seraiah told herself. You’ll ruin the page and have to start over again.

She should have done a better job of protecting her sister. Then none of this would be a problem. If only she had taken her dreams seriously. Maybe then her sister would still be safe, and she would have kept her promise to Mama.

Seraiah rubbed her wrist. She’d never told anyone about the promise Mama had her make before she’d died—not even Sterling.

She could still remember the smell of sickness that had clung to Mama’s skin.

Mama had been coughing more than usual, and even though Seraiah had feared catching the blood fever herself, she’d stayed by her bedside, wiping her brow with a cool cloth. When she’d leaned over to help Mama wipe the blood from her lips, Mama had grabbed her wrist before she could touch the cloth to her mouth.

Her grip was surprisingly strong for someone so sick.

“Seraiah,” she whispered, her voice rattling in her chest. “Listen to me carefully.”

“Yes, Mama.”

“You must take care of your sister when I am gone,” she rasped out.

“No.” Seraiah shook her head. She hadn’t wanted to face what was right in front of her: Mama was dying.

“Please promise me, Seraiah.”

She shook her head again, gritting her teeth to hold back her sobs, but it was no use. 

“Please,” Mama begged, her grip tightening. She would have the mark of Mama’s fingers circling her wrist like a bracelet for days.

“Fine,” she choked out. “I will do whatever you say. I will take care of Sterling, but you have to get better.”

“Promise you will protect her, and no matter what happens, you will not let them take her.” Mama’s fingers were digging into her skin now.

“Who? Who would take Sterling?”

“Promise me!” Mama demanded, ignoring the question.

“Yes! Yes! I promise. I promise! Please do not leave me.” But Mama never replied because she was already gone.

As the years had worn on and nothing had happened to Sterling, Seraiah had grown lax in watching over her sister. Now Sterling was paying the price.

Seraiah picked up her quill and was dipping it into her inkwell to finish the last two lines when a knock on the door made her jump. Her hand bumped the inkwell, knocking it over onto the page she’d been working on.

She could do nothing but watch as the ink spread across the page, ruining her work.

“Oh no, Seraiah. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Here, let me help you clean that up.”

She looked up from the ruined page to take in her friend, reaching for a rag to clean up the mess. When Ariya caught sight of her face, she abandoned the task, instead, coming to crouch next to Seraiah’s chair.

“I see you didn’t take my advice to get a good night’s sleep. Did Sterling keep you up again?” Ariya asked.

At hearing her sister’s name, Seraiah could no longer hold back the flood of tears she had been holding at bay all day. Ariya pulled her into a hug and let Seraiah sob into her shoulder, rubbing Seraiah’s back and murmuring to her.

 When Seraiah was all cried out, she lifted her head from Ariya’s shoulder and wiped at her face.

“I’m sorry about your dress,” she whispered.

“Nonsense. Don’t worry about the dress. What happened? What’s made you cry like this? Is it the fever?” The fever was always the first thing people thought of when something bad happened.

Seraiah shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “It’s worse.”

Ariya’s brow knit. “What could be worse than blood fever?”

Seraiah told her friend about her missing sister. When she got to the part about how her father refused to go after Sterling, she almost burst into tears again.

“Shhh, everything will be fine.” Ariya rubbed circles on her back. “Don’t worry. We don’t have to listen to your father. We will get your sister back. All right?”

“But how? I don’t even know where to start. And now with the new snow, there won’t be any trail to follow. I’ve never been outside the city. How will I know where to go? I’m not even sure I can afford the proper supplies to leave.” A few more tears slipped down her cheeks.

Ariya thought for a moment. “I’m not sure what to do about all of that either, but perhaps I could ask Lady Zahara for help?”

“You would do that for me?” Seraiah knew it would likely do no good, but it was the thought that counted. Any help would be better than nothing.

“Of course. I’ll go find her right now. You should go home and get some rest. You will be no good to Sterling if you wear yourself out.”

“I will as soon as I redo this page. It’s the last one.”

“And then you promise you will go?”

Seraiah nodded. She would go, but she didn’t intend to go home. She wanted to take another look around the market in case she might have missed something.

“Good. Then I’ll send word as soon as I speak to Lady Zahara. We will get Sterling back where she belongs.”

Seraiah smiled weakly. “I hope you are right.”