By the time soldiers cleared the farm, leaving only a handful patrolling the perimeter, I’d recovered enough strength to crawl from my hiding spot.

Part of me wanted to follow the main body of soldiers into the village, so my family could tend me in my exhaustion. Most of me realized, though, that any comfort in that course of action would be short-lived.

The king wanted this land for a pleasure ground—and if he gained control of Khan & Rilla’s family farm, that left only my family’s and one other that he couldn’t demand outright. Neither was as large as this one the dragon had destroyed, and neither had the forest or river access.

This farm was enough—the king could take it, annex the village, and starve the rest of us out. He’d done it in Middleton and Wildflower Dell. Those people had once been independent farmers, and now they wandered or served the king for a pittance that barely kept them alive.

Based on what the soldiers had said, all he needed to do to gain control of Khan’s family farm was make sure no one contacted the cousin in time for him to claim his inheritance.

With a dragon on the loose, they could even pretend that keeping people in the village was for their own good.

If I went down there, I wouldn’t be allowed back out.

But now—I was outside the patrol perimeter. I could take word to Khan’s cousin. I vaguely remembered a scrawny youth, about Khan’s age, but lankier, with unkempt hair and wild eyes.

I’d wanted to meet him properly, but before I could even learn his name, rumors about his Arkanian father had made his stay unpleasant, and Khan’s father had found him some apprenticeship in Wind Haven—near the sea. It would take nearly a fortnight by coach to reach him—and just as long to return, but the moon was new, so it was possible—if someone left now.

I could go. It might be dangerous for a woman traveling alone, but just as I was outside the patrol perimeter, so was Khan’s family’s vault. His father had taken us both to see it a few weeks past, showing us the family papers, and savings. The key he’d hung round my neck still hung there, under my clothes, its hard surfaces warming against my chest.

The vault would hold money and provisions for the journey and a will that named the cousin.

My family would worry, of course. If I didn’t arrive home, Cali would likely tell them she’d asked me to warn Khan’s family. My people might imagine I could have made it to the house—that what was left of me lay smoking in that ruin along with Khan’s mother and the little ones. Who would be able to prove otherwise?

Judging by the smoke that came off the house now, it would be too dangerous to enter for many days, maybe even a week. By then, even if my absence was discovered, I’d be well out of reach.

If I went.

I touched my chest, feeling the metal key under the damp fabric of my blouse. Its firmness hardened my own resolve.

I could do this. I had to do this—for myself, for my family, for my village, and most of all for Khan’s family.

None of them deserved the disaster that came on them this day, and I wouldn’t let their life’s work and memory dissolve into another one of the king’s innumerable pleasure grounds.

Shakily, I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled deeper into the woods, toward the vault.