Two weeks of worry. Two weeks to think about what might make a knight worthy. Two weeks to think about the death of Pellinore, as keenly as she did in those first terrible days after the brutal killing. The rise and fall of the axe-blow.

It is up to Tristan to say how he kept her from disaster, from spiraling into dark and worried thoughts. But she manages, thanks to him, and she considers how she may test Robena, the Bear Knight. The question, after all, is what Robena learned from that moment: whether she learned the lesson of the axe, deep in her heart.

Perhaps she should leave a trail for Robena that led to her. Perhaps she should let the castle rumor that she was leading Pellinore here, that striking her down would save the knight from her fated confrontation. That way, if Robena failed again, only one person would be at risk; and it was she who misjudged Robena’s mettle first of all.

And yet still she had not made the decision, still had not committed herself to the lure, as she fretted outside the banquet hall that fateful night. Or had she? After all, she wore foxfur on her robe, and the tail was draped around her pale neck. The symbolism was not hard to miss. But when would she gather up the courage to enter?