EMBER’S POV

She takes both my hands in her small dry ink-stained ones, and grips them hard, and looks up into my face with something burning in her pale eyes that was not there a minute ago. Awe. Plain, naked awe.

“The first thing,” she says quietly. “The first thing you learn in this trade is the detail. Two leaves can look exactly the same to the whole world. One of them heals you. The other stops your heart. And the only difference between them is a single vein on the underside, so small you’d never find it unless someone taught you where to look.” Her grip tightens. “To an...