Beatriz

When Beatriz feels Daphne's presence in her head, she doesn't know whether to thank the stars or curse them.

"Daphne," she says, realizing from Gisella's look—surprised and wary, as if Beatriz truly has lost her mind—that she said the words out loud. "We really need to work on timing."

"What's wrong?" Daphne asks. Her sister's voice in her mind is brusque and pragmatic, wasting no time on pleasantries or silly questions, and while Beatriz has often rolled her eyes at Daphne's cold composure, right now her level-headedness is a steady ship in stormy waters and Beatriz is grateful for it.

Gisella tries to speak through the gag, her alarm clear even if her words aren't, but Beatriz presses the pointed stake harder to her throat.

"Shut up," Beatriz snaps.

"Who are you talking to?" Daphne asks. "Because I know you aren't telling me to shut up."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Beatriz points out before catching Daphne up, as quickly as she can, on how she found herself with the King of Cellaria's sister as a hostage the night before her wedding, with no plan and, more importantly, no magic to help her.

"Mama knew about my magic somehow," Beatriz finishes. "Gisella says she drugged me with something that blocks my magic and any used around me. Which ruins my plan for escape, but I'm…recalibrating."

"Mama is always two steps ahead of us," Daphne says. Beatriz can imagine her face, disappointed and resigned. "She's bringing me back to Bessemia—she thinks I've allied with her, that I truly believe she'll spare me out of love. As long as she keeps thinking that, she'll let her guard down. And the second she does, I'll kill her, Triz. Can you hang on a little longer?"

Beatriz looks at Gisella, furious and gagged, her wrists and ankles still bound to the dining chair. Beatriz can't imagine how she'll come out of this—even Nicolo won't be able to help her when his court discovers that she kidnapped his sister, that she attempted to use stardust. And when Nicolo realizes that she was trying to run, to go back on their agreement, she doubts he'll even try. He might even cheer for her execution too.

But she can't tell Daphne about that. Her sister would only worry. She thinks about their last conversation with Sophronia, how she had the chance to say goodbye. Perhaps Beatriz should do the same now, but she doesn't know whether that would be a kindness or a curse. Would it have been better if Sophronia had given them false hope for her? Made promises she knew she couldn't keep? Beatriz isn'tsure.

"Don't worry about me," she tells Daphne, making the selfish choice in her mind. She can't stand to say goodbye, much as Daphne might deserve to hear it.

For a beat, Daphne is quiet, but when she speaks again, her voice is sharp. "That wasn't an answer," she says. "I'm not losing another sister, Triz."

Beatriz closes her eyes. She should have known Daphne wouldn't allow her to bluff her way out of this. She takes a breath. If this is the last moment she has with her sister, Daphne will never forgive her for tainting it with lies.

"I'm backed into a corner," Beatriz tells her, choosing the truth. "There is no way out of it without magic—magic I can't access."

Daphne says nothing, but Beatriz can practically hear her thinking, even from the other side of Vesteria.

"Maybe I can," she says finally.