Violie

"The empress is coming here?" Leopold asks slowly, looking between Violie and Daphne with a furrow in his brow.

"Tomorrow," Daphne confirms. She paces the length of the sitting room in the quarters she and Bairre now share, which also contain two separate bedrooms and studies, plus a dining room. The rooms are fit for the new crown prince and princess of Friv, sumptuously decorated with heavy oak furniture upholstered in intricately woven brocade, but there is no trace of Daphne in the stark Frivian designs, and Bairre likely sees the renovated space as a waste of money. He certainly looks uncomfortable, even as he lounges on the plush velvet chaise near the fireplace, eyes locked on Daphne as she paces.

"So then why aren't we panicking?" Leopold asks. He's standing near the fire, hands clasped behind his back, and Violie knows he's resisting the urge to fidget.

"Oh, we are," Daphne mutters with a strangled laugh.

"Panicking while we do nothing, though," Leopold says. "We aren't running?"

"We aren't running," Violie confirms before repeating her earlier conversation with Daphne. "Empress Margaraux is a stranger here, and Friv doesn't like strangers. We can use that against her," she finishes.

"We can use that against her," Daphne corrects, gesturing between herself and Bairre. "You," she adds, gesturing to Violie and Leopold, "can knock her off-balance and then go to find Beatriz."

Violie resists the urge to roll her eyes. She knows Daphne has a point about their leaving Friv. The empress may be a stranger in a strange land, but she'll have an entourage of devotees at her back—several of whom Violie would wager are assassins. The longer Violie and Leopold stay in Friv, the more danger they're in. But they aren't the only ones.

"She'll want to kill you, too," she tells Daphne and Bairre. "Both of you."

"I can handle my mother," Daphne snaps.

"Can you?" Violie volleys back, almost regretting the words when Daphne winces. But she knows she's right—Daphne's loyalty has only just shifted, and Violie doesn't trust that it won't shift back as soon as the empress gives Daphne just a bit of that approval she's always craved. By the look on Daphne's face, she doesn't trust herself, either.

Bairre clears his throat, breaking the silence. "I don't pretend to know much about what the empress is capable of, but from my understanding, she isn't a fool. It would be foolish to begin a siege of Friv while she's in its capital, without an army to support her."

"Are we certain she doesn't have an army?" Leopold asks. "She very well may have one following, lying in wait until she gives them a signal."

"I discussed that possibility with Cliona," Daphne says. "She's speaking to her father now about sending a scouting party to ensure that my mother and her entourage are alone." She glances at Bairre. "I assumed that would be better than getting your father up to speed on things. As far as he's concerned, there's little reason to view my mother as anything but that."

Bairre shakes his head. "My father may be a lot of things, but he isn't oblivious. And he didn't become King of Friv by underestimating his enemies."

"He became King of Friv because a powerful empyrea made a pawn of him," Daphne replies. "And speaking of your mother, have you spoken to her about this development?"

"My mother still hasn't returned from Lake Olveen," Bairre says. "But I'll add this to the long list of things I need to discuss with her."

At the top of that list, Violie imagines, is the fact that Bairre's mother, the empyrea Aurelia, arranged to have Leopold's younger brothers kidnapped, and, after Daphne and Leopold rescued them, she gave Cliona instructions to kidnap them again. To what end, no one seemed to know.

"The point I'm trying to make," Daphne says with a sigh, "is that your father tends to be far too compassionate, at the expense of common sense. I say that as someone who has used that compassion against him several times now, as did Queen Eugenia, not to mention Cliona's father, who Bartholomew considers his closest friend despite the fact that the man is the head of the rebels looking to overthrow him."

Bairre opens his mouth to argue but quickly closes it again, which is just as well. Violie doesn't think he can argue against anything Daphne just said, which Bairre should know better than anyone, considering he himself joined the rebellion against his father.

"Fine," Bairre says. "We'll leave my father out of this. For now."

Daphne continues to pace, her steps growing more agitated. "And once Violie and Leopold leave, they can search for Beatriz."

"Are we sure that's wise?" Leopold asks.

Daphne stops short, whirling to face him with blazing eyes. "You think Beatriz is dead?" she asks, her voice suddenly dangerously low.

"I didn't—"

"You're wrong," Daphne snaps. "If Beatriz were dead, I would know it. I would feel it, like I felt Sophie."

Violie doesn't bother to point out that Daphne was magically connected to Sophronia when she was killed. Logical as it is, it won't accomplish anything. And Violie doesn't know that Beatriz is dead, or that she isn't perfectly safe and simply delayed by a spot of bad weather, but if her dealings with the empress have taught her anything, it's to assume that the empress is always one step ahead of everyone else.

"I only meant that we don't know where to look," Leopold says carefully, the way someone might speak to a ravenous wolf.

"I think," Violie interjects before Leopold can get himself into deeper trouble with Daphne, "that your mother wouldn't be coming to Friv if she didn't have reason to believe she had Beatriz and therefore Cellaria secured. Cellaria is as good a place to start looking as any."

Daphne holds her gaze a moment longer, her jaw tightening, before she gives a sharp nod.

"When Violie and Leopold leave, you should go with them," Bairre says to Daphne, who gives a snort of laughter. "I don't see what's funny about the suggestion. Your mother wants you dead, you know that. And even if she doesn't accomplish it here, in person, it's imminent. I know you want to save Beatriz and avenge Sophronia, but perhaps the best thing to do is—"

"Run?" Daphne interrupts with a scoff, turning to glower at him. "And tell me, Bairre, would you be running with me? After all, my mother will need you dead as well, in order to take Friv."

Bairre doesn't answer, instead looking away, toward the fire in the hearth.

"No," Daphne infers. "You won't run, because you aren't a coward and neither am I."

"I won't run because Friv is my home," he corrects.

"And it's mine, too," Daphne says, before she snaps her mouth shut, both she and Bairre surprised at the proclamation. She hesitates a second. "Friv is my home now too," she says, more firmly this time. "Even if there is no hope for my sister, even if it means putting myself in danger, I won't let my mother take Friv as well."

For a moment, Bairre doesn't speak, but finally he pushes to his feet and closes the distance between him and Daphne in two long strides, wrapping his arms around her just as Daphne presses her face into his chest. Violie glances away, meeting Leopold's awkward gaze. Leopold clears his throat.

"We should get some sleep—I'm sure we'll need it to face tomorrow," he says, standing up.

Violie follows him out the door, glancing back at Bairre and Daphne, still caught up in their embrace, Bairre's hand tracing gentle circles on Daphne's back.

The sight of them sends a pang through her that Violie can't quite place, even as she closes the door and steps out into the hallway.