In the dark cart, she felt someone pat her knee. “We got this,” Sophie whispered. Her voice was calm, serene, even, but instead of feeling better, Claire felt worse. She would have rather had Sophie tease her, like she would have done before they climbed up the fireplace. But now Sophie was a little too knowing. A little too watchful. A little too patient.

The unicorn, Claire repeated in her mind. Free the unicorn, get the tines, defeat the queen … keep Sophie safe. Keep Sophie the same.

“Halt!” a commanding voice ordered. “State your name and business.”

“Prince Thorn, heir of Queen Estelle d’Astora,” Claire heard Thorn reply, his tone bored. “I bring some unruly dissidents for Commander Jasper to keep a closer eye on.”

Claire heard a commotion as the Royalist must have done a hasty bow. “My apologies, Your Royal Highness, for not recognizing you, but I’m afraid you’ll need to leave your prisoners and come with me.”

“Why?” Thorn asked as Claire buried her gasp in the crook of her arm. They couldn’t be separated from Thorn! She wished she could see what was happening.

“Because,” the Royalist said, “by Queen Estelle’s command, you, Prince Thorn, are under arrest.”

Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER

19

Thorn laughed.

How he was able to, Claire wasn’t sure, but he laughed as though there was absolutely nothing funnier in all the world than what the Royalist had just said: Under arrest by order of Queen Estelle.

Claire felt Sophie’s fingernails dig into her leg, and in the dim light, she could see Sena’s foot twitch, as though she was preparing to leap out of the cart and fight her way free.

“Is that so?” Thorn asked, his tone mild, as though he were arrested every day. “And may I know why, Flax?”

The Royalist—Flax, as Thorn had called him—clearly wasn’t expecting this carefree response. “Y-you were commanded to safely escort the Love Knot Tine to the Hilltop tonight, my prince, but instead you disappeared, and the Love Knot Tine along with you.”

“You mean,” Thorn said, and Claire heard the soft rustle of fabric as Thorn must have reached into his coat’s pocket, “this Love Knot Tine?”

Flax gasped, and Claire could imagine his surprise—it was the exact same surprise that had swallowed her up when they’d been in Scythe’s secret room and Thorn had suggested they sneak into Hilltop Palace as his prisoners.

“How would that even work?” Claire had asked as she’d leaned against one of Scythe’s empty shelves. “You disappeared from Needle Pointe, when you were supposed to be escorting the Love Knot Tine to the palace! Queen Estelle won’t trust you.”