It seemed a bit late for the Hierophant to summon her, but then again, who even knew if he slept. She supposed he was getting impatient for her answer. Maybe he thought he could catch her off guard, scare her into agreeing to be his executioner.

Part of her wondered if maybe he was right.

They rounded a corner of the corridor, and Ephyra’s heart sank when she spotted Illya in a doorway up ahead.

“I’ll take her from here,” he told the Witness.

The Witness hesitated.

“Trust me,” Illya said. “You don’t want to bother him right now.”

The Witness reluctantly handed over Ephyra and turned back around. Ephyra waited until she was out of earshot before whirling on Illya.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“In a second,” he said, taking hold of her wrist and hauling her down the corridor after him.

Too startled to do anything else, Ephyra followed. “The Hierophant didn’t actually summon me, did he?”

“Of course not,” he answered, pushing open a door that led out into a courtyard. “I just needed to get you alone. This seemed like the most expedient way to do it.”

Ephyra told herself it was just the night breeze that made her shiver. Her wrist felt warm in Illya’s long-fingered grip. “What is this, your idea of a romantic moonlight stroll?”

Illya glanced back at her with a barely realized smirk and then dragged her between a tall bush and a wall. “Here we are.”

“Are you going to tell me why you just pushed me into the bushes?” Ephyra asked, leaning back against the wall.

“Give it a moment,” he replied.

She heard the sound of running water from within one of the rooms above the bushes, and then a window pushed open.

Ephyra startled, certain they were about to be caught, but Illya looked utterly unconcerned.

“My deepest thanks for being punctual for once in your life,” Illya said drolly.

Beru dropped to the ground between them. “I’m sorry, am I cutting into your busy schedule of snide remarks and—Ephyra?”

Ephyra blinked at her sister, who looked equally shocked to see her.

Beru recovered first, surging toward Ephyra and pulling her into a hug. “You’re all right!”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Illya said.

Ephyra could hear him walk away, but her focus was entirely on Beru and her sister’s fierce grip.

“I was so worried,” Beru said against Ephyra’s shoulder. “I didn’t know why they stopped you from coming to see me. I had no idea what they were doing to you. And then Illya told me—”

“Illya,” Ephyra repeated, pulling back. “You two are actually working together?”

Beru nodded.

“Why? How?”

“It’s a little hard to explain,” Beru hedged. “I know you think you can’t trust him—”

“Because I can’t!” Ephyra said. “We can’t. Beru, you don’t know him like I do.”