She wished she could search the dungeons for Serina, but the best she could do for her sister right now was kill Asa. And who knew? Maybe she wouldn’t be killed by Asa’s men right away. Nomi would try to find the dungeon after the deed was done, if she could.

But she didn’t expect to leave Asa’s room alive.

She checked the knife in her boot. She slipped her hand into the pocket of her cloak and found the sharpened pencil and small journal she’d bought in Bellaqua. She left the writing tools there. They were a strange comfort, a reminder that she knew more than she was supposed to.

Angeline twisted her hands into her apron. “I wish I could go with you. I want to help.”

“You are helping,” Nomi reminded her. “You know about the escape route. You can help Ria. You can tell the others. But wait a day or two if you can. Malachi will come. He will help.”

Maybe he wasn’t bound by the concessions she and Serina had demanded of him. But she’d seen his disgust when he’d discovered how Asa was collecting Graces. These women would be safe in Malachi’s care.

She folded the handmaiden into a hug. “Be careful.”

Angeline’s arms tightened around her. “You too.”

Nomi sat at the dressing table while Angeline and Ria prepared for bed. She waited, skin crawling, until the room was velvet with night, until at long last, their breathing had slipped toward slumber.

Now it was time.

Nomi picked up the small lamp Angeline had found for her. Then she opened the door slowly, just an inch or two, and listened. Memories of the night she’d snuck out to see Asa the first time threatened to drown her. How naive she’d been, to plot Viridia’s downfall without suspicion, without fear.

Looking back on that night, on her misplaced trust, Nomi could entirely believe her stupidity. She’d been desperate. Guilty. Sick with worry for her sister. Rightfully so, it turned out. And she had made the wrong call.

But this, killing Asa, she knew deep in her bones that this was the right decision. She was plotting again, but this time it was for Viridia’s soul.

It was almost as if the night knew it too. Nomi slipped out of the room and down the hall uncontested. No footsteps followed her or echoed down adjoining corridors. She saw no guards at all. The secret passage would allow her to bypass any soldiers or servants in the halls. She remembered Malachi having one stationed outside his door—she was sure Asa did as well. Probably Marcos, the man he seemed to trust most. The one who’d given Nomi his messages. The one who’d shoved her onto the boat to Mount Ruin.