“I imagined you in a cell,” Nomi confessed, turning a small rock in her hand, its rough edges scraping the pads of her fingers. “You were confined, and angry at me, but you were safe enough. I had no—I had no idea you were fighting for your life. I felt so guilty, but this… Serina, I—”

Her sister cuddled her closer, easing the stiffness from Nomi’s limbs.

“None of us knew the danger in being a woman with a book,” she said softly. “And if you had known, would it have mattered? Could you have changed?”

Nomi burrowed into Serina’s shoulder, ashamed. “I don’t know.”

I don’t think so.

Nomi heaved a breath. “But if I’d known you would pay for my crime, I never would have taken that book. I never would have touched any book. You must believe me, Serina, I wanted to tell the truth. I wanted to tell them it was me. But Ines said it wouldn’t make a difference, that you would have been punished for lying instead.” Her voice shook. “All the plotting with Asa, it was all to get you out of here.”

“I think it’s time for you to tell me what happened,” Serina said. To her credit, she never moved away from Nomi. Her voice didn’t harden. Nomi still couldn’t understand how Serina didn’t hate her.

Her stomach twisted. She didn’t know where to start. “There’s so much. Asa, and Malachi… he gave me a book, except I thought it was Asa who had. Malachi wondered if I could read. It was a little mystery he tried to solve. And he did figure it out. He tempted me with a book of Viridia’s true history—”

“I don’t understand,” Serina interrupted. “Slow down, Nomi. You’re not making sense. What does Viridia’s history have to do with this?”

Nomi’s lip quirked sadly. “More than you’d think. We had queens once. Viridia had queens. Our first came from Azura. She was a woman, a warrior, who overthrew the corrupt ruling cardinal by seducing and poisoning him. She and her daughters ruled for two generations before their own advisors betrayed them. Erased them.”

Serina shook her head. “Of course they erased them,” she said. “They are still erasing us, every day. But I don’t know what this has to do with how you came to be here.”

“I thought Asa had given me the book. I thought he wanted me to be his queen, just like those women. I thought I would have the power to save you from this place.” Nomi took a deep breath. “But it was all a lie. He never meant to release you. He lied about wanting a queen and giving women rights. I didn’t realize until it was too late.”