“It’s not so simple as whether I care for him,” she said at last. “It’s that I owe him. I misjudged him from the moment I met him, and I destroyed his life. He didn’t deserve that.” She trapped her windblown hair and twisted it around her hand. “Two nights ago, at his birthday ball, Malachi told me he would not force me to be his Grace. That it had been unfair to choose me, unwilling as I was.”

Serina’s brows rose. “He said that?”

Nomi nodded. “It’s why I tried to call off the scheme to frame him. But it was too late. Asa took matters into his own hands.” Her voice cracked.

Serina couldn’t mistake the naked misery in her sister’s voice. “He… he must care for you, to let you go.”

Nomi’s face crumpled.

Understanding dawned. “But you cared for Asa.”

Nomi’s voice hardened. “I thought I did. I trusted him, and he used me. He used my affection for him, my love for you, for his own ends. He killed his father and tried to kill his brother, and he shipped me off to prison… but before all of that he kissed me and told me he wanted me to be queen, and I believed him.”

Serina put her arms around Nomi, aching for her sister. She sat in silence, holding Nomi as she cried, just as she’d done when they were children. The moment was bittersweet; Serina hated that Nomi was hurting, but she was also grateful to be able to comfort her. Not long ago, she’d been certain she’d never get this chance again.

After a while, she murmured, “Asa will pay for what he’s done. I am certain.”

Nomi cleaned her face on the edge of her shirt. “I hope so.”

They curled into each other’s arms and listened to the surf and let the wind whip through their hair, and soon enough, dawn found them.

A shout stirred Serina from her exhausted haze. She straightened, her back stiff, her broken rib pulsing. She’d only gotten a few hours of sleep in the infirmary before Nomi had woken up screaming, and every ache and sore spot told her that it wasn’t enough.

But Nomi’s soft cheek snuggled into her shoulder was worth the pain.

They both turned to see Val jogging toward them.

Nomi scrambled to her feet; it took Serina a few extra moments to coax her battered body to do the same.

Val stopped in front of them. His chest rose and fell quickly, straining against his gray shirt. He must have run the whole way.

“I thought you might be here,” he said, by way of greeting.