But today they were on opposite sides of the room when the door swung open—Jinx doing complicated stretches that she did every morning, and Nova watching her surreptitiously, while picking at what was left of her breakfast.

“You,” a soldier said, pointing to Nova. “Come with me.”

Jinx was out of her stretch and on her feet immediately. “Where are you taking her?”

“Nowhere that concerns you,” the soldier sneered. “You stay here. The prince only asked for her.”

Nova tried not to sink back into the bed in fear. She had been doing so much better of late. Her anxiety had not gone away; she did not think it would ever do that. But with control and acceptance of her magic, the spells of anxiety had lessened. It had become easier to pinpoint when anxiety was interfering, and she was learning to let it pass, to live around it.

As the soldier crossed the room toward her, Jinx put herself in front of Nova, cutting him off. “No. You can take us both or not at all.”

The man shoved Jinx hard, sending her crashing into the bed opposite Novaya’s. Leaping off her own bed, Nova prepared to fight back, but someone else stepped into the room, cutting her off.

“That is enough,” Prince Cassius snapped. He waited as Jinx climbed to her feet, and when he saw that she was unharmed, he continued, “I mean Novaya no harm.”

Jinx scoffed. “Like we would trust anything you say.”

“You should. I have decided to release her.”

Nova stood in stunned silence, certain she had heard wrong. “Release me?”

“Yes. I have decided that I believe your original version of events surrounding the princess’s kidnapping. I believe that you had no part in the scheme. As such, I will be releasing you from detention, effective immediately.”

Nova shook her head. “I do not understand.”

He looked at her like she was as simple as a child who had not yet learned to read. “You are no longer to be kept here against your will. I am afraid your position with the seamstress has already been taken, but you will be granted the opportunity to pick up your duties as a maid exactly where you left off. Your old room will be provided to you again. You may continue your life in the manner you lived it before this unfortunate series of events.”

This unfortunate series of events. That’s what he called her imprisonment?

“And what about J—” Nova stopped herself before she said Jinx’s name, gesturing toward her instead.

The prince frowned and shook his head. “I am afraid she is a different matter entirely. She broke into the palace illegally and assaulted a number of my men. And I imagine there is a great deal more to her that I have not yet discovered.”