“That’s not good, is it?”

“No, it is not.”

A cold chill raced up her spine. “You think it’s a trap.” He nodded slowly, and the orchestra quieted its royal march. Ana brushed back the vines. “It’s almost your cue.”

“I know,” he replied. “You should go.”

“I feel like I should be the one going out there—to show the kingdom that I’m fighting for them. That I’m still here.”

He touched her arm gently, comfortingly. “You will. When this is all over, you will be the Empress they need.”

“And what about you?”

He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “It will not be that hard to kill me off.”

“Di!”

“I am joking.” He laughed, and then added, “Mostly—ow!” She punched him in the arm, and he hissed in pain. “That hurt.”

“Did not— It’s Mellifare!” she gasped, spying her through the crowd of Ironbloods. She stood near one of the extravagant topiaries, dressed in a beauitful sage-colored gown, her flaxen hair pulled back into a refined bun. She had a glass of rose champagne in her hands, speaking with—

With Erik Valerio.

“There really is a spy,” she added morosely. “Mellifare’s here because she thinks the heart is here in the garden.”

“Well, at least we know we tricked her.”

She hesitated, wishing that Mellifare wasn’t here at all. “Do you . . . do you think you can face her? After what she did to you?”

“I do not know, Ana.” There was a thoughtful, distant look in his eyes. “But I am not afraid.”

“Aren’t you?”

He shook his head and then turned his moonlit eyes to her. There was a sadness there that sank down to her toes. “If I die, at least I got the chance to see you again.”

“But . . . that’s not good enough.”

His eyebrows furrowed.

“It’s not good enough because—” And she took a deep breath, pushing away the cowardly part of her that told her Later, you can tell him later, when there might never be a later. “—I don’t think I could love anyone the way I love you, and I don’t want you to die, Dmitri Rasovant, because I am the moon and you are the sun and I shine so much brighter with you beside me.”

“But I am . . . but I . . .”

She reached up on her toes and pressed her forehead against his. “You are mine and I am yours, until the end of time.”

Then, with all the strength she had, she turned away from the honeysuckle vines and left down the stairs again. She didn’t look back. She was afraid that if she did, it would be the last time she’d ever see him, and she refused to think about that.

She took the stairs down to the bottom of the gardens two at a time, nodding to Ironblood servants as she passed them, hoping they didn’t recognize her. Most of them were too flustered, attending to their duties, to pay attention, and when someone finally recognized her, she was already at the docks again and heading for a skysailer.