“Winter must be upon us,” I murmured, staring at the closed door, the servants having finished removing the blood-soaked linen. “It’s cold.”

My sister shifted uneasily where she sat on the edge of the bed, and warm magic brushed against me. But it did nothing to alleviate the chill permeating my skin. Or to fill the hollowness in my core.

As though sensing my thoughts, Anaïs lay next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close, her chin resting on the top of my head. Just as I had done to her when we were young, in those days before we cared about power and politics, when our greatest fear was being confined to our rooms for some childish misstep. Back when my presence alone gave her comfort, because I was her older sister. Back when I protected her from our father’s wrath by taking the blame, because I knew he would not strike me.

How things had changed.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered. “Home is… different, without you there.”

Her words struck a painful chord in my heart. Anaïs needed my protection no longer, but it occurred to me that I’d left her in a home full of villains. That every waking minute she needed to be on her guard, and that with me gone, she would have no one who demanded nothing of her in exchange for their love. She’d be alone.

I’d told Marc once that Anaïs was the center of my world. That everything I was and everything that I’d done had been to ensure her success. I’d wrongly believed that success to her was bonding Tristan and becoming Queen and now, too late, I realized how much I’d underestimated my sister. That to her, success was changing our world. Overthrowing the villains like our father and the King. Fighting for the freedom of those who hadn’t the power to fight for it themselves. I was desperately proud of her, but also desperately afraid, because I knew now what our father was capable of.

And I needed to do what I could to keep my little sister safe.

I rolled so that I was facing her, the small motion exhausting. “I know you love Tristan, Anaïs. I know you’re loyal to him, and not to Father.”

Anaïs said nothing.

“And if I know,” I said, “then so does Father. And if you aren’t careful, he’ll find a way to use it against you.”

“Penny–”

I raised a finger to my lips to cut her off. “All of what has happened in these past months, I thought it was defiance on my part, but I was only dancing to his tune. We all were. This was his plan.”

She was listening now.

“Not my death.” I dragged in a few breaths. “Marc’s death. Killing me was just a means to an end. A sacrifice he was willing to make in his quest to take down Tristan and control Trollus.”

Silence. Then she said, “It will take more than losing Marc to bring down Tristan.”