Nox recalled a day more than three years ago when she’d opened her eyes and been in nearly the same spot, watching as the carriage approached Priory. Could it go anywhere in the world? Or was it tethered to exits predetermined by its enchantment? If she stole such a device, could it take her to Amaris?

“Did you learn much on your travels?” came Millicent’s cold cadence.

Anger would have been easier to understand, but something about this restrained attempt at friendliness was inexplicably chilling. Nox considered what to tell the Madame. She knew precisely what she wanted to say. She could inform Millicent that yes, she’d learned that Amaris was alive and that she would no longer be acting as a pawn in the Madame’s game to amass forces. She wanted to say that she wouldn’t be helping her in her quest for puppet titleholders any longer. She wanted to wish the woman and her elaborate curls luck on their mission for domination and damnation before bidding her adieu, but she said none of this. Millicent was not a reasonable person. They had been accomplices over the last few years, thinly bound by common needs for their mutual ulterior motives. They were not friends.

Come with me instead, the darkness within her beckoned.

She shook her head, answering the void while ignoring the Madame.

Millicent considered her expectantly while awaiting a response, and Nox thought of the enchanted mirror and its possibilities. The happiest possible future would show her a vision where she immediately reunited with Amaris, aiding her in her apparent quest to speak to the queen. This future probably included more demons than one might hope, but if the ag’imni were to be believed, it was a possibility. One future would perhaps display the possibility of her liberating the other girls at the Selkie and rallying them to her cause, or taking the reins to the carriage and urging the trotting horses into a gallop toward her friend. She’d love to see a possible future where she opened the door and kicked the Madame out in a swift motion, watching her extravagant, jewel-toned attire roll on the ground as she sped away. In the most probable future, the one she felt quite certain the carriage was taking her to now, Millicent would surely keep her under lock and key at the Selkie, ensuring nothing allowed the precious succubus to slip away again. Millicent needed her puppeteering ability far more desperately than Nox needed the Madame. The possibilities were contingent on what happened next. What would a mirror that reflected the present reveal?

The shadows inside herself told her to just let go. They urged her to release her grip, to release her fear. They promised she would be safe if she sank into herself and allowed herself to float away.

“No,” she said quietly to the shadows.

“What was that, dear?”

“I said no.”