Nox looked over her shoulder for the first time, gaze snagging on the stunned men averting their gaze—whether out of politeness or discomfort, who was to say. She caught the darting glance of the flame-haired faeling, who looked entirely too familiar. Her recognition wouldn’t serve her. She’d have to save her regret for later.

“Yes, I’ve got them,” she promised, urging Eramus to hurry.

Eramus wobbled an uncaring arm off in some distance, offering the name of a man they didn’t know in a location they didn’t understand. Irrespective of his words, the message was clear: there would be no key.

Metallic adrenaline spiked through Nox like a stake to the heart. Solutions. There had to be solutions. She grabbed for the very pin that had sliced through Amaris’s ropes and thrust it into the lock, desperate to hear the freeing click of its opening. She’d barely begun to twist it before the pin snapped in her fervor. Three seconds of relief at her ingenuity were answered with thirty petrified seconds.

She froze. Nox stared at the cracked hairpin, horrified. She’d stopped breathing altogether as her gaze lifted slowly from the lock to Amaris’s wide, lavender eyes. Bright, trusting eyes she’d looked into as her friend, her person, her only lifeline in the world for so many years. There was no hope in them now.

Nox’s mind went wooden, unable to think, or feel, or profess. She couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be possible. Amaris couldn’t be trapped. She couldn’t have failed.

Even if Amaris had known how to pick locks—which seemed irrelevant now—Nox knew she’d ruined any chance at freedom in her haste. Not only had Nox’s attempt not worked, but the iron lock was jammed. The tiny, broken pin mocked her. Her other pins would be useless unless she had the tools to dislodge the evidence of her failure.

A numbness descended upon her as she surveyed Amaris in the wake of the lock she’d hopelessly wedged. She wasn’t frightened, sad, or angry. She’d presumably emptied herself of whatever emotions one was supposed to feel. Instead, she offered Nox a small, comforting smile. Nox watched as the pale hand slipped from between the bars, this time serving as the source of comfort as Amaris ran soothing fingers through Nox’s hair.

“Shh,” she said, her voice quiet and calm.

Amaris had never been the bedrock before. Nox didn’t understand any of it, almost as if she were seeing a dream.

“If I die—”

“You’re not going to die,” Nox said quickly.

“If I die,” Amaris pressed on, “I get to go knowing the goddess was real.”

Nox’s brows puckered. She shook her head, not comprehending.

“I got to spend my last moments with you,” Amaris said softly.