Nox popped into the younger girls’ dorm and spotted Amaris’s pearly hair immediately. She stood on a chair, collecting her stolen items from where they’d been hidden out of sight on top of a tall cabinet. She jumped off the chair, blanket bundled under her arms. She took three steps toward Nox, when they stopped to listen. The sounds of matrons hissing instructions snaked into the room from the hall.

“We’re to take guard in shifts,” one said, tone urgent.

“Do we just roam the halls? Do we not get to sleep?”

“We shouldn’t be alone. We’ll need to remain stationed throughout the manor to protect the children and guard the office. Agnes would be wary of having any man under our roof, let alone an assassin. This is meant to be a holy place.”

One laughed. “It’s no more a holy place with or without an assassin.”

An assassin.

Nox tasted the word. She rolled it around on her tongue. Assassin. She made eye contact with Amaris and knew her friend had heard it too. Nox noiselessly returned the chair to where it belonged. Amaris lowered herself to her belly to procure mittens, wool socks, and a rolled cotton tunic from beneath a cot.

Quietly Nox said, “The one night we chose to escape is the night all the matrons will be patrolling in shifts and an armed killer is just down the hall.”

Amaris exhaled humorlessly, saying, “Technically I think he’s unarmed and in the basement.”

She rose from her stomach and joined Nox on the bed. Their gazes touched, dissolving into a long, sad look. Nox put her arm up in that familiar way, and Amaris nestled in.

“This can’t be happening,” Amaris said.

Invisible hands wrung Nox’s heart. This wasn’t what they’d wanted. Their plans unraveled on the spool. She chewed her lip as she considered the path before them. She was afraid of so much more than a stranger’s arrival or the disruption in their escape.

“I—” Nox began. Her mind raced, matching the hummingbird’s flutter of her heart. She had to say it. She needed Amaris to know. She screwed up her courage like a tightly wound cork, allowing the seal to pop as she said the words.

Amaris relaxed against her, seemingly unaware of the bottled emotions raging mere inches away.

“I need you to know that I love you.” Nox breathed into the silver tufts. A jolt of electricity spiked through her as the declaration escaped her, tightening her squeeze. Tears threatened her once more—not from sadness but from fear of rejection, and dread that her snowflake wouldn’t feel the same.

“I love you more,” Amaris replied, disappearing more fully into the hug.