“I have many,” Lina said, waving her hand as if abandoning the axe was no great loss. “But that dagger obviously had some special meaning to you, otherwise Delta wouldn’t have made you swear on it.”

“Yes.” Bri swept a hand over her short hair. The darkness pressed in from all sides as she held Lina’s gaze.

“Talk to me.” Her voice was barely a whisper, her soft eyes pleading, so unlike her normal sharp, regal demeanor. Bri knew this was the Lina that existed under the mask. She’d seen it in the way Lina treated Nelle, in the way she fiercely protected her cousin, and in the way she cried for her mother the day of her funeral. Even when she was sleeping by Bri’s side, she rarely let that mask slip fully.

Bri held out the bottle to Lina. “There’s nothing to say.”

Setting her candle down on the shelf, Lina accepted the bottle and took a long swig. “Why is that dagger so special to you?”

“It’s not a happy tale.”

Lina wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and passed the bottle back to Bri. “I can handle it.”

Bri let out a long sigh. “Her name was Aurella,” she murmured, surprised by how easily the words came out of her mouth. Words she had choked on for many years suddenly flowed out of her with ease, as if they were inevitable. She knew it wasn’t so much about the words themselves, and more about who she was saying them to. Propping her boot against the shelf, she looked at the ceiling. “We were young, barely of age, and . . . I loved her, so madly. Every moment with her felt like I was soaring. I’d never felt anything like it before. I would have been convinced she was my Fated, were it not for the prophecy.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “My only Fate was that of a thief—to seize the crown from its sovereign, whatever that means.”

“My Fate was similarly obtuse—Sacrifice will bring honor and glory.” Lina snickered. “No Fated for me, only a cryptic maxim, easily twisted to fit the plans of everyone around me.”

Bri chuckled, flashing a toothy grin. “So you understand my frustration.”

“You have no idea.” Lina’s cheeks dimpled. “Was Aurella an Eastern fae?”

Bri blinked at the strangeness of the name coming from another person. She’d spoken about Aurella with so few people—Carys, Delta . . . Talhan and Hale knew, but she’d never allowed them to speak of her. Some wounds weren’t meant to be prodded.

“Yes,” Bri said. “The daughter of an Eastern nobleman and a good fighter too.” She smirked, looking at the wall as if looking back through time. “She had my heart the second she unsheathed her sword.”

“She sounds magnificent,” Lina whispered.

“She was.”