The air between them thickened, charged with this brand-new hope that fluttered in Bri’s chest and filled her veins. Like teetering on a high rope, she felt desperate to have her feet on solid ground again. Bri took another step toward Lina, their chests brushing together as their wine-laden breaths intertwined. She peered down into those dark, endless eyes, an eternity seeming to stretch out within them as her fingers found Lina’s exposed thigh. Her fingertips grazed Lina’s flesh, slowly lifting toward the dagger as Lina’s lips parted.

“You did this just for me, didn’t you?” Bri whispered, her fingers tracing the outline of the scabbard.

“Yes,” Lina panted, her eyelids growing heavy as Bri’s fingers drifted higher.

Bri lowered her head, her mouth meeting Lina’s as the soft kiss sent tingles straight down her spine. She let out a low groan as that sweet jasmine filled her, those full lips enveloping her own.

“Ha!” A shrill laugh echoed through the quiet, and Bri snarled before even turning to see who it was.

Helvia Catullus, her mother, stood a few paces away, grinning at them as if she’d just won a bet.

“Maybe it was the heart of the sovereign the oracles saw you stealing, my dear,” she said in that grating nasal tone that was still familiar even after so many years. “Though I don’t think even the Fates could have predicted this.”

If ever there was a voice that could douse ice on Bri’s flames, it would be the voice of Helvia Catullus.

Bri’s lip curled. “Go away, Mother.”

“I was just merely—”

Lina took three menacing steps toward Helvia, her mother’s amber eyes widening as Lina growled, “She said go away.”

Bri’s heart flared at the fire in Lina’s eyes. No one had ever stood up to Helvia on Bri’s behalf, not even Talhan. Her twin had found ways of helping her over the years but he knew he’d be punished just as badly, perhaps even worse, if he ever raised his voice to their mother. But here was Lina, snarling in the face of the parent who’d tortured Bri instead of loved her. Despite being inches shorter than her mother, Lina stared her down with every ounce of the Princess’s royal ferocity.

Bri’s mother sneered at Lina. “I can’t say this was the way I had hoped Bri would take the throne, but if we must.”

“There is no we,” Bri snarled and stalked toward Helvia, who retreated a step. Bri’s words were a lethal promise as she muttered, “If I find out you had anything to do with the Queen’s murder, I’ll cut your throat myself.”

Her mother’s mouth dropped open. “You think I did this?”

“You hated my mother,” Lina hissed.