Benni struggled up, yelling some indiscernible command across the roof, to the flyer in the airship. Lovisa suddenly recognized the flyer—it was that same guard, the woman who’d motioned to Lovisa to flee from the house, the sister of the one Lovisa had seduced. The guard began running from tiller to lines, preparing the airship for departure.

Benni stumbled toward the airship, but Giddon and Davvi came forward, intercepting him easily. Lovisa heard a terrible crack and knew it was a fist in her father’s face. Benni fell.

“Bullies!” Lovisa cried, rushing toward them. “Bullies! All of you, against one of him!” With a massive shove, she knocked Giddon away from her father. She dropped beside Benni, cradling his bleeding face in her hands. “Papa,” she cried. “I’m sorry. Papa, I’m sorry.”

He spoke to her through a broken mouth. He was weeping, tears making messy tracks down his bloody face. “My daughter,” he said. “I’m sorry too.”

Even that was a lie; she could tell it was a lie. How could he murder people, then say he was sorry? She didn’t want his lies. She wanted forgiveness for her crimes.

Through the sound of her own sobbing, Lovisa heard the distinctive hiss of a varane tank. Glancing up at the airship, she saw the guard staring at Benni, who was crumpled on the ground. The guard looked once at Lovisa. Then, producing a blade, she cut her tether.

With a swing of the boom, the guard caught the wind and headed north toward Kamassar.

—

The journey back to Nev’s house was horrible.

Benni wouldn’t stop talking, and his words were always directed at her. Lovisa, exhausted, heartbroken, alone, was engaged in a battle inside herself, a battle to keep hold of reality.

“I never wanted any of this to happen.”

“Your mother threatened to hurt you and your brothers if I didn’t obey her.”

“We can have a life together now. The courts will understand. We’ve lost a lot, but we’ll have enough for the five of us.”

The queen, who stayed near Lovisa, told her that they could gag him if it would help, but Lovisa couldn’t give the order to gag her own father, especially not when his mouth was broken and bleeding like that.

Finally, she cried out to him. “Why do you have to make this worse for me? Isn’t it bad enough already?”

He perked up at her response, eagerness surging in his voice. “But, Lovisa! I’m trying to make it better! Don’t you see? We can be free of all this now!”