“They’re going to execute you tomorrow!” Runt hollered. “Did you know that?” Tears filled his wide eyes.

I gasped. Execute? Bastiaan already had his trial? They’d found him guilty? I spun to him, awaiting his answer. His lack of surprise told me everything. He’d known and didn’t say anything to me. Probably trying to protect me or something else ridiculously noble.

Bastiaan squared his shoulders. “It’s justice.”

“No, it’s not!” Runt yelled.

“I know your story, Bastiaan,” I said. “Vämbat’s death was an accident. The Well renewed you. You surrendered to it at the kleinschloss. Don’t you think that if you were guilty and deserving of death for your actions, the Well would have taken that into account?”

“The Well is very forgiving.”

“So you’re placing the word of the council over the word of the Well?” After everything we’d learned about the Well?

“What would you have me do, Myrthe?” He rounded on me, the bars the only barrier between us. I wanted to gather him into my arms. Hold him close. Breathe him in and comfort him.

“I would have you hope,” I whispered.

“What can hope do in such a short time? Sunrise is mere hours away.”

“So let’s keep it that way.” Runt held up a janky piece of metal that slightly resembled a key.

Bastiaan stared at it. “What are you implying, Runt?”

“Use your snap, Bastiaan.” It was the most serious I had ever heard Runt. Almost sounded like an order—a kingly one at that.

“I’m cursed,” Bastiaan said woodenly. “I’ll be trapped in the Stillness.”

“We’ll find a solution.”

“We?” Bastiaan asked.

Runt pointed at himself, me, and Anouk. “The three of us. Well, four including you. And Diantha if we bring her in later.”

Bastiaan was already shaking his head. “That’s even worse. You’d be trapped in there with me! You know I can’t return someone to the Awake without a snap.”

I stopped him with a touch on his boot. “The Stillness is not your end. It won’t be our end. You saw how your Talent fought when Mattias silenced it. It’s stronger than Banes. Than curses. You were just telling me how you believed your calling was to train up the next king of Winterune.”

Runt jabbed his two thumbs into his own chest. “That’d be me.”

“What if I die in the Stillness?” he said quietly. “What would happen to you?”

“You said time would resume,” I said, determined to meet every fear of his with my own peace and confidence.

“It’s but a theory.” His arguments grew weaker and weaker. I could feel him bending. Giving in. Maybe even daring to hope.

“Take us into the Stillness,” Anouk urged. “Help me teach Runt.”

“Time to use those journals of yours!” Runt said.