During the three days that Erika and I had spent in the keep, I had felt a burgeoning warmth from the staff. There were small smiles. Brief exchanges. The trace embers of mutual understanding.

  Adrian's arrival stole the air out from everything, and snuffed out that hope.

  In his presence, the maids would no longer smile. The footmen no longer lifted their heads. The children were no longer running in the halls, and even the brave knights would not look me in the eye.

  And he would not leave me alone.

  A gleeful Adrian, brimming with pride, held on tight as he pulled me by the hand towards the library.

  "Gavin told me you had asked to see our library. If you're with me, there's no place in the castle that you cannot go."

  I struggled to keep up with his long strides as he raced, and focused entirely on remaining upright.

  "That's wonderful, Adrian, but are you sure your parents will approve of this? I'm not yet part of House Hiems."

  He scoffed. "Don't be absurd."

  Servants shifted to the sides as he passed, leaving quiet whispers in his wake as they resumed their work behind us.

  "Adrian, what's the rush? We're interrupting the staff, running like this."

  He turned to face me, his eyes narrowing.

  "They're just servants, Sophia. They'll get over it."

  He let go, and we proceeded to the library at a more reasonable pace, but his face was twisted into an angry scowl the rest of the way.

  ---

  The Hiems' family library was windowlit, and the fire in the room had long gone cold.

  "I'll grab someone to light the fire, Sophia. Why don't you look around?"

  I wanted to tell him that I could easily do it myself, but I could not let the opportunity for privacy pass me by. When the door closed behind him, I breathed in the musty smell of old books and sighed in relief.

  There were only a few shelves, and unlike the Printemps' or Queen's library, there was no clear separation between the public and private collections.

  Journals from previous dukes. The family ledgers. Private novel collections. Bundles of saved correspondence, addressed to various members of the house. A set of simple textbooks for home tutoring.

  "Nothing useful right now, but it's a bit clearer why Lord Gavin didn't want me in here."

  I skimmed the length of the library as quickly as possible, and Adrian came back in just as I was about to finish running my fingers over the last of the shelves.

  He had a maid gripped tight in one hand, and he practically tossed her into the room.

  "Sophia is cold, maid. Start the fire for her."

  The woman kept her eyes firmly on the ground as she mumbled, "Yes, my lord," and began pulling firewood out of a small storage and readying the tinder.

  "Thank you, Helen," I quietly whispered to her, but she held still, and Adrian stepped between the two of us.

  "So, what were you wanting to see here, Sophia? I can help you find what you're looking for."

  "Originally, to find out more about Diana's stay here, but I'm not sure that's necessary now."

  I considered whether or not I should just tell him so.

  "...I had wanted to see the ledgers from the last few years, to understand this place a bit better."

  Adrian laughed, dismissing the idea with a wave of his hand.

  "Why bother? We can just hire someone like Gavin to do such things for us, Sophia. There's no need to think of such things."

  I shuddered. Each time he said my name, there was just the smallest amount of force in the way he said the word.

  "Lord Gavin might not be here forever, Adrian. He could fall ill, or be otherwise indisposed. It's better for the lady of the house to know these things, even if they do not do the ledgers alone, in case the worst comes to pass."

  Adrian thought for a long moment, and didn't speak.

  "...And besides, it's the family's seal on these documents, and that means it's the House that's ultimately responsible for them, regardless of who writes them."

  Adrian idly lifted up his left hand, inspecting the rings he wore upon it, but made no further comment. His face was frighteningly still.

  "...Adrian?"

  "Oh, now you care what I think?"

  "I... I don't understand."

  He stepped forward, gripping his hand tight upon my shoulder.

  "Sophia, if I tell you there's no need, then there's no need. Do you understand?"

  His hand squeezed, and it took everything in me not to start letting out my magic in reflexive fear.

  "Yes, Adrian. I... I understand."

  He glanced past my shoulder, and he caught sight of Helen as she tried to slip out the door.

  "And what are you still doing here? What are you looking at?"

  He stepped forward, and I saw Helen flinch before he even had a chance to raise his left hand.

  Lunching forward, I wound my way between the two of them just in time to cover her and take the strike against my back.

  Adrian looked confused, rather than angry. "Why would you bother doing something like that, Sophia?"

  "Helen, you are dismissed. Please."

  Helen took the opportunity to leave before Adrian could contradict me, her gaze meeting mine and passing an apologetic look.

  "Sophia."

  I rose to my feet, my hands shaking.

  "There's no reason to hit her, Adrian. It was my fault for... for causing a scene."

  Adrian gave me a skeptical look, inspecting the mark he had made across my back.

  "Well... whatever. If that's how you feel."

  He ran his hand through his hair, shaking loose white strands to the ground, and gave an exasperated sigh.

  "Take some time to clean yourself up. I'll be in the barracks if you need me."

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  He stepped out of the library again, leaving me alone once more.

  I brought my arms across my chest, shuddering, and breathed deep to force my magic to begin healing the wound.

  "I'm going to hurt him before the week is over at this rate."

  ---

  I made my way to the barracks, shivering in the cold, and was about to enter when the sounds of sparring within gave me pause.

  I quietly slipped my hand into the crack of the door to brace it open and peeked inside.

  Adrian was inside, holding a blade, and laughing as he poked and prodded at a young man wielding nothing more than a wooden practice staff.

  "Please, my lord, I yield!"

  Adrian did not grant his request. Instead, he turned his sword in his hand to strike the man on his shin with the flat of the blade.

  The young man howled in pain and fell to the ground as Adrian snapped the blade back into position.

  Blood stained the practice circle. The edge of the blade had drawn against his flesh when the man buckled over.

  Captain Harpe looked on, his face tight and his eyes wet, with his clenched fist pressed against his mouth.

  Adrian clutched his side with laughter, pointing at the man with the tip of his sword. "The best of the new recruits and you can't handle this much? You'll never be as great a warrior as Father at this rate."

  After a brief moment of listening to the man's cries, Adrian sighed, wiping his face with a cloth.

  "It's just not the same..."

  He looked around the room, and his eyes caught on a young squire. "You there, you look fun. Ready yourself for a bout."

  The young boy's face squeezed tight with fear, and I could bear no more. I loudly knocked on the door and entered.

  I stepped as quickly as I could to be within reach of Adrian, interposing myself between him and his would-be victim.

  "Adrian! Are you okay? I heard shouting."

  Adrian grinned, holding his arms out wide to embrace me, which I returned weakly.

  "Oh, Sophia, were you worried? Well worry no longer, I'm unharmed. We were just having a bit of a warm up; all those days of sitting in a carriage can soften your sword arm."

  He walked over to where his coat lay and draped it over me.

  "But you must wear a coat, Sophia! Were you in such a hurry to see me that you couldn't even have Lydia fetch you one?"

  I made a show of drawing it close to me for warmth, and put my hands in the pockets.

  There was something inside the right pocket. Three rather large rings. I glanced at his hand, and saw it no longer bore them.

  He casually stretched his neck, and put his hands in the pockets of his trousers before looking around confused.

  "Now, where did I... Crap..."

  "Are you looking for these?"

  I held out the rings in my hand, inspecting them carefully as I did so.

  Three large signet rings. One was the seal of House Hiems, but the other two I did not recognize.

  "Ah, yes! After I lost the last few sets, well... Let's just hope that rings are harder to lose!"

  He laughed, putting the rings on his fingers and wrapping his arm around my shoulders to guide me out of the barracks.

  "Are they important?"

  "Oh, not really. They're just the seals I use to sign paperwork with. Not that I have much reason to do so. As I said, we have Gavin for such things. I only had these made in case I need to mark something while he's not around."

  "What sort of paperwork?"

  As we left, I turned my head back to see Harpe soothing the young man as an older knight bandaged his leg.

  "All sorts. Father gave me the original set when I came of age, so after our wedding we'll likely sortie out to begin my field training."

  I squinted at the rings as we walked, trying to memorize them for Erika.

  "Now, how about I show you the hall of portraits? There's quite a few of me I'm sure you'll be interested in."

  ---

  I fell onto the bed, exhausted, and waited in the dark for Erika to bring our dinner.

  An hour of inspecting every single portrait in detail had not been the most mentally taxing activity of the day, but it came close.

  "Why does everyone put up with Adrian? Even Father would have stopped Hugo if he had engaged in this level of frivolous abuse against anyone but me."

  I breathed in the comfort of blind darkness, curling into a ball to hold my knees.

  "Hitting me only makes sense to people like them. They can get it all out, and then all the evidence disappears. Hitting Helen doesn't make sense. Everyone could see, and everyone would know. The rumors would spread."

  I shuddered, my breath quickening. "Did Erika know? Is she alright?"

  I leaned my head back, and tried to calm myself by picturing Diana's void once more.

  It was easier, now that I could remember the feeling more clearly. The empty nothing in all directions. The comforting absence of anything which could hurt you.

  But the comfort soured, and I turned over in the bed to punch the pillow a few times.

  "Damnit Diana. How can I feel comforted by it now that I know where it comes from?"

  I clutched the pillow close to me, letting the tears out where nobody could see me.

  ---

  Erika sighed, and rubbed her temples as she watched me work my way through slices of cured mutton.

  "So you're saying he wears three signet rings?"

  "Yes. One was certainly the seal of House Hiems, but I couldn't place the others."

  I drew on Erika's map, as best I could, a sketch of what I had seen.

  "Well, this one looks like Adrian's personal seal. And this last one certainly seems like it could be a secret seal, but it would be extremely foolhardy to wear it."

  "...Back at the Queen's palace, you didn't seem all that impressed by Adrian's intelligence."

  "Yes, Adrian is a fool, but he's not alone. I can't imagine that his father would allow him to so flagrantly violate all standards for secret-keeping."

  I quietly rolled a pea around on my plate.

  "I'm... not sure about that, Erika. He seems to... get away with a lot of things, here. I could see him making the secret seal into a ring without permission and then just... being forgiven for it."

  She slowly started on her own meal, after seeing that I wasn't going to be eating any more.

  "If it is the secret seal, that complicates things as much as it helps. Knowing where he keeps it is fantastic. But it being on his hand makes it incredibly hard to make a copy of it without outright stealing it."

  She began to eat quickly, giving a look of consternation as she thought.

  I sighed, leaning onto my elbow as I idly shoved another bite of mutton in my mouth and chewed mechanically.

  "He takes them off when he spars, but that place is far too guarded."

  Erika nodded. "He might take them off to sleep, but it'll be death for me if I'm caught in the Lord's room while he's sleeping, and you don't know how to make the impression well enough for me to trust it to you."

  "Us."

  "Right. Death for us if I'm caught there."

  She didn't look happy about saying that, and her forehead was starting to turn red with how hard she was rubbing it.

  I gently grabbed her hand to hold it, pulling it away so she wouldn't hurt herself.

  She squeezed her eyes shut.

  "You'll be allowed in his room after the marriage."

  "Ah... But... I still wouldn't know how to make the impression."

  "Then I'll have to be you."

  My stomach turned. "Erika, that would be... that would be when..."

  "Yes. The consummation. I know."

  I wanted to scream. "Erika... I told you no, ages ago. Let's find some other way."

  She glared at me, and I felt suddenly very afraid that I didn't recognize the Erika I was looking at.

  "Sophie. This mission has to be completed. No matter what I have to do. For us to have a future, someone needs to make the sacrifice."

  "Erika, I..."

  "If you don't have an alternative, don't speak."

  I sat there in silence, desperately searching for another answer.

  "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Sophie. But just this once, just this last time, let me be the one to shoulder the burden."

  She smiled, but her gaze was elsewhere. "Besides. I know there's a girl you'd rather be spending that night with."

  "H-h-how... w-what?"

  "You're my sister, Sophie, and I'm not stupid."

  "I-I..."

  "Shh, shh. You don't have to talk about it, yet."

  I sat there, sputtering, as she kissed me on the forehead and made to leave the room.

  "W-wait Erika, I'm not f-falling for that. We still need to--"

  She closed the door.

  "Talk... about this..."

  But she was already gone.