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Archie’s anxiety spikes, patches of violet overlaying his confused lavender. “She also uses that playlist when she’s resolved to emotionally repel her last boyfriend… is she leaving us? Will she place images of us on that dartboard and jab us until we’re unrecognizable?”

Bastien shakes his head. “No, it’s more like her confrontations with that vexing H-O-A, butworse, like they’re coming for a forest instead of just one magnificent willow tree.”

I stew in that observation, while Archie and Remy trade barbs. “Is she sending us a message?”

Bastien’s feathers flutter. “I don’t know.”

“What are thesesongs? Can you describe them?” Remy’s bearing is entirely twitchy, but music doesn’t exist in our realm, not really—some creatures play the spoons, but not well—so he has no frame of reference.

Bastien’s fingers wiggle as he hums theveryirreverent song on her playlist. “It’s from that band that’s quite angry about technology.”

I feel my ridge raise as I remember more about that song. “That song’s title involves a violent act—maybe itisa code.”

Remy, who’d reached the end of the hall, turns and rushes back. “What?!”

Archie waves him away likehe’sthe flying insect. “What’s another song? That playlist was never my favorite, too intense for me.”

“One was about exercise from the group with the oddly scientific name,” Bastien says.

Archie looks unsettled. “It’s all so confusing. I think that one included an important hill that could never be crested.”

“Violent actsandhills… what does that mean?” Remy’s flaring agitation causes his antlers to glow like a neon sign. “What’s the third song?”

Archie, Bastien, and I freeze as the one-word title of the third song lands in our minds with an indisputable thud. It isn’t my favorite terminology for a rebellion, but I’m fairly certain Sir Jimmy heartily approves of this song. None of us mention the title aloud and the air in the hall thickens, either from our growing intensity or Remy’s.

He eyes us warily. “You know something—tell me.”

Aware that Archie’s skills at subterfuge are sorely lacking, I nod to Remy, sharing some authentic weariness. “We do know something and it’s distressing to confront and to share.” I hold Bastien more protectively. “I think it’s time to send for Sir Jimmy. We believe the queen has refused to bring Nico home and we must be prepared to support our Lady.”

“But the songs…whatdo they mean?”

“She listens to them when she’s preparing for a fight—that’s true.” Bastien and Archie nod their agreement and I continue, “But she also seeks them out when it’s time to let go of something that was formerly worth battling for… but no longer is.”

Remy’s distrust is noteworthy and proof that he’s been paying close attention to our Lady. “You’re saying that she’s suddenlywillingto abandon Nico?”

“No,” I say with obvious regret, “but I think surviving for her father might help her redirect her focus. I believe she’s beginning to understand that remaining on this course will claim her life and consequently Bastien’s. Bringing her father here now could create a positive outcome. We all knew this was impossible—none of us have ever thought otherwise. The queen is unreachable, as you already know. The time has come for us to help our Lady reach peace with this unfortunate reality.Please, help us to help her.”

His suspicion is not allayed, but he calls out an order to one of his knights, who rushes up the stairs to do his leader’s bidding.

If Bianca intended the message, we’ve done what we could, but even if we grasped hold of an imagined mission to better endure this torturous time apart from her, I don’t regret it. My instincts—that installed such certainty in my heart about Bianca when she first appeared on our screen—tell me quite vehemently that whatever is about to happen will decide the rest of our lives.

So much is owned by fate in all of this. It’s easy to only focus on Bastien and Bianca’s bond because it was so clearly preordained. But I think it’s so much more than that, everything that brought our family together in the first place. Every inherently improbable act that proved we were destined to be exactly here, a family like no other that has ever existed in this realm. And if that is true, as I believe it to be, then Sir Jimmy’s health crisis was also intended to bring him here to share in this moment of reckoning.

“Oh…” Bastien whispers, nerves driving his feathers to ruffle.

I brush my hand over his neck as soothingly as I can. “What is it?”

“She feels Nico—he’s close.”

I’m instantly on my feet, still holding Bastien while racing toward the door. Archie beats me to it, bashing it down without pause. Once through the doorway, Bastien shrieks, seizes with pain, and collapses, his consciousness gone.

Horror grips me as the queen’s cries reach us. She’s calling out for help, already in the pool reaching for Bianca’s body that’s slipping below the surface. Bianca’s blood fills the pool that’s barely shimmering now. Too fierce a wound for what the gems can heal.

Remy moves quickly toward his hysterical queen. “My Queen, are you hurt?!”

“No! It’s hers… the blood is all hers. Help her!”

“Get her out of there!” I shout to Remy as I barrel into the pool, carrying Bastien’s lifeless body with me.