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Such joy you would have brought the masses had they known you existed, had they known you had been brought to them. Those fools bow to the memory of your ancestors like they were gods. They would have supported you.

True words, but spat out like venom. Ruby had not recognised the voice behind them, had never seen Alvira’s face crease with such hatred. A Queen who had erected monuments to the Sabars, led prayers for their resting souls. Two different Queens. Ruby has tried and failed to consolidate them. There is too much she does not know. Too much that no one will speak of. Ruby is the captain of the guard and no more than that. She has no business knowing more. Her only business should be protecting the Queens, the palace, Terrsaw.

And this night, Queen Alvira believes the kingdom’s biggest threat sits here, eating potatoes.

“You may live yet,” Ruby says, though the words are hollow. “No plans have been sanctioned for your execution.”

Dawsyn actually laughs, bits of potato on her lips.

Ruby grabs the rungs with both hands. “You’re a fool, Miss Sabar.”

“How so?”

Ruby looks incredulous. “I know the Queens offered you a deal,a way out.Yet you refused them?”

“Yes.”

Ruby slaps her hands to the bars. “Why?”

No answer comes. Dawsyn simply stares at Ruby. Calculating. Calculating.

The captain growls in frustration. “Then if you die in here, it is of yourowndoing.”

Dawsyn leaps then, like a mountain cat – sharp and undefined, both at once. One moment she is hunched on the floor, next she has her eyes levelled with Ruby’s, hands clenching the rungs. They clang threateningly with the sudden impact, making the captain lurch away.

“No,” Dawsyn implores, her eyes rounding in their intensity. “Not my doing. The deeds were done long before I lived,Captain.”

Ruby swallows. “Perhaps, but there is no changing them. The people on the Ledge will remain there whether you take the deal or not. You cannot liberate them in death.”

Dawsyn says her words with exactness, each one a thin blade pricking her skin. “Nor can I liberate them while chained to the Queens.”

“They do notwishto chain you,” Ruby answers, exasperated. If she can just make herlisten.If she can just make her see reason. “They areafraidof you. Afraid of the Glacians. But you could persuade them… prove otherwise.”

Dawsyn shakes her head, sighing deeply, as though her words are wasted exertions. “You do not strike me as a simple woman, Captain,” she says, backing away from the grid. “You know as I do; they do not want my advice.”

“I am thecaptain of the guard. I’d claim to know more about the Queens I serve thanyoudo.”

Dawsyn huffs a laugh once more, but her face is drained, drawn. “I am sure it comforts you to think so.”

Ruby lifts her chin. “By all means, Sabar, please tell me what I do not know. You speak often, but say very little.”

Dawsyn turns razor eyes on Ruby again, and it makes the captain blanch. Something inexplicable begs Ruby to avert her gaze – the dark depths of them, unflinching, bottomless.

“They fear me,” Dawsyn intones.

Ruby sighs. “That I know.”

“No.” Dawsyn shakes her head. “You do not. Your Queens do not fear what havoc I may reign down upon Terrsaw. They fear I will take the crowns from their heads.”

Ruby frowns. “They fear the Glacians, Miss Sabar. They vowed to protect the kingdom at all costs.”

“All costs,” Dawsyn murmurs, “have already been paid.”

“They believe you and the half-Glacian, Ryon,” – Dawsyn’s fists clench at the name – “would bring the Glacians here, to Terrsaw. We cannot allow that to happen. These mixed-blooded Glacians… they can live in the warmth where the others cannot. They could very well come to conquer. That is why Queen Alvira keeps you here. She believes you would go to Glacia, tell them that Ryon was slain by our Queen, and lead them down to the valley. They could win a war easily, Miss Sabar. I am sure you well know it. I trained this army myself, but I am not fool enough to pretend we would not be decimated in a battle.”

“Queen Alvira wants you to believe that the mixed-bloods are no different from the pure.”

“Are they so different?”