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Fey waited until she heard Joy’s footsteps leave. Waited until the guards moved on, down the hallway, before she released the breath she had been holding in one shuddering gasp. Then she settled in to wait.

When Joy returned a few minutes later she was alone. The alarm still blared through the hallways, echoing loudly against the marble of the palace walls.

“Fey?” Joy called softly into the room, but Fey didn’t answer. She waited until Joy opened the armoire door again, still not entirely sure if her sister would turn her in or not.

But when Joy opened the door to find Fey still there, her face crumpled, broken by too many emotions.

“Thank the Goddess you’re alive,” Joy gasped, pulling Fey out of the cramped piece of furniture, and hugging her tightly to her chest.

Fey hugged her back, feeling Joy shudder with barely contained sobs.

“I felt you die,” Joy told her. “I felt you die, Fey. And I thought… I thought…”

Fey was crying. She wanted to explain it all, wanted to tell her everything. Wanted to tell Joy how much it had hurt to lose her, how much she’d missed her.

But the words that came out of her mouth were, “Joy, Alice is alive. And she’s here.”

To Joy’s credit, she didn’t faint. She didn’t scream, didn’t cry. But when she stepped back and blinked at Fey, her face draining of all color, she looked fragile enough to break.

“Alice? My Alice?” Joy asked. “She’s alive?”

Fey nodded, laughing through her tears.

“And Willow?” Joy asked, her eyes so full of hope. So full of love.

It broke Fey’s heart to take that hope from her. But she had to. Shaking her head, Fey only said, “I’m so sorry.”

Joy swallowed and nodded.

“Dameon told us you killed her,” she whispered, but when Fey opened her mouth to explain, Joy held up her hand to stop her. That fragility was slowly ebbing away, Joy’s strength repairing those cracks in her heart that Fey had seen just moments ago. “I could feel you, Fey. I know. We know. You never would have hurt her; you never would have…” She broke off, unable to say the words aloud.

Fey didn’t realize how much she’d needed to hear that, how much she’d needed to hear that her sisters hadn’t abandoned her. Hadn’t thought the worst of her. With a sob, she pulled Joy back into her embrace.

“I have so much to tell you, sister,” Fey said, but Joy shook her head, pulling away.

“Not here. The guards will be back. Someone triggered the alarm, but we haven’t found anyone in the palace yet, so they’ll keep looking and do a few more sweeps before they turn it off. We need to get you back to our rooms before then. We can’t let them find you.”

Chapter 55

Lilith was strapping one of her twin blades to her leg when they entered the common room, her face uncovered, mask hanging limply by one clasp at the side of her face.

Her eyes rose to look at Joy, then snapped to Fey and she froze, her body going stiff as a statue. Shock lit across her face. Disbelief. The knife in her hand slipped and fell, clattering to the floor.

“Fey?” she asked, stunned. “I…” Lilith stumbled back a pace, away from her, struggling to catch her breath. She shook her head frantically from side to side. “I don’t understand… you were dead. How… how is this possible? How are you here?”

It was strange to see her sister like this, Fey thought. Lilith was always so unflappable. But now? She looked … terrified. Fragile. It hurt to see Lilith this way, and Fey desperately wished she still had her Blade’s mark and could still feel what her sisters were feeling. Wished she’d been here when they’d needed her.

“I’d like to understand that, too,” said Joy, stepping away from her, and the accusation in her voice, the pain, laced with just a trace of anger, tore into Fey like a knife.

They might not have believed she killed Willow, she realized, but that didn’t mean they trusted her.

“There’s a lot to explain,” Fey began, but stopped as the alarm outside stopped. Joy gave the door behind them that led out of their quarters a thoughtful glance.

“They must have given up,” Joy said. “I guess it was a false alarm after all…”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Fey told them. “So much has happened, but you both need to know. I never killed Willow. Dameon did it.”

Joy sucked in a breath with a hiss, but Lilith just blinked slowly, still in shock.