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B RIONY STOOD AT HER DOOR , her ear pressed to the wood, listening to Serena’s footsteps grow closer.

Every day, she left the door to her room cracked so she could listen for a scrap of conversation as Serena went in and out of Toven’s room, and every day she heard nothing.

Waiting for Toven to recover from his injuries was somehow even more agonizing when they were only separated by a wall. She suspected his condition was serious, but not critical, as Orion had left Hearst Hall again the day after Briony had injured Toven.

Some days, after Serena had left Toven’s room, Briony would creep to his door and try the handle. The carved fox’s mocking black eye stared back at her, refusing to budge. She attempted to open it with magic on several occasions, but without success.

Now, a week later, as Serena grew closer, Briony held her breath, waiting for the sound of Toven’s door opening.

The knock at her own door rattled her head, and she jumped back.

Serena stood on the other side with a strained smile and folded hands. “Hello, Miss Rosewood. I thought it was time we spoke.”

“I’m so sorry, Serena,” Briony said, words pouring out of her. “I swear I didn’t mean to hurt him. I had—I had no idea that I had magic, and I was angry and—and it just happened. Believe me—I wish I could take it back.”

Serena blinked down at her, lips twitching. “Thank you, but I think you are apologizing to the wrong person.”

“He locked me out.” She shut her mouth with a click, regretting speaking so quickly. “I mean to say, he … he obviously doesn’t want to see me.” Something sparked in Serena’s eyes, and Briony felt her face heat. “Or he’s resting, I’m sure.”

“Resting, certainly. It’s been a trying few weeks for him. For the whole family, really.”

Briony nodded at her feet. “Is he healing all right?”

Serena paused. “May I come in?”

Briony nodded, waving Serena in and perching on the edge of the bed as the woman fluttered into the armchair.

Serena gave her a tense smile. “His shoulder and half his rib cage needed to be rebuilt, but aside from that, he’s in good condition.”

Briony felt her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. Her vision blurred, and she blinked away the memory of his body on the grass, the way his torso had slammed against the tree trunk …

She’d done that. She’d broken countless bones in his body, puncturing his lungs. And then she’d fumbled over him for what felt like hours instead of calling for help immediately.

Briony’s lip trembled. She glanced back at Serena to find the woman staring at her with an assessing gaze.

“Don’t fret, dear. He’s healing as we speak,” she said. “And if I know my son, I know he probably deserved at least a slap across his mouth.”

Briony forced her lips into a parody of a smile.

She asked a few more questions, steering away from Toven’s health or the battle at Javis that had injured him originally.

Serena revealed nothing, except that they had stayed in a cottage on the outskirts of the remains of the castle while Toven recovered, and that Orion was currently gone on a mission for Mallow.

Briony had no desire to press her on either topic.

As Serena stood to leave, she said, “Do be advised, Vesper is in Toven’s room while he heals; it speeds the process, as I’m sure you know.”

Briony nodded, and irritation flashed in her briefly before she realized she was feeling jealous of a fox.

“Perhaps you can distract yourself with reading,” Serena said, letting her gaze land on the collection of mind barrier books that Briony hadn’t thought to hide.

Shock spiked through her. It was Toven, Orion, and now Serena who all were pushing her to learn mind barriers. Briony looked at Serena warily.

“Yes, I will.” Her voice was careful.

Serena crossed to the door. “Good day, Miss Rosewood.”

Briony stood. “You may call me Briony,” she said.

Serena paused and gave her an inscrutable smile before closing the door.

Briony sat alone, thinking about the fact that Toven wasn’t using her as a heartspring. Why wasn’t he? And was that defiance punishable? Was that another thing Briony was supposed to hide in her own mind? Were the Hearsts worried Mallow would see that in her thoughts?

Her mind spiraled for the rest of the afternoon, thinking of hundreds of possibilities.

***

The next day, Briony tested out her newfound freedom a bit. She slipped down to the kitchen to check the Journal page for information. She met no inhabitants of Hearst Hall and no resistance. There were a few skirmishes reported in the page, but no sightings of Sammy, Didion, or Velicity.

The only thing that caught her eye was today’s date. A weight dropped in her stomach as she realized Toven was mending broken bones on his birthday.

When she climbed the stairs, she passed her room and went straight to Toven’s door. She’d forgotten to try it on her way down to the kitchen, even though it was a force of habit by now—

The handle turned. She pushed open the door and entered the room before it barred her.

Knocking hadn’t even occurred to her. She shut the door swiftly once she was through. Vesper sat the foot of the bed, lifting her head to growl in warning, but Briony paid her no attention.

Toven lay against his pillows looking deathly pale. When he saw her, he began shifting, attempting to sit up, possibly saving his dignity.

“Don’t,” she cautioned, moving toward the bed. “Don’t injure yourself further. I’ll be quick.” She wrung her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m very, very sorry, Toven.”

His eyes grew wide, and the color returned to his cheeks as she came closer.

“I had no idea that I had my magic—which, actually, I’d like to ask about, but—no, another time.”

She was stammering, and she felt a blush rise from her chest. He pushed his limp hair off his forehead, raking his fingers through it.

“I would never have—have injured you further on purpose. I promise that wasn’t my—” She swallowed. “I mean to say, I was just very angry, and I felt out of control—”

“Rosewood—”

“Please let me finish.” She stepped forward again, and for a wild moment she thought about taking his hand, sitting at the edge of his bed.

“Hurting you was unintentional. I hate your father for what he did to my cousin, but I’m aware that things could be much worse for me here, and I know you’re just doing your best—”

“Rosewood, we have company.”

She froze, heart stopping. He didn’t mean Vesper.

Spinning to the other side of the room, she saw Finn Raquin reclining comfortably in Toven’s wingback chair, sipping merrily from a glass and smirking.

“Briony,” he said. “So good of you to drop by.”

Her lips parted uselessly, staring into Finn’s dark eyes as he smacked his lips, drinking in the brandy and the show.

“Finn,” she said, heart thrumming with panic. She’d just admitted that she had her magic. How could she have been so stupid? He might have freed Larissa, but he surely had no loyalty or care for her.

Of course he was here. It was Toven’s birthday, wasn’t it? She looked back to Toven, a strained expression on his pale features, and her cheeks flushed in mortification. The anticipation of seeing him again had been too great, and the need to apologize had overwhelmed her logic.

There was a noisy sip from the armchair, and Finn smiled at her over his glass as her attention returned to him.

“Rosewood, pull up a chair. Let’s catch up.” He crossed one leg over the other, eyes sparkling.

She gaped at him, blinking quickly before blanking her features.

As she worked to calm her racing mind, it dawned on her that, on balance, Finn Raquin might be the only Bomardi that Briony could make this kind of mistake in front of.

He had never cared much for the politics of Bomard, as his mother was Eversun.

He’d always remained quiet when the rest of them were boisterous about their plans for their heartsprings.

“I’ve just come to … to clear the air. About … something.” She glanced to Toven quickly, where he sat up in bed as much as he could, leaning slightly to his right. “And—and I have … so … Enjoy your visit,” she said, nodding to Finn.

She hurried to the door, pulling it open, and in a moment of sheer impulse before she could stop herself, tossed back over her shoulder, “Happy birthday, Toven,” before sliding through and shutting the door behind her.

***

She was still blushing when she got out of the bath an hour later, having allowed her mind to concoct all the different ways Finn Raquin and Toven Hearst might have reacted to her flustered intrusion and intimate birthday sentiments.

Sighing, she slipped on her bathrobe and tossed her wet hair up in a knot, exiting to her bedroom.

Finn Raquin sat in her armchair, flipping through one of her books—thankfully not one of the mind barrier books; she’d hidden those yesterday. He smiled at her from across the room, sipping on her afternoon tea.

“The water temperature is decadent, isn’t it?”

Briony pulled tightly at her bathrobe, her heart pounding under her fingertips.

She knew Finn a little, since their mothers had been close.

After Briony’s mother had died in childbirth, Ember Raquin had become almost an unofficial godmother, visiting Briony and Rory frequently as children with Finn in tow.

As they grew older, the visits became less frequent, perhaps due to tensions between the two countries, but she had always offered a friendly word or smile when she’d seen Briony at official functions.

From the little Briony had seen of him as a child and how unpolitical he’d been at school, she knew Finn wasn’t as bad as the other Bomardi—but then she had no idea what this new world was like.

“What do you want?” Her voice was stronger than she felt.

He waved his hand. “The room was quite difficult to find, actually. Charms and the like.” He crossed his legs and smirked. “But I knew it would be close.”

She glared at him. “Well, thanks for dropping by, but—”