Eli was in our room when I got back, sitting in the armchair. He’d been checking the pockets on his grigori vest.

“Where have you been?” he said. “I looked for you everywhere.”

“Why? What more could you have to say to me?”

He actually looked surprised. “Lizbeth, you’re my wife. I’ll always have something to say to you.”

“Do you want to tell me again that serving the tsar is more important than our marriage? Do you want to remind me how unfulfilled you felt living with me in Segundo Mexia? Do you want to let me know what your plans are for going to Europe to fight Hitler?” I was so angry I was shaking.

To cover that I sat on the side of the bed.

It was hard for me to tell if this was a delayed reaction to the excitement of the shooting, or simply more rage escaping. I’d never seen a volcano, but I had seen newspaper photos of the cloud of steam that rose before an explosion.

“Lizbeth,” he said. And then he stopped. He couldn’t think of what he could say to make this better. He didn’t want me to be angry. He didn’t want me to be upset. He wanted me to somehow be all right with his plans and decisions.

Too late for that.

Tonight was the closing ceremony, the last Wizards’ Ball.

Tonight everyone would return to the tsar’s grand reception room where the week had officially begun.

Tonight many of the Listeds would make public their engagements, or their opening negotiations toward such a contract.

It would not include the invitees who’d come to the opening, the more-or-less regular people the tsar and tsarina had wanted to please.

All the attendees would be magically gifted or protecting the magically gifted.

“I’ll go tonight, so Felicia will be covered,” I said. “After that, I’m going home.”

Eli said, “You don’t want to stay to find out how Hans fares in Switzerland, or when he will return?”

“Felicia can write me a letter. When she goes back to school, she’ll be safe. You and Felix can take her there. If she’ll agree to go.”

Eli looked uncertain, not something I’d ever seen on him. He also looked lost. I was glad that he was struggling with this.

That was something.

“You did love me,” I said. “Right?”

“I still do.”

But he was willing to give me up. So, the unspoken end of that sentence was “but not enough.” I deserved more than that.

“Moving my stuff to Lucy’s old room,” I said, and got my suitcase out of the wardrobe.

“Don’t bother, for one night.” Eli sounded ten years older, and tired. “I’ll get my overnight things and put them downstairs.” He got his evening clothes and his pajama pants, then added his shaving kit. I watched him silently.

We’d always had tense moments, but I’d thought that as time passed and Eli got used to living in Segundo Mexia that would pass. He would get used to our ways. He would enjoy the slower days.

Maybe he had thought that if I spent more time in the Holy Russian Empire, I’d enjoy the faster pace?

We’d both been disappointed. Maybe we should have talked about it, but would that have made a difference? There still would have been too many people I was supposed to please here.

Less than an hour after he’d left the room, Felicia came bounding up the stairs. “Okay, what’s happening?” she said. She was scowling.

“We’ve come to a parting of the ways.”

“No,” she said firmly. “You love each other.”

“Maybe. He doesn’t love me enough. He wants to stay here and work his way back into favor at the court, even if it means he has to go to war. I have no interest in that. I can’t live here.”

My little sister looked at me with big sad eyes. “But you had a happy ending. You met your prince—he was actually a prince! You fell in love.”

I felt bad for her. I felt pretty bad for me, too. “Sometimes even when you meet your prince, it doesn’t work out,” I said. “I’ll be going home tomorrow. But listen, just because it didn’t work out for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work out for you.” If it didn’t, Hans would have to answer to me.

“Where did you go this afternoon?” she said. “I saw you out the window. You looked like you, for the first time in forever.”

I told her.

And Felicia said, “Oh, golly, I wish I’d gone with you!” That seemed to surprise even her, and after a pause, she said quietly, “We’re just scary people, I guess.”

“I guess we are.”

“Everyone whispers about me killing my family,” Felicia said, sounding a little sad and bewildered.

“But they were only my family in a technical way. They were never my kin. All they wanted to do was use me when I got old enough to be used. They wouldn’t have cared if I’d starved to death when I was little. ”

“True.”

“And you killed our father.”

“He raped my mother and left her without a backward glance. I don’t think he ever knew her name or cared. That’s all I knew about him. I felt like I owed it to my mother.”

“I can understand you feeling that way,” Felicia said. “I loved him most days, but if I had to call up any single fond memory of Father, I couldn’t do it.”

It was the first time she’d really talked about that. “You’re not holding a deep grudge that will cause you to suddenly turn on me?”

“No,” she said simply. “You’re real family.”

“What about Isabella?”

“I love her too, most days. But I don’t trust her.”

“I think that’s wise.”

Felicia smiled. “Sometimes I am. Listen, after tonight… you’re really going to go home?”

I nodded. “I have to, sister. I can’t stand this anymore. Too much aggravation. I like Lucy and Alice. Felix has always rubbed me the wrong way. Veronika has never thought I was good enough for Eli.”

Felicia was still smiling. “You’re tired of wearing the clothes and following the rules. Listen, I’m proud of you for sticking it out.”

“You knew all along. I did try. And I was glad to do it for you.”

She nodded. “You’re a great sister. One more thing before I leave you to get ready… for the last time. The last party! I think you better take your guns tonight.”

“I will, then,” I said. Felicia knew carrying guns on Imperial Island was strictly forbidden. She would not have told me to do it without good reason. “Got to clean the one I used this afternoon.” The other one had not been needed.

Leah came to the door to tell Felicia the hairdresser was waiting for her. Felicia rolled her eyes but got up. “See you in an hour,” she said.

I nodded. After Felicia left, I opened the wardrobe to find there was a new dress in it. It was beautiful, the light golden brown of seasoned wood, with a figure-hugging drape to it. Not fussy. Oh, Eli. My heart kind of cracked. I actually put my hand to my chest as if I could feel that happening.

Then I shook myself. I cleaned my gun rapidly, I bathed rapidly, and I pulled on the dress.

I looked… very pretty. While I waited for my turn with the hairdresser, I packed up all my things in a large duffel bag.

Then I worked on how to take my guns to the Wizards’ Ball.

Evening purses were small and the dress was slinky.

I could fit one gun in a somewhat larger day purse.

It didn’t go great with my dress, but to hell with that.

If I took one gun, I’d have seven shots, plus I strapped on two knives. That would have to do.

Since the tsar and tsarina weren’t going to put in an appearance (Ford had told me that), the gun might not be a killing offense. Better yet would be not getting caught. I tucked my extra gun away in the duffel and put it by the door.

Eli watched me coming down the stairs. His expression was complicated.

“You look beautiful,” he said quietly.

“Thank you for the dress. It’s my favorite of all the things I’ve worn this week.”

“I didn’t get it. But when I saw it in the wardrobe, I knew it would look good on you.” He was wearing his evening outfit again.

We waited for Felicia.

I was about to ask Eli who had bought the dress, though it must have been Veronika, when I heard Felicia coming down the stairs in a hurry.

She looked gorgeous, grown but young, powerful but pretty, all in a bluish-green dress. It was new, too.

Alice waved goodbye to us, and Ford hoped we would have a good evening. Veronika was up in their room being sick. I’d have to write her a note.

As we had done before, Eli drove the car to the ferry landing.

The ferry was not as crowded as it had been a week before.

We three stood in a cluster, silent, all the way across the water to the landing on Imperial Island.

There were armed guards waiting there as there had been before, and there was the line of determined ladies.

No one searched me, or even thought about it, as far as I could tell.

We walked up to the reception hall without a word.

Felicia was keeping her face blank and her eyes to herself. She was thinking real hard about something. What Hans was doing at the moment, over in Europe? Me separating from Eli? Who knew?

I was too unhappy to ask questions.

I hadn’t worn a wrap tonight, simply because I didn’t want to go through the procedure of checking it in at a booth and standing in line to retrieve it when we left.

I was shivering by the time we got into the building.

At least if you had to be surrounded by people you didn’t know, they helped to keep you warm.

The first person I saw was Isabella. She was standing with a nice-looking man with dark hair, a little older than her, and after a moment I recognized Mateo’s uncle.

What had been his name? Agustin. Clearly, he’d followed up on his interest in Isabella.

In fact, he was holding her hand, which made him a very brave man.

Maybe it would be Isabella who would live in one of the beautiful houses on the beach in Baja California.

Eli saw someone he knew and muttered an excuse before he took off.