The dungeon was just as cold as it was yesterday, but Erika was still with me.

  "I've thought about your offer, William. But I don't think I'll be accepting. I'll continue with my engagement to Adrian, and I'll be formalizing it tonight."

  William stared down at his hands, rubbing his thumbs over his fingers.

  After a few more moments of silence, I continued.

  "Do you know where Father went?"

  He shifted nervously, gripping his arms.

  "He... seized all of Lord Desrosiers' ships. Last I heard, he was inspecting them. But that was before Foundation Day. The records in the Desrosiers estate might be more helpful than I can be."

  I sighed, putting a hand to my forehead and rubbing it in frustration.

  "No, I already tried that. The Queenguard has it locked down, and everything inside has been confiscated. I can't even get my own things."

  "Not that I had much."

  He took a few, long, deep breaths.

  "I'm sorry, I can't say any more than I have."

  "Can't, or won't? Father is dangerous. To both of us. You said it yourself: he hates mistakes. He won't leave this as it is."

  But William didn't say anything.

  "This is pointless," I thought, and resolved to leave him alone with his silence.

  "I'm sorry, Sophia," he called, as I turned away.

  I stopped.

  "Sorry about what you did, or about what Father will do?"

  I turned back to face him, bending over to look him in the eye.

  "If you had turned him in, handed the bangle over to the Queen, or done literally anything else... Father would still have been forced to escape her judgement, and you would be out here with me instead of in there, alone."

  Erika's hand gripped my arm just tight enough.

  "We could have been a family at any time, if you had bothered to reach out."

  But as we left, I wasn't sure if I was talking to him or to myself.

  ---

  I was standing outside a door covered in a twinkling ocean made of deep blue sapphire, with a breaching dolphin leaping out of it in various shades of lighter and darker sapphires.

  "This door alone costs more than every dress Agnes has ever handed down to me."

  I shuddered. It was a disturbingly cutesy image to be made out of so many gemstones.

  I gathered my courage just long enough to raise my hand, carefully aim for a portion of the door that wasn't covered in jewels, and knock upon it with two sharp raps.

  A familiar woman with deep brown eyes opened the door, and locked eyes with me immediately.

  Despite me having been the one to call, her status required me to wait for her to acknowledge me.

  "Oh! Sophia! How good of you to visit! Adrian is sleeping inside, let me go wake him up. Come in!"

  "Good evening, Your Grace. I hope this day finds you well."

  I followed the Duchess into the Sapphire Room, my eyes scanning the room briefly before settling on Adrian.

  He was lying on the bed, wrapped in bandages that prevented him from twisting and turning his upper torso. Without any sort of magical healing, he would be under the care of the palace nurses and the Duchess until she felt that he was well enough to make the journey home.

  Duchess Hiems placed her hand on his shoulder to wake him up.

  "Adrian, Sophia is here to visit."

  He stirred awake, his eyes barely registering me before he jerked to try to sit upright. His mother's hands kept him still. "Easy now, Adrian."

  He turned more carefully this time to slip his legs off the bed and stand up to greet me.

  "Good Evening, Lady Sophia. I apologize for not being awake to greet you at the door."

  He reached out his hand to hold mine and kiss the back of it gently.

  "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

  I closed my eyes and thought of Diana.

  "William has given his permission, Lord Adrian. I wish to confirm if your feelings remain the same, after all that has happened."

  His face broke into a huge grin, and his grip tightened on my fingers.

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  "Oh, my lady, my intentions have not changed from the start. If your family is indeed willing, I would love nothing more than to see us wed."

  Duchess Hiems coughed for a moment.

  "Of course, there is still the matter of the dowry your Father promised."

  Adrian looked visibly frustrated at his mother's interruption, but my heart sank.

  "How much was promised?"

  "The amount we discussed last autumn was forty thousand Lombardi gold coins, split into four installments."

  I froze, in complete shock. "That's enough to build a palace."

  "Mother, I told you, I don't care about such things," spat Adrian, whipping around to stare down his mother.

  "Sophia, could you excuse us for a moment?"

  I turned to leave the room, but Adrian held firm, and my fingers began to hurt.

  "Sophia, I know you're in a bit of a bind right now. I can pay you a bride gift up front, from my own funds, and you can use that to pay most of the dowry. How's that sound?"

  I opened my mouth to answer, but Duchess Hiems interrupted.

  "Sophia, leave. Now. I need to speak to my son."

  She grasped Adrian's wrist, separating the two of us, and gently pushed me out the door before it closed with a click.

  Adrian's voice raised instantly, but the room was sealed enough that I couldn't make out distinct words.

  Erika approached me from just out of view of the door, giving me a short hug.

  "That bad?"

  "Father promised a truly absurd dowry, Erika. There's no way we can pay it."

  "How much?"

  My voice shook as I repeated the amount.

  Her eyebrow raised, but she didn't seem nearly as shocked.

  "He probably never intended to pay it. If he had his way, you and Adrian would be dead. You can almost certainly negotiate that down."

  I looked at her, pleading. "Me? I can't... there's no way..."

  Erika gripped my shoulders.

  "Sophie, I can't do what we did in the shop. Adrian may be a bit dense, but the Duchess is no fool. She would notice the swap immediately."

  "Adrian is a fool? What makes you say that?"

  But Erika just waved off my question.

  "If you can't do this negotiation without me, then you'll need a representative to do it for you. You'll have to ask William."

  I turned to listen to the argument that was continuing behind the door.

  "From a prison cell?"

  "Her Majesty could arrange a more proper meeting, no?"

  The memory of that smoke-filled bedroom made my stomach turn.

  "No, I would rather not meet with her again."

  Erika sighed, giving me a gentle pat.

  "Then you'll have to do it yourself, Sophie. Don't worry, if it goes wrong, then we'll figure out another way."

  ---

  Avoiding the Queen in her own palace was difficult, but it was made possible by the many events that were now taking place. Foundation Day represented the beginning of the social season, and the Queen was made busy by her attempts to rally everyone back together for a second Queen's ball.

  I had not been invited.

  I knew that I could not avoid confrontation forever, but at least until the ball I would have room to operate, and for now that meant studying in the library under Erika's instruction.

  The palace kept records of every public dowry of the high nobility, and at least for now my status was still respected enough to grant me access to these.

  ---

  "Erika, these numbers are still ridiculous. Ten thousand gold, fifteen thousand gold. It says here that the Duchess Hiems herself, the daughter of Count Nix, had a dowry of fifty oxen and five thousand gold."

  Erika stood quietly by my side, her eyes closed, as she pretended not to read. Even here, these records were not allowed to be viewed by the servants, personal or otherwise.

  "Ten thousand gold might be manageable. Our status has diminished much, but Adrian is obsessed with you. If you can give him something to work with, then he'll do the rest of the negotiations for you."

  She cast her eyes down to look into mine.

  "You're determined to go through with this? He's not the only way to the Hiems domain."

  I thought about telling her about Diana, but I couldn't think of any way of doing so without seeming completely insane. Diana's concept would have completely erased her from Erika's mind.

  Even now, the memory of those cool fingers in mine felt ready to slip away at any moment. I was tempted to start using my magic constantly, again, to make sure I didn't lose that precious moment.

  "... Yes. I'm determined. I can't tell you why, yet. I'm sorry Erika, but I don't know if you'd believe me."

  She kneeled down, looking up at my face as she held onto my hand.

  "Sophie, you don't need to tell me. We both have things to hide. But I need you to know that I would believe you."

  Her eyes seemed sincere, but when I searched her face I saw the practiced smile cracking through.

  "I know you would, Erika."

  "I know you'd say you did."

  I turned back to the records so that we could stop lying to each other with our smiles.

  "Most of these records don't involve Sevenths, Erika. That's likely another bargaining point. Adrian won't be having any siblings, so a marriage with me would reintroduce magic back into their bloodline."

  I felt Erika's eyes on me. I knew that I was failing to hide my disgust at the idea.

  The library seemed eerily quiet.

  "Do you ever think about... what our other siblings must be doing?"

  Erika froze up.

  "They were born just so that we could be born. And even we weren't meant to turn out this way. Do you ever wonder what happened to them?"

  I put my head down into my hands, thinking of all the children that had been born like that, to be cast aside by Father and everyone else.

  "Will I end up just like Father, throwing away the spares that I don't need anymore?"

  Erika slowly wrapped her arms around me.

  "One step at a time, Sophie. We don't have to think about that right now."

  And after a brief pause, she continued.

  "And you'll never end up like Father. You don't have to worry about that."

  I reached up my hand to cover hers.

  "...Erika."

  "Hm?"

  "You don't have to tell me how, but is ten thousand really manageable?"

  Erika's hand trembled beneath mine.

  "If you can talk them down to ten thousand, I'll make it manageable."