Blue. White. Blue and white. White and blue.

  All of the dresses that Adrian had selected out of the catalogue had these things in common.

  I held my breath. Blue was Diana's favorite color. These were not the colors of House Hiems; they were the colors of Diana's house. Thinking of it that way made me feel just a bit better.

  The seamstress made her final adjustments and then released me from the last of the dresses.

  "Thank you for your patronage, Lady Printemps. Shall I send the fitted dresses to the Viscount's estate?"

  "Ah... I'm actually staying at Her Royal Majesty's palace, for now. If you send them there, the servants will ensure they reach me."

  The seamstress nodded and left the room without a sound.

  Alone again, I paced the room.

  Erika's desk only had supplies for writing, and I had nothing I wanted to write. A letter to Diana would find itself lost before it could ever make it to her, unless she was specifically expecting it. Char and Jerem probably weren't ready to speak to me either.

  I didn't dare open the drawers.

  The chair was comfy, but I wasn't tired enough to nap. There was nothing to eat or read.

  "Augh! What's taking so long?"

  A quiet knock sounded at the door, causing me to seize up in fear.

  "Erika wouldn't feel the need to knock."

  I cautiously opened it to peek through the crack.

  Outside was a tall, thin man with long black hair braided all the way down to his waist. He was wearing the uniform of a Faraldi courier.

  "Ah, Killdeer, you're still here. Good, I was worried I might have missed you. Is everything alright? I heard shouting."

  I attempted my best impression of Erika's cold demeanor in the carriage

  His eyes caught onto my trembling hands.

  "Ah, I'm sorry to bother you while you're upset. Did something go wrong with your latest job? No, apologies, you don't need to answer. I'm merely here to pass this along."

  A thick envelope was passed into my hands through the door, and I stood up straight to hide it behind my back.

  He turned to leave before stopping to look back at me.

  "Would you like refreshments sent your way?"

  I shook my head, furrowing my brow slightly to feign annoyance before closing the door.

  My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest as I turned the letter over in my hand.

  It was sealed with the crest of the Nightingales, which piqued my interest, but I tossed it onto the desk and started shivering with stress. "I hope I didn't mess anything up for Erika."

  I sat there, staring at the letter, nearly consumed by a mixture of curiosity and fear. The empty room had suddenly grown full of temptation. Would Erika tell me what was inside, if I asked?

  Fortunately, I didn't have to wait much longer before Erika entered. She seemed more shaken than me, somehow, and slowly made her way over to the desk. She didn't even seem to see me.

  She opened a drawer and took out a bottle. The top came off, clattering to the ground, and a sharp smelling liquid was poured into a glass. She raised the glass to her lips and downed it in one practiced motion before pouring another.

  "Erika?"

  She startled, and turned back to look at me, her arms wobbling.

  "Erika, what's wrong?"

  She walked over to the chair and collapsed to kneel before it, laying her head and shoulder on my lap to start sobbing.

  I ran my fingers through her hair, and waited.

  After a few moments, she slowly grew quiet, but she still heaved with every breath.

  "It wasn't enough, Sophie."

  I looked down at her, and carefully fixed her hair up a bit.

  "What wasn't enough?"

  "What I had... It wasn't enough. The Faraldis already knew most of it, somehow. I'm sorry. I made a mistake."

  "That's... that's alright, Erika. We can withdraw from the marriage, and tell Adrian that we couldn't come up with the dowry. We'll find another way."

  She shook her head.

  "Sophie, you already took the bride-gift. It's been paid for. The fitting isn't the same thing as the purchase."

  I leaned in to match her position on the ground, cradling her as she slipped to lie down on the floor.

  "So what do we do now, Erika? What are our options?"

  "You're not going to do anything, Sophie. I have the money."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I nearly collapsed in shock, but restrained myself because I was still supporting her.

  "What did you do?!"

  "It's not what I've done, Sophie. But something I've promised to do."

  I pulled her up until she was level with me again.

  "What did you promise to do?"

  She shook her head.

  I grabbed her by the face and made her look at me. She opened her eyes, but her gaze still evaded mine.

  "Erika, what did you promise to do?!"

  She shook her head again.

  "Erika, please, let me help you. Let me in! I can't just watch this anymore! I've had enough."

  She suddenly shoved me back and stood up to leave again.

  But I raced ahead of her to block the door.

  "Erika."

  She let out a sudden, wordless wail, and collapsed to the ground, kneeling in front of me to grab fistfuls of my dress.

  "No, Sophie! The only thing you can do to help is to promise me something."

  My entire body suddenly felt heavy with dread.

  "Promise what?"

  "Promise that you'll survive this, even if I don't. Promise that if I get caught, you'll do what you're supposed to do. Like what happened to the chef. To Verger. Swear to me that you'll tell them that you didn't know. That you never knew. That I acted on my own. That we never loved as sisters. That I was only your servant. That I betrayed you, like I betrayed everyone else."

  Her hands clenched hard as she hung her head low, pleading.

  "Please, Sophie. Promise me that you'll go on without me, if this goes wrong. That you'll be okay."

  My entire body began feeling hot. The feeling started from the hands, still holding onto her shoulders, and rose and fell in waves until my face and back felt feverish and my vision started narrowing.

  "No, Erika! No! There is no going on without you! There is no surviving without you! There is no future where I ever say that I never loved you."

  I wrestled her to the ground, and forced her to look me in the eyes.

  "You're my sister! You're the only family I have left!"

  My tears started falling on her shocked face.

  "Mother is dead! Father tried to kill me!"

  I shook her against the floor, trying to force some sense into her.

  "William's in fucking prison because he helped him! Hugo and Agnes will never see me as one of them!"

  I tossed my head, gritting my teeth. My magic had long started escaping with each breath, and the room was a sweltering haze so thick even Erika could see it plainly.

  "When will you wake up!?"

  I felt her fear in my hands, and let her go. I took in a deep breath, and choked on a sob.

  "When will you realize?"

  I slowly backed off of her, and used my feet to shove myself across the floor until my back was against the door.

  "You're all I have left, Erika. I will never throw you away."

  I curled up to bury my face in my knees and took control over my breathing, slow and deep. I took off my shoes to press against the wooden floor, feeling the grit and the grain with my feet.

  "So... figure out some way to let me in, Erika. If I can help, let me help. I'm not a kid anymore."

  I listened to the sound of Erika's deep breaths in the room. I felt the coolness of the hallway leak through the door and into my back.

  "Because either way, we're going down together. So you might as well use me, 'cause I'm tired of using you. I won't do it anymore."

  I felt my body stop refining magic, and then with a deep gulp, withdrew the magic that I had already let out into the air, keeping it nestled in my body so that it wouldn't keep scaring her.

  There was nothing but the sound of our breathing for a good, long while.

  Erika slowly got up, and trudged over on her knees to hug me.

  "I'm sorry for keeping you out, Sophie."

  She ran her fingers through my hair, and I hugged her back to do the same to hers.

  "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Erika. I love you."

  "I love you, too."

  We stayed like that for a while longer, before Erika broke the silence.

  "When the time comes, I'll tell you. For right now, it's better for the plan that you don't know. You might give something away while talking to Adrian if you did. But I swear. I'll let you in this time."

  We gripped each other tighter. Her breath still smelled a bit of the bottle.

  "There's no going without you, either."

  ---

  Erika had quietly called for sandwiches and tea, and while we waited for them to be delivered we spent some time composing ourselves.

  With every moment, I felt the mask that Erika wore fall back into place, and the exposed pieces of my own mask doing the same.

  But hopefully, underneath, something had changed. The first test would come immediately.

  "There's a letter for you on your desk, I don't think you noticed."

  Erika tilted her head to glance from me to the desk, and her eyes landed on the letter. "Oh, that's our travel arrangements. Thank you for reminding me."

  She stood up and sliced open the letter with a single, smooth motion of the letter opener, unfolding several thick dossiers from within.

  "Tor and Sybil will be joining us again, as will one of their friends that they recommended. After the terrible situation with Father's guards, it'd be good to keep them around, no?"

  "Father's... guards? Are Tor and Sybil not Father's guards?"

  "No... ever since we arrived at Guldenfel, Tor has been working for me. A good thing, too. Who knows what could have happened if I hadn't hired him and Sybil."

  "I take it that this is safe for me to know, now?"

  Erika put the letters down, and lifted her face up to the ceiling to take in a deep sigh.

  "I meant it, Sophie. If it's not important for you not to know, I'll let you know, from now on."

  She looked back down at the letters, pressing a small stamp onto a few of them and putting the rest into the folds of her uniform.

  "You're an adult now, Sophie. You're right. I can trust you with some adult responsibilities."

  "Aren't we literally twins?" I thought to myself, but I knew what she meant. Erika had been an adult for a lot longer than me.

  I allowed myself to adopt a sheepish grin.

  "Does that mean I can try some of what's in that bottle?"

  "Sophie!" she cried out, laughing.

  I laughed, too.

  The answer was no.

  But the tea and sandwiches were delicious.