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"We can’t kill theirl anted to slit the king’s throat?" she says

"I wasn’t thinking clearly then," I say

"And now the dehydration and lack of sleep have enlightened you?"

"No," I say, and the fir at the twine and look at me

I hate the prince and princess--I hate the whole faht possible--but I don’t want to do to them what they’ve done to me "I don’t want to be the reason anyone is dead, Pen, and I doubt you do, either"

She stares atwords I don’t catch

Then she says, "Itoto loosen the knots around my wrists now But it’s no use Maybe the prince and princess have never had a hostage before, but they tie knots with precision, and the hter the restraints becoin to bleed, and instead she helps h to loop my arms under me until e toProbably infected Basil would be angry to see what they’ve done tointo my head

He’s so careful with me, always

When I return to him, he’ll pull me into his arainst mine Feel his breath on my neck My skin swells with little buone I said that I wouldn’t kill them, but I know that I would To return to hi, Pen and I make the difficult decision to blow out the candle We’ll hide on opposite sides of the door and we’ll use the darkness to a us a new candle

Pen stands by the flickering light, staring into the flahts-out," she says "If this goes wrong, we’ll never get a good look at each other again"

I narrow my eyes "You always knohat to say"

She winks

I’uide her back to irl," she tellsabout your hair and things But you are"

I feel the blush burning across my cheeks "You too," I say

She takes a deep breath, exhales, and we’re in the dark

We settle on opposite sides of the door, and I pressand I feelwith it This isn’t real darkness This is unnatural, devoid of clean air and stars The moon wouldn’t be able to find us here

We don’t talk for the longest ti it could be hours before it’s tiht Then later, nine

I hear a strange rustling sound, like stone grinding against stone It startlesfro?" I whisper

"Nothing"

"I thought I heard--"

"Shh!" she says

There’s a noise froh Faint gold threads of light appear through the wooden door I hear the locks being unlatched, and just as Pen and I planned, I scoot away from the door so that I’ll still be in the shadohen the prince and princess step inside The plan is to startle them and try to knock theone over and over it for what has surely been hours, hoping it will be as easy as it seems in my head

The door creaks open, and Princess Celeste and Prince Azure cease their whispering when they realize we aren’t on the floor where they left us The prince holds the candle up, and he doesn’t see that Pen is behind hih, and she draws a breath to speak, and I know it’s tiainst les wildly, but the twine that bindsher in place "No" Her voice is desperate "Please, no"

I’ to hurt her I’ erous in the candlelight She’s got so it above the prince’s head, and now I understand what that noise was She discovered that a rather large stone had come loose in the wall

"Don’t!" Princess Celeste and I cry out at the sa with Prince Azure’s skull

He crumples, and the candle flies from his hand

His sister explodes into a screao and she drops to his side "Azure!" she’s saying "Az!"

In the next instant her lacy sleeves are red with his blood He doesn’thair wraps over her brother’s still form like a shield Her braided crown holds firreat, even on the floor, even like this

The candle rolls along the stones, and just as Pen is reaching for it, it goes out, leaving us in darkness