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And my sisters. My four younger siblings, all talking to me at once.

“Did you find the cow?”

“Are you wounded?”

“Whaur’s Yudit?”

“We waited for you for ages!”

“Did you see the emperor?”

“Have you eaten?”

“Have you slept?”

“Where have you been?”

“How are you still alive?”

“Why are thare nae flowers around ye?”

“A-CHOO!”

None of the soldiers were dressed in the uniform of the Red Empire forces. They wore the colors of Tailliz and Ecossia.

We’d found the wrong army. This was bad. Very, very bad.

“Um, hi,” Ilyana said as she and the horses stepped up to the crowd. “What’s going on?”

Everyone immediately went silent and stared at her. She sighed.

“Is that…?” Winifred said after a long pause.

Alexandra nodded. “I know, right?”

“I’m nae even interested in lassies,” Drusilla said. “But she…”

One of the soldiers stepped forward. “Excuse me.”

I didn’t recognize the voice for a moment. Then I realized it was Sam, Queen Jacqueline’s brother. My former crush. Winifred had told me he’d come back to Tailliz.

“Are you related to Melilot, by any chance?” he asked Ilyana. “The resemblance is uncanny.”

“Who’s Melilot?” she said.

“A powerful sorceress,” I croaked, finally able to speak again. “His girlfriend.”

“He sees his girlfriend when he looks at me? That’s adorable.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Sunbeam snapped.

He was right. “We haven’t been to the emperor yet,” I said. “If I don’t find him by midnight, Yudit will die. Where’s the Red Empire army?”

Winifred went white, and pointed at the rain of fire. “On the other side of that.”

It was the news I’d least wanted to hear. Ilyana took my hand and held it tightly.

We’d gone in the wrong direction. There was no chance we could make it in time if we went back around. Not anymore. It was too far, and midnight would come too soon. I’d turned the wrong way, and doomed my sister.