Lotte wasn’t quite sure how long she’d been in this cell. The dungeons of the Prefecture Estate were a relic of the original small castle that had been torn down to build the new palace. She’d heard stories about them growing up, and they seemed to be mostly true. It was cold stone, iron bars, straw mattresses, a bucket to piss in, and nothing else. Lotte wasn’t even afforded a blanket. She certainly wasn’t allowed to wash herself.

For most of the day, she was in darkness. There were no natural light sources. There wasn’t even anyone to talk to. The town had a prison; the dungeons were only used for political prisoners. Lotte received food once a day, but she wasn’t sure if it was always at the same time every day, so that wasn’t a reliable way of tracking the hours. She was also very thirsty. They’d only been giving her water with some of her meals.

“You need to keep fighting against your restraints,” the voice of Zisald hissed in her ear.

Lotte groaned. On her wrists and around her neck were iron binders engraved with enchantments. They absorbed any magic that she tried to emit. Her body, thankfully, hadn’t reverted to how she looked before picking up the eye, but Lotte couldn’t transform her body anymore. This might actually be more bearable if Lotte had control over her form.

“Alena is waiting for you,” Zisald said from the darkness.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lotte croaked. “I’ll never get past the guards. Torben isn’t going to let me go. And if Alena was coming, she’d be here already; nothing would stop her.”

The door opened, letting a little bit of light filter into the dungeons. Zisald, before glancing toward the door, was watching Lotte with a clear look of pity. Lotte forced herself to sit up and watch as the newcomers brought lanterns into the room so they could see. One of them was a man with graying hair and spectacles who walked a little hunched—Gunter—and the other was a man with short black hair. Lotte wasn’t able to see Manfred’s cold gray eyes until he got close enough to smirk at her, though.

With them were several servants who were bringing in a large meal. Lotte didn’t even get her hopes up. The wizard sat down at a small table and the servants laid the food out in front of him so that he could eat while Lotte watched. Manfred raked his knife across the bars to get her attention.

“We know you’ve been to the Resistance headquarters,” he sneered. “Our informants have seen you there. Give us the names of the people involved.”

“You don’t know where the headquarters are,” Lotte replied with a smirk. “If you did, Torben would have already had the building ransacked and everyone arrested.”

She couldn’t stop her attention from drifting back to Gunter as he continued to loudly chew on his meal. Her own stomach was growling. It was going to be a while before they fed her, wasn’t it?

“Torben is biding his time,” Manfred insisted. “Once we have enough information, we’re going to move in and utterly destroy any resistance to his rule. The more you cooperate, the less it hurts you in the long run.”

“I was never part of the Resistance,” Lotte insisted.

“Where did you get your power from, then?”

Lotte nodded toward Gunter.

Manfred frowned and demanded, “How long were you working with the resistance?”

“You know, I’ve met your mother,” Lotte said.

“Who did you work under?”

Lotte continued her taunt, “She told me that she was so ashamed of what you’d become. Just a disposable tool of an unjust ruler.”

“Give me names, you bitch!”

“She was so distraught that I couldn’t help myself. I just had to comfort her. She seemed so grateful when I bent her over the table and—”

Manfred took a key off of his belt and started opening the lock. Lotte scrambled from her bed and backed into a corner. Once the door was open, Manfred stormed in and took a swing at Lotte. She saw spots as a burst of pain erupted in her jaw and she stumbled a little bit.

As she blinked away the spots, Lotte could see Manfred drawing his knife. She reached inside herself and grabbed onto the threads of magic, but when she tried to use it to push Manfred away the enchantments on her cuffs activated, absorbing the power as fast as she could generate it. Manfred, seemingly oblivious, grabbed Lotte by the arm and raked his knife across it multiple times, leaving small but stinging cuts that bled quickly.

Lotte tried to grab the knife with her other hand, but Manfred pushed forward and pinned her to the wall with his knee. Holding her head still with his other hand, he placed the tip of his knife against her temple and dragged it down slowly. She grit her teeth and grimaced, trying not to show the pain she was in.

“Next time I return, I expect answers,” Manfred said, dropping Lotte to the ground and locking the door as he left.

Manfred left the dungeons while Lotte dragged herself back up onto her shitty little bed. Gunter had apparently finished his meal, leaving plenty of scraps on the plate, because he walked up to the bars to look at Lotte. She glared at him, but he only smirked.

“I’m going to get that eye back,” he said quietly. “There’s nothing you can do to stop me. I wonder what will happen to your body. Will you still be able to fool people into thinking you’re a woman?”

Lotte spat at him, but it fell short.

“Your little girlfriend is going to give in eventually and accept Torben’s marriage proposal,” Gunter continued. “She’s going to leave you, and then you’re going to rot in these dungeons for the rest of your life.”

Lotte didn’t react. Gunter must have been done, because he took his lantern and walked for the door. Once he was gone and Lotte was back in the darkness, she allowed herself to start crying.

***

Alena had finished crying and was merely sniffling into her pillow now. Ursel’s home didn’t have any spare beds anymore, so she was relegated to sleeping on a small mattress in a small empty room. She was technically in hiding from the town guard, though according to Ursel they had given up trying to find her. But Alena couldn’t go home; she couldn’t face the empty house without Lotte. That would just break her.

There was no point in getting up. The Resistance couldn’t get her into the Prefecture Estate to break out Lotte; they wouldn’t even try. Alena had stopped bathing and almost completely stopped eating as well. She was curled up so tightly that her back hurt from being bent so far.

But eventually, Alena did get up. She pulled herself to her unsteady feet and trudged over to a sack of clothes. Alena wouldn’t take a bath, but would at least be wearing clean clothes when she stepped out of the room.

A hush fell over the little meeting room when Alena entered. Dovid, Irma, Roshni, Hasso, and a tall man covered in freckles named Kurt were inside, standing around a table. All of them were watching Alena like she might fall to the ground and shatter. She understood; it certainly felt like she might.

“Alright,” she said, stepping up to the table and glancing down at the papers scattered about. “What are we doing?”

“We can handle this on our own, Alena,” Roshni said, pushing her hair out of her blue eyes.

“It’s my job to lead,” Alena insisted. “I’m not going to give up.”

Everyone was clearly a little uncomfortable around Alena, but they did fall in line. By the time the hour was up, everyone had an assignment and took their respective documents elsewhere. Once she was alone again, Alena sat down and started shaking, trying not to sob.

There was paperwork in front of her. Alena dove in. There was no time to think about anything else. People needed her. She needed this. As long as she didn’t have time to think about… her… then she couldn’t have another breakdown.

“What the fuck is this?” she asked, picking up an intercepted letter from the guard.

It was written in code, with a note from Hasso in the margins explaining that they’d been struggling to crack it. And worse, more and more of Torben’s followers were beginning to use it. Unless they broke this code, the Resistance was going to be locked out of Torben’s communications.

There was a knock on the door before it opened and Ursel stepped in. She came to stand by Alena, towering over her slouched form. Her thin lips pulled into an even thinner line before she frowned and knelt down.

“You’re going to be okay, Alena,” she said quietly.

“I’m busy, Ursel.”

Ursel placed her hand on Alena’s arm and pulled her hand away from the page.

“I’ve already drawn a bath and, when you’re done, you can have something small to eat. Afterward, maybe take a walk to clear your head, okay?”

“…Okay.”

There was a knock at the open door, but Alena didn’t care who it was until she heard Fadia’s voice.

“Fadia!” she cried, springing from her chair and knocking Ursel back. She ran over to Fadia, who wrinkled her nose when Alena grabbed her by the shoulders. “It’s been days. I need your help. Need it. You have to do something to help Lotte.”

“I’m trying,” Fadia said quietly.

“Try harder.”

“Alena,” Ursel said, gently pulling her off of Fadia.

Fadia squirmed a little bit before replying, “I’ll plead with Torben to let her go, but if I’m too obvious about it, he’ll get suspicious. I can’t promise anything, Alena.”

“Please try.”

Ursel dragged Alena to the bath after that. Somehow, Alena actually did feel a little better afterward. Once she was clean and fed, Alena did take up Ursel’s suggestion to take a walk. She hesitated at the front gate, though. Alena hadn’t been outside in a while. Despite Ursel’s assurance, she felt like stepping out of safety would guarantee that she was caught.

Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, Alena thought as she walked blindly through the streets. If she was in the dungeons, at least she’d be with Lotte again. And once they were together… they’d do something. There had to be a way to get Lotte out.

Eventually, Alena realized that her path was taking her toward her house. Tears welled up in her eyes. She needed Lotte. How could she live with herself if her girlfriend was in jeopardy? And it was Alena’s fault; Lotte was only trying to protect her.

“Alena!”

Alena jumped. Her mind was reeling. What was the fastest way out? Someone was grabbing onto her arm. Alena’s breathing was fast and ragged. The person spun her around.

“Mother?” Alena asked, heart still racing.

“Where have you been?” her mother hissed, dragging Alena along. “We’re going home. You haven’t shown up for work in days and nobody answers when we knock on your door. What happened to you? No, don’t answer. Wait until we get to your father.”

Alena didn’t protest, simply allowing herself to be escorted back to her parents’ home. She was completely numb while her mother sat her down at the dining room table and ordered her to stay put. Her father entered loudly admonishing her, but Alena couldn’t quite bring herself to register what he was saying. Her mother was watching Alena with a growing look of concern.

“Alena, what happened to you?” she asked quietly. “The guard came looking for you a few days ago and you’ve been missing since. Tell us what’s going on.”

“Alright,” Alena hissed. “I’ll tell you what’s going on. The love of my life found a magical trinket that turned her into a girl and Torben, the bastard you keep trying to push me to marry, had his guards break into my home to steal the money I had been saving. And now he’s kidnapped my girlfriend and I don’t know where she is and I don’t know what he’s doing to her!”

She was on the verge of hyperventilating. Both of her parents looked just as lost as before. Alena caught her breath and began explaining again, slowly this time, from the beginning.

When she was finished, her father sighed and said, “I knew that boy was no good for you.”

Alena felt a flame rising in her chest, but didn’t speak.

“Magic?” her mother asked. “Like, actual magic? Is it dangerous? I don’t want him around my children if they’re in danger from him.”

“Her,” Alena said quietly. “Her name is Lotte, and she’s my girlfriend.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” her father said. “Two women can’t be in a relationship together. It’s unnatural.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Listen to your father, dear. As silly as this is, if Lukas is determined to live out this fantasy of his, there’s no way that you two can marry.”

A sniffing sound caught Alena’s attention. She turned to look at the doorway and her parents followed her gaze. Edith was standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her face. As soon as they caught sight of her, Edith turned and ran.

“Fucking unbelievable,” Alena muttered, standing up. “Look what you two did. Pretty soon you’re not going to have any daughters left to work for you.”

She stormed out of the dining room, following the sound of heavy footsteps and a slamming door until she ended up outside of Edith’s room.

“Edith,” she said through the door. “I’m here, Edith.”

“They hate me,” Edith cried through the door. “My own parents hate me.”

“It’s… I’m sorry, Edith. But it’s not forever. Once you’re an adult, you can move out and start your own life where no one can judge you.”

“I don’t want a different life,” Edith whined. “I want my parents to love me.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

***

Lotte poured as much energy as she could into the binders on her wrists. The runes were glowing softly in the darkness from the strain they were under. If she just kept going, maybe—maybe—Lotte could actually break the bonds.

She gave up and finally took a breath. The bindings around her wrist were weakening. Lotte could feel it. But it wasn’t happening fast enough.

“You’re doing good,” Zisald said. “But you need to keep trying.”

“I need rest.”

“They won’t let you rest. You need to escape, Lotte. You need to keep trying before you slip into despair again.”

“I’m going to beat this, Zisald.”

“Sooner is better.”

A soft light entered the dungeon when the door was opened. Gunter stepped through carrying a lantern that he placed on the table. Then he approached Lotte’s cell.

“It’s time I took back what you stole from me,” he said.

“You can’t have it,” Lotte spat back. “It’s mine.”

“We’ll see.”

Gunter raised his hands and started chanting quietly under his breath. Lotte could feel a shift in the air. Something was grabbing at her, seeping beneath her skin all around her head. Desperately, Lotte grabbed at the threads of energy at the corners of her mind, flooding her body with it. The feel of invading magic disappeared and Gunter took a step back, alarmed.

“What was that?” Gunter asked, before turning away to start muttering to himself.

“Zisald,” Lotte breathed. “What happened?”

“Wizards use magic very differently than you. Their magic is artificial, structured almost like a spider web: weak and thin, but precise. Your magic is like a flood: strong but difficult to control. When the two come in contact, one will shatter against the other.”

“So I’m immune?”

Gunter cried out, “Stop talking to yourself!”

Again, he raised his hands and started muttering quietly. Lotte felt the magic grip at her again, stronger this time. She grabbed at her own magic and let it flood into her, and once again Gunter was repelled.

Growling, Gunter changed tactics, bringing his hands together and muttering faster. To her surprise, Lotte could almost sense what was going to happen. She surged her magical energy into her skin right as a burst of flame erupted from Gunter’s hands. Lotte could smell burning clothes, but when the heat dissipated, her skin was untouched.

She started to laugh.

“You can’t do anything to me,” she scoffed.

Gunter snarled and started to walk away, knocking the lantern off the table. It shattered when it hit the ground and cast the room into darkness. Lotte continued to laugh until the door to the dungeon opened and closed and she was alone with Zisald again.

She was going to get out of this. As long as Lotte could keep her focus, she was safe from Gunter. Maybe even safe from harm from Manfred; she certainly had to try, at least. Lotte just needed to hold out until Alena did something.