"Tamsin, I think we're at a standstill, for now at least." Emel knelt next to her. A girl who didn't respect her, but still had agreed to work together. For the sake of the people in the room.

"Maybe we should eat, rest ... wake with clearer judgment." Tamsin set her lips in a thin line. "What would your Miora have done, Emel? You say she didn't do magie noire, what did she do then, in times such as these?"

"She was blind, too. Just like how you can't see beyond your past. Miora believed, more than anything, in the power of the gemstones."

"Maybe a reading would help us know what we should do?"

"I don't know ... I have never done one alone." Emel and Tamsin looked at Sophie. She was busy arguing with Henri and Tristan, while Remy tried to make peace. No one saw straight.

"If you try, perhaps we would have a bit of peace, regardless?" Tamsin pressed.

"Alright, Tamsin," Emel spoke quietly. "I didn't want to lose Miora. I loved her, fiercely, but it was her time to pass. That was okay, sometimes it's hard to accept the life that we have, the lot we are given. In that wake two choices are offered. Move forward, or fall behind."

"When did you get so wise, girl?" Tamsin asked, her eyes brimmed with tears, still unable to forgive herself, always clinging to her like a noose, threatening to choke her.

"I am a stone seer, yes, but also, I'm human. We're not so different, you know."

Emel left to get her stones from her wagon, escorted by Remy and several Palace guards. She set to work setting lemongrass and burning incense of sandalwood on the table. The room filled with the scent of magic, this time, hopefully, it was Miora's kind.

This very room was the place Tamsin had come so many years ago, sent by the King's Legion, to save the queen. It was eerie, but also fitting, to be here again, now, to try and save her daughter.

Sophie Palace Royale, Gemmes Henri and Tristan helped drag a bedside table over, and the handmaiden, Scarlet, provided a tablecloth to lay on top of the fine wood grain preparing the room for the reading.

"Should we call upon the queen?" Scarlet asked.

"No, I wish we could ... but she brings too much pain to Sophie. I wish there was a way, but there isn't." Tamsin said, and it was true. Sophie knew she couldn't bear the pain without passing out again.

Still.

She had never known her mother, and wanted so badly to know her now. As long as her heart was in the queen's chest, it was too painful for Sophie to near her. Cruel would be an understatement, Sophie thought. To want what you can't have.

Sophie stood with her arms crossed, watching Tamsin from across the room. She didn't trust her. She wanted to keep her distance. Tristan swore she was a good woman, still, not just anyone can conjure magie noire; the fact that she was able to the night of Sophie's birth made her someone to be wary of.

Then there was the matter of her father. A man Tamsin herself had killed. It felt as if this woman was doing her best to destroy whatever sliver of a family Sophie had left. She closed her eyes, wishing she had the power to cry in sorrow because if she had ever wanted to shed those kinds of tears, now was the time. Her father had chosen her mother over her.

Yes, it was twisted. It was also a sort of love Sophie had never imagined could be real. Love so true and strong you would sacrifice a child to keep it alive. Impenetrable love. Dangerous love. That love had given life, at least a pseudo-life, to her. Sophie shivered, shaking her head. Desperate to push away the things she couldn't quite understand. She needed to focus on the things that made sense.

Trays of bonbons were delivered to the room, along with a tray of hot chocolate, per Sophie's request. Distractions. This was nothing new.

Besides, she'd thought fleetingly, I might as well go out with a bang. She looked at Tristan and smiled to herself, as she ate a weightless pink macaroon. Not that she was interested in that anymore. Henri in the room complicated things.

"I'm ready for you," Emel said seriously. Emel patted the seat next to her, wanting Sophie to sit so she could begin.

"Can you try to not make it too dire? I mean, I know everyone wants a solution. I've offered a perfectly acceptable one. Slice me open now, take the jewel, and voila! Everyone can go on their merry way. I mean, except for me, of course. I've never been a person? Have I?"

"Shush, Sophie. I know your last reading with Miora was hard to accept. Let's try to use this reading to get some clarity, okay?" Emel said gently.

Sophie nodded in acceptance. Her stomach flip-flopped, a reaction, she realized, that had more to do with her lack of a heart than anything else. She'd always felt pain in shoulders, strain across her back, and knots in her stomach. No wonder she'd never understood Henri's descriptions of heartache. She couldn't relate. At least she would die understanding.

Emel laid the diamond silhouette cloth on the table, and untied the cord on the bag holding Miora's stones.

"Don't you think it's kind of creepy that she died the day after I met her?"

"No. I think she waited to pass on for a long time. She was waiting for you before she could let go."

"Stop acting so sweet, Emel. I was pretty awful to Miora." Sophie seemed to be looking for an argument.

"I know why you treated her that way, though. It is scary to watch the life you know unravel. It's hard to watch the things you want slip away," she said, glancing at Henri.

Sophie puckered her lips; knowing Emel was too kind to get into this with her again. Deep down in her gut, Sophie knew the solitary reason she disagreed was to avoid the inevitable reading.

"You need to draw five stones from the bag, and you will set them on a corner of this diamond, starting in the lower left, moving clockwise, like before," Emel explained, eyeing Tamsin for help. "The first stone represents the emotion involved with the problem."

Tamsin took her cue, picked up the bag from the table, and held it to Sophie. Sophie put her hand inside and spun the gemstones.

She remembered last time how new and exciting it was to feel so many precious stones. Now it felt empty, vapid. She was drawn to them because they were her life force.

She drew the first stone and showed Emel, palm up.

"That is the aquamarine, symbolizing tests, trials."

"True," Sophie said, coldly. "This could be considered a trial if there ever was one."

Emel nodded her head seriously, and Sophie felt a hand on her shoulder. Tristan. The boy who heartlessly offered to carve out her garnet for his gain. She brushed his hand aside.

"The second stone indicates obstacles you must face, ones you may not be aware of."

Sophie revealed her second stone, an agate.

It was a stone she'd seen before. Its smooth exterior had been seared in her memory. Emel didn't need to explain.

"Death. Hmmm." Sophie bit her fingernail. "I thought the death stone would be last," she told the room.

No one responded. The reading was too charged to speculate on yet.

"Okay, third stone, this means the forces at work, right?" Sophie asked Emel. The seer nodded yes.

Sophie laid the stone on the table, not knowing what it was. She looked at Emel expectantly.

"The quartz crystal," Emel stated, and then looked at Tamsin, with sadness.

"It's the Shaman. It represents magical attainment and control," Tamsin filled in, not looking anyone in the eye. "It represents the Hedge. They have decided that my heart isn't pure enough, that's why I can't give it to you myself."

"Well, that's stupid," stated Sophie, blocking the moment from piercing her. "The Hedge is not in control of any of us. We live in our own free will."

Tamsin shook her head, and Sophie rolled her eyes. This superstitious woman wouldn't control anymore of her destiny.

"Draw again," Emel requested. "This one will mean the foundation of the problem.

This time Sophie did it with an embellished swish of the stones. She fished noisily and drew a moonstone.

"Well, I know what this is. A moonstone," she pulled out her necklace from under the emerald stands still clasped to her neck. "It warns me of danger when it warms."

"In this case though, it means cold. Winter. Tide's changing, like seasons," Emel explained.

Sophie remembered when Miora first had her touch the moonstone that had hung on the blind woman's neck. The stone hot as fire, yet contrasted with Sophie's own icy flesh. It was no different now. The moonstone reflected who Sophie was.

"Just like me, then, huh? I'm icy cold, like the winter." Sophie spoke, sending a chill through the room. "You know, I don't want to do this anymore. Okay?" Sophie stood, not angry. She was drained. Done.

"You know, Sophie," Emel started. "It's like I told you before, outside Miora's wagon, there are more than one way to see the stones. Maybe icy now, but don't you see? Seasons change. The tide rolls over; every day starts a new. Maybe you can...."

"What? Maybe I can try again in another life, okay, Emel? But this one, this life, is nearly done. My chest is pounding violently. I feel myself dying. I should say goodbye, and stop playing these foolish games. This reading, it gives me no new lease on life. It draws the inevitable. I'm dying!"

Sophie pushed the stones off the table, leaving the silhouette empty, just as she felt. As she had always felt. Empty. The gems skittered across the floor, dropping like the pieces of her heart that never was.

"Sophie. Draw the final stone. It will show us the outcome." Emel's voice was clear. She spoke with influence. Even though everyone else seemed to tremble at Sophie's rant, Emel didn't waver.

Sophie obliged.

"Fine, but this is not for me. Not for my pleasure. It's for yours."

She pulled a beautiful red gem and held it for the room to see. Emel beamed, in appreciation.

Tristan literally guffawed in recognition of the stone. Sophie knew he'd know what it was, but she didn't understand his response.

"What does this mean, oh wise seer?" Sophie asked, scoffing her.

"The garnet means strength, Sophie. It means courage. It is, in essence, you."

Queen Cozette Palace Royale, Gemmes "Your Majesty?"

A knock on the door startled the queen awake. After her sequestration from her long-lost daughter, she'd cried herself to sleep. The realization of Marcus's death and Sophie's eminent one overwhelmed her.

She wished for the strength of the girl she'd been at seventeen. The girl capable of conquering the world.

That sort of courage was needed to sort this out.

Cozette lifted herself off the floor as Scarlet and Nicolette entered, carrying tea and biscuits, fortifying food, not what she needed. She needed to hold her daughter before she left this earth.

She shook her head, looking at the nursery from this lens. Pitiful, wasted years spent here, mourning a loss that was just that. A life lost.

"Cozette," Nicolette started. "I know you dismissed Drake, and I don't blame you. I understand you're under a lot of stress. None of the advisors want to trouble you. We know there is quite a scene unfolding in your chambers...." she stopped.

"What is it then?" Cozette asked, holding her head up with her hand.

"The rioters are incensed. We have lost many of our Legion men. Everyone downstairs is in a panic. Could you, perhaps consider reinstating Drake for the now? Until things have sorted themselves out ... upstairs?"

"Fine."

"Fine? Just like that? He says you were pretty, umm, unhappy with him," Nicolette said, looking terrified.

"Goodness, Nicolette. You've known me forever. You know I don't want the Palace to fall apart because of Marcus's and Drake's stupidity. Let him help. I need to find a way to ... oh, I don't know ... Nicolette. Is she doing alright?" Cozette begged her friend, gripping her hands in hers.

"Scarlet, go let the men know," Nicolette ordered, and the handmaiden scurried out of the room diligently. "They seem to be in a stalemate. Sophie says they ought to kill her and take the stone; at least then the problems of Gemmes might be solved with the Tresor de L'espoir.

"The boy, Henri, says he loves her and has offered his heart, but the devins-guerisseur won't do the magic spell with him, insisting that she doesn't want more blood on her hands. It's a mess."

Cozette sighed. "She looks like me, doesn't she?"

"She does."

"Is it wrong for me to feel, in some sick way, sorry for Marcus? That he missed seeing his daughter grown? She looks like him too, doesn't she?"

Nicolette smiled at her friend, "She does, and no, I don't think it is twisted. You've become the woman I wish I had been strong enough to be. You changed, yes, but it's for the better, Cozette. You can forgive."

"I'm not strong. I'm weak ... I'm broken."

"No. You are more whole than any of us. You see your strength as a weakness but love is never weak. Love conquers all."

Cozette's eyes filled with tears, teeming in her dark lashes as she shook her head, the realization dawning on her.

"We need to go to the king's office with the Royal accountant and then, we will go see my girl."

Nicolette didn't ask questions; instead she followed the suddenly confident queen down the now empty hall. Drake must have called the guards to the front line. Cozette was thankful her friend had called upon her when she did. Gemmes, and her daughter, had hope yet.

An hour later, she entered her chamber room. Sophie stood in the center with a small garnet in her hand. A look of surprise flashed across her daughter's face, and she dropped the stone, clutching her chest.

"I know it hurts for me to be here," Cozette spoke gently. "But I know what we must do. What I must do." Cozette took a deep breath, the lemongrass in the air, filling her lungs with a breath of life. "I am giving you back your heart, Sophie."

Sophie stopped clutching herself. She looked pained to do so, but she steadily walked toward Cozette. She seemed to teeter, not able to hold herself up very well, and Henri was by her side, helping steady her.

"You can't do this. I'm not worth it." Sophie spoke words that broke the queen's already shattered heart.

"Yes, I can. I'm giving you back what's yours. Tamsin will do this, and she will be no longer tried for murdering the king. You will accept this because you are my daughter." Her voice was true and strong and wavered not a fraction of a moment. She meant her words with every fiber in her being.

Nicolette cried, but Cozette shook her head at her friend.

"It's alright. This is the way I want it to be," Cozette looked lovingly at her daughter. "This earth holds no greater love than the love I have for you. I am your mother, and I gave you life but, darling, you've never had a chance to fully live. It's my honor to give you a heart that will let you feel the full expanse of life."

Tears fell across the queen's cheek, and she knew Sophie didn't understand yet. She couldn't understand what it meant to sacrifice for love. That was all the more reason why this wasn't a choice. This was the only way.

Tamsin stood, with the enchanted dagger in her hands and walked toward the two women who were so alike in their appearance, but it would be impossible to be more different at their core.

"I will do this. For there is nothing more true than a mother's love," Tamsin said.

Cozette smiled, tears of joy, knowing the truth in her words.

Scarlet had walked back in the room, and heard the sacrifice the queen decided to make. She fell before Cozette, and kissed the floor.