I tried to call out, but my lips barely moved. My body was no longer my own.
When we finally reached the cliff, Sylum—or perhaps Julien—stared at us, wide-eyed. Wind tore at their coats and moonlight carved them into mirror images. Seeing them together like this made my skin prickle.
“Sylum?” My voice came out, uneasy, unsure which was which.
The man closest to the edge of the cliff took a step forward, holding out his hand. “Lucy… get her out of here!”
It was Sylum. I felt it like a tug in my bones.
Nelly didn’t move. Her laughter came again, bright and cold, her gaze locked on Sylum.
With one swift movement, Nelly swung my arm over her head and shoved me hard. Stone met skull, stars burst behind my eyes. Sylum lunged, but Nelly was faster. Her pistol flashed as she drove the barrel into my temple. “Don’t come any closer!” she shouted over the roar of the sea.
He froze, hands lifted. “Leave her alone,” he said carefully. “Just let her go and you can have me.”
Julien laughed, folding his arms. “I think we already do, dear brother.”
The world tipped and righted. Gravel crackled under approaching boots.
“Did anyone see you?” Julien asked, voice low.
Nelly set a hand to her hip and ground the barrel hard against my skull. “I’m not stupid.” Her pitch went razor-sharp. “Of course no one saw.”
The pistol trembled against my skin. “Get on with it!”
He raked a hand through his hair, gaze going dark and frantic. “I can’t think with your obnoxious voice piercing my skull!”
Nelly’s gasp snapped like a whip. “How dare you? Stop being insane for one moment and get this over with!”
They continued to spar with words, but my focus tunneled onto Sylum, inching closer, silently. I tried to urge him back with my eyes, but he was transfixed by his brother and the pistol.
A twig cracked beneath his heel. Julien spun, the muzzle bit into my temple viciously.
“Please!” The plea tore out of me hoarse and raw as tears slid hot over my cheeks. “Nelly… don’t do this.”
She looked down at me, eyes gleaming like cold steel. She wrinkled her nose and smiled. “Oh dear, do save your strength. You are wasting it on me. I fully intend to become Duchess one way or another.”
Nelly cut Julien a sidelong look. “It’s a shame that he really is insane though…”
“I’ve had enough of this,” she snapped finally, the cool metal abandoning my skin as she leveled the pistol at Sylum. “Julien, subdue your brother so I can shoot him without him moving around so much.”
My heart plunged as the brothers collided. Their movements matched too perfectly, as if fighting a reflection. Nelly’s cheers knifed through the wind.
Rain began to fall, misty and cold at first, then hard and fast as lightning split against the night sky.
I blinked rapidly, trying desperately to see through the blinding sheet of rain. My hair clung to my face, soaked through and heavy.
I had to move. I had to do something. I eased onto one elbow, kept low, and edged a foot behind her heel. With the last strength I owned, I scythed my leg.
She shrieked, stumbling back. Silk tangled at her ankles. The crack of skull to stone was a sickening, final sound. The pistol rolled free from her hand. I dragged myself after it, vision pulsing at the edges, the world swimming in and out of focus as mud seeped through my nightgown.
The brothers careened toward the edge of the cliff. I rolled onto my side, raised the gun with shaking arms, and fired into the sky.
“Stop!” I screamed, holding the pistol firmly between my rain-slick hands.
Silence rushed in behind the shot. Both men froze and turned. Neither spared a glance for Nelly’s crumpled form in a pool of her own blood.
“Sylum?” My voice thinned. “Sylum, I can’t tell who is who. You have to help me!”
