Bill sat alone in her tent, her head hung low and her fingers tangled in her hair. Squeezing her eyes shut, she replayed the argument with Alice for the hundredth time. She had said everything wrong. She had been patronizing and rude and controlling. It was no wonder Alice had left.

"I failed your Little Alice," she mumbled into the night as she remembered the promise she had made the first Alice. "I failed her and now she's gone. I'm sorry."

Releasing a long sigh, Bill raised her head and glanced about the tent. It was so quiet outside. Ever since Alice had left, everyone had been out of sorts. It was like losing their Queen again.

When the first Alice had died, it had been like a knife to the gut. No one knew what to do. It seemed impossible that she could be gone. Not Alice. Not their Queen. Not the woman who had defied death on every occasion. How could she be gone?

But they hadn't had much time to dwell on it. Dodgson quickly took over and began using the Swans for his own selfish purposes. Sowing seeds of doubt and suspicion amongst their ranks, spreading lies and rumors to the other tribes. Bill could see him trying to destroy everything they had ever known. And for what purpose?

To gain control.

That had always been his thing. He had to be in control. Of his daughter, of Alice, of the Swans. And he was sneaky about it, too. He had a tactic for every person he met. He was smooth and charming and clever.

Bill had tried to warn Alice about him. She saw him setting his sights on her as soon as Reggie was gone. But Alice would hear none of it. She refused to believe that Dodgson had killed the man she loved or that he was wooing her in an attempt to rise to power.

Why had she been so stubborn? She had always been open-minded and understanding, listening to any one of her subjects, even if their accusations or theories were completely absurd. They couldn't have asked for a fairer ruler.

But after Reggie had died, she changed. No longer the bright and curious woman they had come to love, she became a sullen and moody recluse. They rarely saw her leave her tent, and when she did, she was cold and distant. It was like the old Alice had died along with Reggie, and now she was just waiting for the shell she had become to perish as well.

Clutching at her chest, Bill tried not to remember the day they had found her dead. The memory was too painful. She had been so important to their tribe. To all of the Thieves. It was a blow they weren't certain they could recover from. And then when Little Alice disappeared—

Bill recalled the panic she had experienced thinking that Dodgson had done away with her as well. It was this suspicion that caused her to break off from him and his supporters. She didn't care if anyone else followed. She refused to work for a rat like him. She wanted nothing to do with him or his cronies or even his daughter.

His daughter. Ina.

As Bill rose to her feet, she thought about Ina. Perhaps she had been too hard on her. Ina had only been a child, after all. How could she blame a child for the deeds of their father? But it was so hard to look at the girl and not see Dodgson's eyes. It infuriated her. Disgusted her. It didn't seem possible for someone with those eyes not to share the same murderous intent as the one she had inherited them from. Even years later, when Ina came and begged them to let her rejoin the Swans and help to overthrow Dodgson, Bill could not separate Ina from her father.

It had been wrong. She should never have treated her so cruelly. Alice would have been disappointed in her. In all of them.

Sitting back on her cot, she ran her hands down her face. "What sort of people have we become?" she mumbled.

Someone stumbled through the tent flaps. Pulling herself upright and moving her hand to her knives, Bill set a fierce gaze on the intruder. She relaxed as she recognized him as Dodo. When he regained his footing, he stood up straight and saluted.

"Really unnecessary, kid," Bill said.

He lowered his hand and gave a sheepish smile. "Right. Sorry. Keet just came back with word of Alice."

Bill's heart skipped a beat, but she kept herself composed. "And?"

"She and Dodgson's girl were seen in the forest. They seem to be headed towards the Black Swans' camp."

Abandoning her attempts to remain calm, Bill leapt to her feet and grabbed Dodo by the shirt. Despite towering several inches over her, the young man cowered as she drew her face close to his.

"How long ago?" she said through clenched teeth.

Dodo's eye twitched and his lower lip trembled, but he managed to stammer, "Not long. Keet came right back here when she saw them."

Releasing him, Bill took to pacing the tent again, drumming her fingers against the hilts of her knives. "They must have a plan. Alice's daughter would have a plan." She stopped and let out a desperate laugh. "What am I saying? Alice hardly ever had a plan, so why would her daughter?"

She turned, ready to order Dodo to have the others assemble and prepare to rescue Alice. But she hesitated. No, she couldn't do that. That was the whole reason Alice had stormed off in the first place. Because she didn't respect her enough to let her take the lead as their ruler and make her own decisions.

Dodo watched her expectantly. "So what are we going to do?"

Clenching her fists, Bill took a steadying breath. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. Alice is right, she is the Heir. She should be the one making the decisions and leading this rebellion. I trust her. She knows what she's doing."

Surprised at her response, Dodo lingered for a moment before slowly turning to leave. Bill tried to stay strong. She tried to remind herself that Alice was more than capable, that she wasn't going alone, that she was their Queen, and that she would succeed.

And then she remembered the knife in the first Alice's back.

"Wait!" she burst out.

Nearly tripping over his feet, Dodo spun around to face her once more. Cursing, Bill ran her hand through her hair and let out a sigh. So much for being strong.

"Have everyone suit up for battle," she said.

He blinked several times. "You're sure?"

She nodded. "This is Alice's rebellion, and I will respect that. But we're her family, and family backs each other up. So we'll go stake out the Rat's camp and be on hand if Alice needs help. But only if she needs help. We will not interfere otherwise. We're going to trust her."

Dodo nodded and slipped out of the tent, but Bill barely noticed. She was saying all this more for her own benefit than that of the others. Just as it was hard to not see Dodgson in Ina's eyes, it was almost impossible to look at Alice and not see her as the child she once was.

But she wasn't a child anymore. She was a grown woman. A skilled thief.

"And our Queen," Bill whispered into the night.