The water reached up to Veronica's waist, seeping into Samantha's shoes, when she heard Joseph call out, "Wait!"
Veronica turned around so that Samantha could see Joseph standing on the shore, his empty hands raised. "Oh look, it's the widow prince," Veronica said. "You're too late, Prince!"
"Let her go," Joseph said. "There's nowhere for you to go."
"Of course there is." Veronica gestured to the water. "Samantha and I are going for a little swim. You're welcome to join us if you want."
Veronica began to wade out of the water. At the shore, she threw Samantha against a rock. Samantha's head banged against the stone; she felt blood when she touched the back of her head. Through dimming and swirling vision she watched Veronica approach Joseph, her knife raised.
"I might as well finish off the whole family tree," Veronica said. "First your mommy, then your daddy, and now you. Then I'll take care of your little girlfriend."
The dying words of Joseph's mother rang in Samantha's ear. I won't fail again, she thought as she wobbled to her feet. Joseph backed away from Veronica until his foot caught a loose stone and he fell down. She stood over him, her knife raised over her head to strike.
As the blade arced downwards to tear into Joseph's chest, Samantha threw herself between them. The knife plunged into Samantha's stomach. Joseph caught her as she fell, pressing her close to his chest. "Samantha, no," he said.
"I'm sowwy," she said. She looked down at the blood spreading across her princess costume. "I pwomised."
"How sweet," Veronica said. A smaller knife appeared in her hand. "It won't change anything but the order in which you die."
She brought the knife down on Joseph, aiming for his throat. Halfway into the swing, her hand stopped, hovered shaking in midair, and then dropped the knife. She looked down at the handle of her own blade sticking out of her chest. "At least we go together," she said, collapsing to the ground.
Samantha's breathing turned ragged, the color draining from her face. She had kept her promise to Joseph's mother. No harm would come to Joseph now. He took her bloody hands in his, squeezing them as tightly as possible. "Please don't go," he said. "Don't leave me."
"I sowwy," she said again. The world around her faded away so that she could only see his face. In that instant she saw not the face of a little boy, but the man she'd fallen in love with. "I wuv you."
"No, Samantha, please. Don't go. Stay with me."
"I can't," she said. His face faded away into darkness. Her breathing slowed to stuttering gasps. She felt cold, so cold. She wanted to ask Joseph for a blanket, but couldn't make a sound. This is it, she thought.