“Iknow,” Alena snapped, her voice cracking under the weight of everything she’d held in. A fierce anger surged through her.
How many more dark truths about Katell would she uncover?
“The sister I grew up with, the one I loved, would never have betrayed the Freefolk like that.”
Her words hardened as memories of Leywani and Scylas’ gaunt faces burned in her mind. “I don’t know who she’s become, but I guess we’ll find out once we reach Tiryns.” Her fists tightened, nails biting into her palms until it hurt.
But she welcomed the sting.
“What Idoknow is that my sister and I need to talk. And this time, she’ll listen to me, whether she wants to or not.”
PART TWO
CHAPTER NINETEEN
NIKANDER
The palace prison looked more like a guest room than a holding cell. Outside, two guards flanked a thick oak door banded with steel. Inside, the room was small yet tidy, with a straw mattress tucked against one wall and a plain table beside it holding a ceramic basin and water jug. Sunlight poured through two square windows, casting warm light across the floor and carrying in the delicate scent of blooming flowers from the courtyard below.
A solitary chair sat on the opposite side for visitors, but both Nik and Leukos ignored it, choosing to remain on their feet.
Dressed in a simple off-white linen tunic, Katell paced before her bed. Heavy gold manacles bound her wrists, blocking her magic. Another shackle clamped her ankle, its chain anchored to the wall.
Nik’s chest tightened at the sight of her.
He could still see the burns in his memory—raw, angry welts that had marred every inch of her skin after she crossed the Maiden’s barrier. He’d been frantic when he realised she wasn’t healing. He’d carried her back to the palace himself, bloodsmearing his tunic. The healers had told him the barrier had drained her magic, making her wounds nearly impossible to mend. Her braided hair had been so badly singed they’d cut off a chunk of it.
They’d worked through the night. By morning, her healing magic had finally stirred, sealing the worst of her injuries. She was whole again—at least in body.
Then Charis had given the order: manacles and confinement. The moment she could walk, Katell was locked away.
Nik had passed her door countless times in the last two days, each time wanting to see her healed with his own eyes. But the guards had been firm. Now, at last, he’d been granted permission.
A flicker of surprise broke through Katell’s guarded expression at the sight of him. Then her attention shifted to Leukos, who lingered behind Nik like a shadow, and her face sharpened into something colder.
Leukos said nothing. He leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, his expression unreadable. He didn’t dare come any closer, not with his magic pulsing just beneath the surface, volatile and barely restrained.
It had returned far stronger than anyone expected. His power erupted unpredictably, and while he could keep it in check around objects, skin-to-skin contact unleashed frost that spread instantly. Something a hapless servant had learned.
Though the healers had saved the servant, Leukos hadn’t been the same since. Even his presence felt chilled, the air around him shimmering faintly, as if dusted with invisible frost, keeping everyone at arm’s length.
So Nik was the one to step forward, every muscle drawn tight. “Hello, Kat.”
She tilted her head, eyes sweeping over him in cool, appraising silence. Gone were the familiar green tunics providedby his patroness in Bruna. Now he stood before her in a deep blue tunic, the fabric crisp beneath a new set of leather armour. Although Leukos had left Megarian clothes for him, they remained untouched in his quarters. He couldn’t bring himself to wear the colours of a kingdom he’d once betrayed. The weight of the past clung to him still, a constant reminder he might never earn the right to wear Megarian sea-blue again.
“Nikander,” she greeted, her smile tight.
He returned it with his usual smirk. “So formal.”
She raised her bound wrists with a softclink. “Only as long as you keep me in chains. Did you want me to reminisce about our time in the Pit?”
The mention of the arena made Nik’s stomach churn. “Don’t even try to compare the two,” he said. “You might have dampeners on, but this cell is a far cry from the shithole we survived. ”
She said nothing, though she held her head high, surveying him as if trying to reconcile the slave warrior she’d once known with the Megarian rebel before her. Silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken words and memories.
Nik didn’t know what Queen Charis and Danaos intended, but any interrogation would prove pointless. Katell wouldn’t tell them shit. He saw it in the rigid set of her shoulders and fierce determination burning in her moss-green eyes. She had always been a force of nature, unyielding and relentless.
Gods, she was beautiful.
