KIERAN
Every soundof the central command base bled together around us—the echo of drills, the clash of steel, the low thunder of wings cutting across the sky on their way toward the Placement Hall. Nearby, a squadron leader for the Angelic Army barked an order, another voice answering alongside the sharp ring of clashing swords.
I turned slightly, looking out over the ridge. From the hill, the camp stretched below with lines of canvas shifting with every gust of wind and soldiers moving through the ordered chaos with practiced ease. A dark shadow crossed the sky above, and my gaze caught on the wyvern for a heartbeat before I finally exhaled, slow and unsteady—the first real breath I’d taken all day.
“Princess, you’re going to think yourself to death.”
Steele’s voice broke through the fog of my thoughts, and I realized I’d been standing here far too long, staring out without really seeing anything. He climbed the ridge and crossed the distance between us, the exhaustion in his expression softening his usual composure.
None of us had truly rested in days, stealing only fragments of quiet before dawn or after the night arrived. Yet here hewas, trying to look in control, finding the same narrow sliver of stillness I had, just long enough to breathe before the next meeting pulled us both back under.
The late-afternoon sun cast a burnt glow over the camp, light pooling across canvas and metal until it looked molten. Under Steele’s direction, the new central command base had risen quickly, carved out from the forest. It sat perfectly between the Beast Tamer center—now the Rebellion’s stronghold—and the Placement Hall near Alfemir’s inner rings, where the wyvern forces had made their camp.
It was the perfect midpoint, one we knew well after spending the day flying between all three.
“I just feel… off today,” I admitted, before my voice slipped through the bond.“The air feels?—”
“Heavier,” Steele finished aloud. His hand found my waist, thumb tracing slow circles through the fabric of my jacket. “I feel it too. Not sure if it’s the war closing in or that I still can’t figure out the damn rune.”
“Maybe both,” I said. “Even with how busy we’ve been, I can’t shake this restlessness.” My gaze lifted, following the faint shimmer of sunlight threading through the clouds, as if I could see the stars themselves. “I just hope it isn’t tied to the stars… not yet.”
Steele huffed, a sound somewhere between amusement and resignation. “What are the chances they let us fight one war before throwing another crisis at us?”
“A day or two ago, I might’ve said we had time,” I said, a faint grimace tugging at the corner of my mouth. “Now I’m not so sure. Something’s shifted. I can sense it.”
The unease that had lingered all day wasn’t sharp, but instead a steady, low hum coiling in my chest—instinct hitting like a punch to the gut in warning. I’d felt it earlier through mybond with Steele, but only now, putting words to it, did I realize how perfectly it matched what was coursing through me.
I’d started to grow used to the mate bond, but it still caught me off guard—the steady, living pulse of their energy brushing against mine, even from afar. It had unsettled me at first, too raw and invasive—a reminder of my parents—but the barriers they’d built between our minds had turned it into something I could finally breathe with, something that felt as much mine as theirs.
“Yeah.” Steele’s voice dropped lower, almost lost to the wind. “Me too.”
I leaned back against him, his arms settling around my waist, steady and warm. Below us, the camp moved with a natural rhythm, the hum of life carrying on around us. For a rare moment, I let myself be still, grateful for the quiet after such a long day.
At dawn, we led the Rebellion’s forces through Alfemir’s skies to the Beast Tamer center, ensuring every unit was settled as Ronan directed divisions to their assigned sector. The Tamers had opened their center without hesitation, and the beasts adapted better than I’d hoped, mostly unbothered by the sudden intrusion on their territory.
In hindsight, it was a relief we hadn’t chosen the Beast Tamer center for the wyvern forces or our central command base. The Tamers’ territory would have only reminded the wyvern population how Alfemir had once viewed them as literal beasts.
By midday, we had crossed into the inner rings to oversee the wyvern landings at the Placement Hall. Squadrons of dark wings filled the sky, and the Hall—once a symbol of instruction and judgment—became a military fortress. Its broken skylights had been replaced with lattices of greenery shaped by the Elementalists, and the wyvern kingdom’s banners drapedbetween them, with the open training yard below converted into barracks.
It was something to see—Alfemir filled with those who had once been pushed out. For the first time, the city didn’t feel lost; it felt reclaimed.
“I wish we had more time to work on the rune, especially before any fighting begins,”I said through the bond, turning toward him, unwilling to break the silence aloud.“Maybe after the meeting tonight.”
Steele’s brow dipped, guilt shadowing his expression.“If I’d figured it out by now, you wouldn’t even have to worry,”he said quietly.“But I’m close. I have to believe that.”
“I know,”I said gently.“And I trust you, Steele. I trust that you’ll find a way to save me.”
It was the first time I’d said it so plainly, and I saw it land—the breath leaving his chest as he reached for me. His hand slid to the back of my neck, steady and sure, before his lips found mine. The kiss was brief but fierce, grounding in a way that made everything else fall away.
I melted into it, into him, until he drew back, resting his forehead against mine. Words hovered between us, heavy and unspoken, before the moment fractured.
“I know you two are talking through the bond,” Bastian drawled, calling out from the bottom of the raised land, “but just so you know, it looks really strange when you both go silent and then start attacking each other.”
A laugh escaped me, sharp and unguarded. “Didn’t think about that.”
“Listen, I don’t mind,” he said, though the smirk tugging at his mouth gave him away. “But it did draw attention. All these soldiers probably thought the Rebellion’s fearless commander was trying to kill you with his mouth.”
Steele grunted. “You’re impossible.”
