We will not bind to a hollow heir. Not again.
Never again—never—again—The voices fractured, a chorus ofneversechoing in the dark.
“Another?” Araya asked, the strange phrasing tickling something in the back of her mind.
The shadows hissed, a violent, splintering sound.
There was another,they said.A ruler who was whole—until he was not.
His father fell—and we fell with him.The shadows paused, and Araya felt Loren stiffen behind her, tension radiating from him.The son is as weak as the father. We will not fall again.
“He—he’s barely had time,” Araya said, desperately piecing together the argument as she spoke. “He’s been in iron for twenty-five years. If you want a ruler worth binding yourselves to, at least give him a chance to?—”
The shadows shook around her, the void shuddering and rippling like a disturbed lake. Araya flinched, bracing for their anger—but the rattling tremor just went on and on.
They were laughing.
Or we strike him down. And choose another.
“Is there another?” Araya asked, praying to all the Gods that she was right. If she was wrong…they were all dead.
The shadows were silent for what felt like an eternity.
Not yet.
“Then you won’t get what you want if you kill him now," she argued. “Are you willing to risk waiting decades for another heir? One that might be even worse?”
She held her breath as they considered, ignoring the burning weight of Loren’s gaze on her back.
One chance.The void pulled back, but the weight of its presence lingered.One chance—lost prince. For the brave one who argued so well for you—even when you deny her.
Do not waste it.
A roar split the air. The void convulsed like a wounded beast—then, with a nauseating lurch, the world snapped back into place. Light and sound poured in, a dizzying rush of sensation that left her reeling and disoriented. The skiff groaned under her feet, the wind hissing past her ears as water lapped against the hull—but something was wrong.
Araya sucked in a breath, her heart hammering against her ribs as she scanned the horizon, searching for anything familiar. The towering wall of shadows still loomed—but it was the wrong side. There was no sign of the Obsidian Shore, no sign of Aetheris. Only the looming silhouette of an unfamiliar island.
They had crossed the Shadowed Veil.
Her head snapped toward Loren, searching for answers. But what she saw stopped her cold.
Still kneeling, he stared down at the black tendrils winding up his forearm, marking him from wrist to elbow. They almost seemed to move under his skin, their edges rippling like ink in water.
“Loren,” Araya gasped.
She reached for him, but he lurched back, climbing to his feet without even looking at her. Instead, he stared down at his marked arm, flexing and curling the fingers as if testing it.
Whenhe finally raised his gaze, his green eyes were distant and shuttered, like a wall had gone up between them.
“Thorne!” Loren shouted.
The other male peeled himself off the deck, staring around with the same wild shock she’d felt. His amber eyes widened even further as he caught sight of the spiraling black mark on Loren’s arm.
“Take her back to the cabin,” Loren ordered.
“What?” Araya stared at him. She hadsavedthem.
Even Thorne hesitated, glancing between them. “Loren…are you sure that’s what you want to do here?”
