I turned back to Teren. “Thank you for looking into the sanctuary. I mean it.”
He smiled faintly, and before I could react, he leaned in and kissed my cheek, soft, brief, warm.
I blinked?—
And caught it in the corner of my eye.
Zander.
Standing a few paces off.
Watching.
His expression unreadable, but his eyes…
His eyes had turnedblack.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
“Stop it,” I snapped, standing between Zander and Teren, my shoulder still tender but healing fast. “Teren is only trying to help.”
Zander’s gaze snapped to me. “Is that what he’s doing?”
His voice was too calm, but the flicker of shadow across his face made my stomach twist. Then, slowly, his eyes faded back to normal, no longer black, no longer edged in Dark Fire.
Still guarded. Stillwatching.
I turned, trying to cool the fire between them, and found Tae lingering nearby, his arms crossed and expression unusually serious.
“Teren,” I said, “what have you learned about the sanctuary? How do Zander and I perform the spell to break the wards? And what’s inside that’s so important it’s worth killing over? Is it a weapon?”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know what’s inside. That’s the problem.No one does.Everyonethinksit’s a weapon, but there is no proof. I’ve only found the old fae words. I don’t know what theymean,or what to do with them.”
His eyes met mine. “I know they need the Dark Fire and the Storm to activate.”
Zander exhaled through his nose, still tense, but focused now. “Give me the spell,” he said to Teren. “I’ll take it to our contact in the castle.”
Teren hesitated for only a breath before pulling a small, time-worn piece of parchment from the inside of his vest. He handed it over carefully, the edges frayed, the script etched in looping silver ink.
“Don’t lose that,” he muttered. “It was hard enough to find.”
Zander took it with a nod, folding it into the inside of his tunic.
“I’m coming with you,” I said, stepping forward.
He looked at me for a long moment, like he wanted to argue. But he didn’t.
He just nodded once.
Because he knew better than anyone?—
Thiswas my fight too.
We made our way toward the castle without further discussion. The rest of the squad was focused on the riders who had either just finished the ashen trial or were about to attempt it.
The castle halls were quiet, the kind of quiet that held weight—not peace. Our boots echoed off the marble as I followed Zander down the winding corridor, torches flickering along stone walls that had seen centuries of secrets.
