Kharox made the gesture he’d made several times since we first met. Arms crossed, then running a single claw down his sternum.
A shiver ran through the clearing.
I closed my eyes.
A warmth bloomed behind my ribs, soft at first—like someone touching my heart with gentle hands. Then sharper.Older. The feeling of standing in the footprints of a thousand warriors before me.
Female voices rose—not loud or harsh. Whispered. Reverent.
“Let them go.”
Light rippled from my palms, pale and bright as starlight. It sank into the soldier under my hand, then spread through the others like a breath of wind.
Their bodies relaxed.
Swords dropped from stiff fingers.
Helmets tilted back.
And one by one, those cloudy eyes cleared. Not physically, but in a way that made my chest ache. Every soul trapped inside them exhaled at once.
And then?—
They fell.
Not like puppets cut from strings. Like men finally allowed to sleep.
Armor hit the earth with dull, final thuds. Grass shifted beneath them. The air tasted lighter. Cleaner.
The magic holding them was gone.
Nathan approached me carefully, as if I were fragile. “Reverie… what did you just do?”
I swallowed hard. My voice came out small. “I freed them.”
Torren stared like he’d seen a ghost. “Only one other ever had that ability.”
My heart stuttered. “Who?”
“Queen Lilibet.”
Silence swallowed the clearing.
Pantar pressed against my side. Zeke looked at me in concern. Oren watched me like I was a storm about to break.
Kharox reverently whispered, “Dhal’ Sira.”
That wasn’t the term he’d used earlier. I really needed to find out what he was calling me, but at the moment, I wasn’t sure if I was even breathing.
Because Ubel didn’t just send soldiers to kill us.
He sent them to test me.
No one spoke at first.
The only sound was armor settling as the bodies finally rested.
My hands were still glowing faintly—soft white light fading slowly like dying embers. I curled my fingers tight to hide it, but everyone had already seen.
