Arion and Sian exchanged a look she couldn't read. The mark on her arm pulsed with agitation, no longer muted, sending signals with desperate intensity.
"We need to move," Arion said suddenly. "Can you walk?"
"I... I'm not sure," she replied. In one smooth motion, he drew her to her feet, catching her when she swayed. His arm slipped around her waist, and he pulled her closer without hesitation, her body fitting against his as he supported her weight like it was nothing.
Thunder rolled through the deep, not only a sound but a sensation. The whole cavern shook, drops of water falling from the ceiling in a sudden rain.
"Too late," Sian whispered.
The mark flared so hot Briar cried out. Pain lanced through her arm, thorns piercing inward, burrowing into flesh and bone. Punishment for escape, for the impossible golden path, for breathing when she should have drowned.
The darkness at the far end of the cavern didn't just thicken, it congealed into substance, and from that substance, Eliam emerged.
Water on the stone turned to ice in his presence. The temperature plummeted so fast Briar's wet clothes stiffened, and her next shaking breath came out as visible mist.
"Step. Away. From her."
Each word fell with the weight of judgment. Eliam stood at the cavern's edge, beautiful and terrible in his fury. His clothes were pristine despite the journey through earth and dark, but his eyes burned with cold fire that promised retribution.
Arion's arms tightened around Briar. "She nearly drowned."
"Her punishment was mine to give." Eliam moved forward, each step deliberate. Ice spread from his footfalls in crystalline patterns. "Her death, mine to prevent if I so chose."
Briar tried to speak, to move, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Water still burned in her lungs. The mark pulsed with frenzied desire, caught between two forces, the fury approaching and the warmth holding her.
"Get behind me," Arion murmured to Sian.
"Not happening." The river sprite stepped forward instead, water rising from the underground river to swirl around her in protective ribbons. "The old laws are clear, Forest King."
Eliam's gaze cut to her. "Sprite."
"She crossed death's threshold," Sian's voice carried the authority of deep currents. "Three nights before her soul settles. You know this."
"Don't quote the law to me." The temperature dropped another degree. Frost began forming on the cavern walls. "She's marked. Mine. The laws don't supersede—"
"You gave her three days after you marked her," Arion said, his voice cutting through, steady despite the danger. "The Law of Three isn't selective, Eliam. Or do you only honor it when convenient?"
Silence fell.
The kind of silence that preceded avalanches.
Eliam's attention returned to Arion, and something dark flickered in his expression. "Careful, cousin. You're holding something that doesn't belong to you."
"I'm holding someone who nearly died," Arion said without flinching. "The law is the law. Even for you."
"Especially for him," Sian added. "Unless the Forest King wants to be known as an oath-breaker? A law-bender? No better than the humans who—"
Ice shot across the ground, stopping just short of her feet. A warning.
"Three nights," Eliam said, voice soft and deadly. "The letter of the law. Not a breath more."
He moved forward, and both Sian and Arion tensed. But he stopped just outside arm's reach, gaze fixed on Briar. She tried to meet his eyes but couldn't focus. Everything hurts. Everything spun.
"Look at me."
The commandcut through her fog. Her eyes found his, and she saw fury, yes, but underneath it, something else flickered, something that might have been—
"Three nights," he repeated. "Use them wisely. Because when the third night ends, if you're not at my border, waiting..." His smile was frigid. "I'll consider it theft. And you know how I handle thieves."
