"Then how—" Briar started, then stopped as understanding dawned. "The marks. They're not external magic."
"No," Sian said quietly. "They're part of you now. Woven into your being through the bargain. The wards can't protect you from something that's already inside."
The warmth in Briar's chest pulsed with agitation, responding to her spike of fear. She felt Eliam's hand tighten on her waist.
"Which means," Karse said lazily from his corner, "that as long as those pretty marks decorate her throat, the copper-haired one can call to her whenever he pleases."
"Not if she's properly warded," Arion said, moving closer. "Individual protections, layered and reinforced daily."
"Temporary measures," Eliam countered. "Bandages on a severed artery."
"Better than letting her bleed out." Arion's light flickered faintly around his fingers. "Or would you prefer to wait until Malus succeeds in stealing her?"
The temperature in the room dropped as Eliam's shadows began to gather. Briar pressed her hand against his chest before another fight could erupt.
"Stop," she said quietly. "Both of you. This isn't helping."
"She's right," Thaine said, pushing off from the wall. "You're too busy marking territory to focus on the real problem."
"Which is?" Eliam's tone suggested Thaine was walking on dangerous ground.
"That Malus knows something we don't." Thaine's dark eyes were serious.
Silence fell over the room. Briar felt the warmth pulse again, stronger this time, as if responding to being discussed.
"There's more," Halian said reluctantly. "When I was reinforcing the wards this morning, I noticed something. A foreign energy signature from the eastern boundaries match the residue Malus left behind when he attacked the first time."
"He's been testing our defenses," Sian added. "For days, maybe longer."
"Looking for weaknesses," Arion said, his expression grim. "Planning."
"The question is what he's planning," Karse said, examining his fingers with apparent boredom.
"Does it matter?" Eliam's voice was cold.
"It matters if we want to stop him," Thaine said. "Know your enemy's desires and you know his moves."
Briar's hand rose involuntarily to her chest, feeling the warmth pulse beneath her palm. Everyone's attention shifted to the gesture.
"We should tell them," she said quietly.
“Tell us what? What exactly are you keeping to yourselves?” Arion asked, his gaze fixed on Eliam. “Or rather what secrets are you forcing her to keep?”
“Nothing that concerns you, brightling,” Eliam sneered.
"Ever since I arrived I’ve felt a warmth, a pull, that I didn’t understand,” Briar said, interrupting Arion before the argument could escalate again. “Eversince… ever since the Wild Hunt, it's been getting stronger. Reacting to things. To danger, to emotions, to..." she glanced at Arion, then away, "to certain people."
"It has always recognized me," Eliam said, his tone carrying a note of possession. "Responded to me, but I couldn’t figure out what it was."
“Malus when he fed from me… he said I tasted of old magic, of the forest…” she glanced towards Eliam. “He said it was because of a piece of Eliam’s essence that had been hidden inside me. The night he made the bargain with my mother.”
"But it responded to me too," Arion said quietly. "Last night. When I..." He didn't finish, but everyone understood.
Eliam's shadows surged before he controlled them. "A fluke. Desperation."
"Was it?" Arion's gaze stayed on Briar. "Or is there something more to this magic than simple recognition?"
"What do you mean?" Sian asked.
