She nodded to the top of the steps we’d just come down, to the hulking form of a soldier watching over the street like a watchdog. Even in the dim light, I recognized the wolf symbol marking the front of his breastplate, and he offered Lyrae a shallow nod.
She lifted a hand. “One of my very best,” she explained quietly. “He lost his family in the war—three sons and a wife—and makes it his personal mission to watch over them every night until they go to bed, so they get their playtime in.” Her lips quirked up. “I’ve even been told he sometimes runs along, though I have yet to see it.”
My jaw shifted, my chest feeling like it might just collapse beneath the pressure.
I hadn’t grown up around laughter. There were no children in my life—only a father with an obsession that killed him, and a mother whose only mission was to protect me. I’d learned early that even a child wasn’t spared Gravelock’smany cruelties; in fact, he much preferred small, weak victims.
And I had been his favorite.
She led me through the city, golden faelights igniting in the fronts of shops, in windows, hovering over every street until I felt like we were drifting amongst the stars.
We worked our way down to the lowest level, to a sprawling square where vendors had set up tables under fabric awnings to keep the snow off. A woman sold ribbons dyed the same pale blue as the banners on the ramparts. An old man with a scar down his cheek sold golden whistles shaped like Tristan’s wyverns. Soldiers in dark blue cloaks rubbed their gloved hands together near a frozen fountain, their posture watchful but not tense.
This place was…safe.
I turned slowly, studying how the terraces traced the face of the mountain, the wandering streets connecting each tier, the way the markets and shops populated the lowest level, while the highest were for families.
“It’s meant to protect what’s most precious,” I murmured. “A fortress for the Valarian people.”
“It is,” Lyrae said, watching Fae couples—some, like us, hand in hand—move from table to table beneath the bobbing faelights, holding steaming drinks, like they were in no hurry for this night to end.
The lump in my throat grew tighter as I looked down at her, a quiet yearning squeezing my heart in a way it never had before.
“You rebuilt this. All of this. In only three years. How?” I asked, because the new stone beside the old damage made my chest hurt in ways I didn’t want to examine right now. Everything felt too raw, too fresh, too charged with possibility.
And too ready to slip through my fingers, if I dared to dream too hard.
“We did,” she answered, watching the little market with a smile. “Anaria is a thief, too, you know. After she stole back her father’s power, she used that magic to drop the walls that separated the three realms, then she rebirthed this entire world. Forests grew out of deserts, rivers flowed over barren rock, and now we live in a world much like the one your mother described—a paradise that appeared almost overnight.”
Her smile faded, blue eyes darkening as she said, “But freedom was costly, and this city bore the brunt of the Fae King’s cruelty. Not all of us survived the war. But those who did…we refused to let ourselves follow the same path as our ancestors…so we built something new. The world we wished we’d had, when we were children. A place filled with love and light and peace.”
A powerful wave of something washed through me again, filling me with a longing sadness that rolled down my spine, nearly taking me out at the knees.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve wished for anything except revenge,” I murmured, my throat tight and aching. “I used to wish for many things in those early days. For my father to still be alive and stand up to Gravelock. To have someone strong to protect my mother. And me.”
Then he’d taken her, too…
“Eventually, though, it was just me, and once Venmir managed to strip the Shadowlands bare and weld those cuffs on me, fighting became…useless. Then Ryland and Varian stumbled onto my island, and an opportunity presented itself.”
I rubbed my bare wrists, not sure why these words kept pouring out of my mouth.
I couldn’t stop them. Couldn’t stop staring down into her blue eyes, either—so soft and intense in a way that delved all the way to my very soul. Down to the very heart of me, as if she saw every piece of me, and she did not shy away from what she saw.
No, she kept looking, a gentle smile on her face that held no judgment, only understanding.
I couldn’t remember ever feeling so…seen.
So here I was, telling her everything, my heart aching with a yearning I didn’t have words for.
She moved closer, then her palm lay along my cheek, warm and calloused, her blue eyes shifting to the color of moonlight. “You never gave up, Kaden. You fought and you won, and now he is gone and only you remain. That means everything, you know.”
The golden faelights reflected off her eyes, highlighting the faint freckles across her nose, the strand of dark hair curving along her cheek. I’d never seen anything so perfect. Never seen anyone I would have sacrificed my entire future for—given up my birthright for.
But for Lyrae, I would walk away from everything without a second thought.
“This city was only a dream, once. Every part was broken and ruined, the people were frightened. We believed the world should be different.” She shrugged. “So we made it different. You can do the same.”
A gaggle of teenagers loped past, laughing, the boys thumping each other in the ribs. An elderly couple sat near the fountain, sharing one of those steaming cups between them.
