A magnet.
A hunger I refused to acknowledge out loud—but which deepened every time he looked at me with that new, shadow-drenched intensity.
We were nearly at the cabin when Callan tripped for the eighth time.
He caught himself on a tree and hissed, “Gods, I’m going to shatter my ankle before Heliconia everfinds us.”
“A worthy sacrifice,” Rydian said dryly from behind me.
“Stop, both of you,” I muttered. “We’re close.”
Callan glanced up sharply. “You’re sure?”
I lifted a hand toward the faint shimmer in the air ahead—barely visible between the trees. A subtle ripple. A whisper of magic. I recognized it now for what it was: protection wards.
My pulse sped at the thought of seeing Lesha. Or taking a hot bath.
“Positive.”
Callan straightened, combing leaves out of his hair as if he still cared what he looked like. “Well. Finally. We’ll have food. And beds. Or gods forbid, hot water.”
“I’ll put in a good word with the master of the house,” Rydian drawled.
We stepped through the shimmer and into the clearing.
And there it was.
Dark wood notched at the seams. Sloped roof. Smoke curling faintly from the chimney. A ring of protection stones half-buried beneath moss. A warding field humming like a heartbeat around it.
Frithhold.
For a strange moment, it felt almost like coming home.
The front door burst open.
Keres stood framed in the threshold, eyes wide. She wore a tunic and loose slacks, and her hair had been left in a long braid down her back. She looked more at ease than I’d ever seen.
“They’re home,” she called over her shoulder, her voice cracking.
Then Vanya peered around her. “Aurelia, Rydian,” she called, smiling. Then she spotted Callan, gasped, and promptly dropped into a curtsy so deep her forehead nearly hit the floor.
“Your High—High—Highness,” she stammered.
Behind her, Daegel leaned against a support beam, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. “Took you long enough.”
I walked straight to Keres and threw my arms around her. She held me tight, her usual sharp sarcasm absent for once.
“It’s good to see you,” she whispered.
“And you,” I whispered back, voice breaking.
Rydian stepped in behind me, and the air shifted again.
Shadow. Strength. Presence.
Keres looked over my shoulder and exhaled. “Glad to see you’re not dead.”
He inclined his head. “Not for lack of trying.”
