Unlocked.
The room beyond was dim. The fire had gone cold in the hearth, and moonlight filtered through the tall windows. My breath caught in my throat.
Zander was chained to his own bed.
His wrists were shackled to the headboard, metal biting into raw, torn skin. His tunic was half-ripped, blood crusting at the collar where someone had struck him—multiple times. His cheekbone was swollen, split, his bottom lip cracked. Bruises mottled his ribs like they’d taken turns.
And yet… his eyes opened when I stepped forward.
Tired. But clear.
“Didn’t expect you tonight,” he rasped, voice rough from disuse and pain. “I thought you’d be out saving the realm.”
My heart cracked.
He tried to smile, but it faltered. “Turns out I just needed you to save me.”
I crossed the room without thinking, already reaching for him, fury burning hotter than my magic had in weeks. Because Zander Rayne may have been chained?—
But this war wasn’t over. Not by a godsdamned long shot.
ChapterThirteen
Istepped closer, my breath catching as I got a better look.
Zander’s skin was mottled with bruises, cruel purple bleeding into yellow and green along his ribs. There were lacerations along his side, cuts just deep enough to scar. One trailed down the curve of his hip, still oozing. His wrists were the worst. His skin broken where the shackles bit deep, blood dried and flaked like rusted iron.
I dropped to my knees beside the bed, my dagger already drawn.
Zander’s eyes followed the blade, not in fear, but in curiosity.
I made a small incision across the heel of my palm, the sting sharp, grounding.
Then I pressed it gently against the worst of his wounds.
My blood pulsed once… and his skin shimmered.
The cuts began to knit together before my eyes, the bruises fading, bone-deep exhaustion lifting from his face like smoke drawn away by wind. His eyes brightened, their natural glow flaring back to life.
He gave me a tired smile. “You always make an entrance.”
I didn’t smile back, not yet. “Does Hein know what happened?”
He shook his head slightly, the movement intentional. “No. He’s cut off from me right now. I imagine he wants his privacy at the moment.”
“Understandable,” I murmured. “But… as far as bad timing goes?—”
“I think that was the point,” he said, voice still hoarse but steadier now. “We had to let the majors know our dragons would be unavailable. It left us vulnerable.”
“The majors?” I blinked, sitting back. The thought slipped into place like a blade behind my ribs. “I was so focused on Inderia… I didn’t even consider…”
“That Kaler would retaliate for being humiliated,” Zander finished grimly.
I met his eyes. “Do you think this was him?”
Zander gave a small shrug, the movement tight with pain even as his wounds continued to mend. “I don’t know. But we have to find out.”
I reached for the shackles, my bloodstained hand hovering over the chains. “Let me just?—”
