“And so did it,” he said.
Lysandra’s corrupted half tilted her head. Cracks glowed obsidian.
Her voice came out layered and smooth. “Let us begin.”
The valley held its breath.
The stranger stood dripping in moonlit water, trident at his side, storm-blue eyes locked on Poppy. He looked carved from the ocean itself, calm and impossibly present.
Poppy stared back before she realized she was staring. Her pulse skipped.
Mingxi seemed to notice immediately. His ears flattened, five tails stiff behind him. Foxfire crackled around his arms.
“Stop looking at him like that,” Mingxi muttered sharply.
The stranger’s gaze shifted from Poppy to Mingxi, lingering on the foxfire, on how closely Mingxi stood at her side. His attention returned to Poppy, sharp and assessing. Poppy felt her magic stir, leaning toward Mingxi without her bidding. Something shifted in his expression, subtle but certain.
“Ah,” he said quietly. “So that is what the tide pulled me toward.”
Poppy blinked. “What?”
The man tilted his head, looking at Poppy and then at Mingxi, clearly studying the space between them.
“Your spirits are twined,” he said. “The bond is incomplete, but unmistakable. Foxfire wrapped around moonlight. You are mates.”
Poppy choked on air.
Mingxi’s entire face flushed red.
“We are not mates!” Mingxi snapped.
“We are not anything!” Poppy said at the same time.
Lysandra’s corrupted right side smiled, the cracked-black porcelain gleaming under the moonlight. Her bright-blue left eye trembled.
Her layered voice rolled out, rich with amusement and cruel. “Oh, she felt that.”
Poppy’s face went even redder. “I did not! That’s not what happened! I didn’t feel anything!”
The entity laughed through Lysandra. “Your heart leaped,” it said. “You stand between foxfire and tide-born, pulled toward both. Sweet little Moonborn.”
Mingxi growled, stepping closer to Poppy.
“Who are you?” Mingxi demanded, leveling the stranger with a fierce glare.
The man did not rise to the challenge. Instead, he looked at Poppy again, calm and steady.
“I am Caelan. I will not interfere in a mate bond,” he said. “But I will protect her.”
“She has me!” Mingxi shot back.
Caelan finally looked directly at him. “And you nearly died beneath a corpse-beast a moment ago.”
Mingxi sputtered with outrage, foxfire surging bright.
Poppy was so embarrassed she considered leaping into the moonwell.
Lysandra’s corrupted half leaned forward slightly, enjoying every flicker of tension.
