Therion turns, his gaze smoldering with barely leashed fury. He doesn’t answer immediately, and when he does, his voice is low and measured, like a blade drawn with care. “This wasn’t the plan.”
I fucking knew this was coming.
I let out a sharp breath, my own frustration rising to meet his. “This wasexactlythe plan, Ther. Find the Lightborne. Get the compass. Rescue my sister. Take back what’s mine. Free our people.” My voice hardens with every word, and by the end, it’s practically a growl. “We’re fucking doing that.”
“And where does flirting with the Lightborne fit into the plan, huh?” His words cut. “It won’t end well, and you fucking know it. It can’t.”
I know he’s right. It can’t. She’s starting to trust me, but that won’t last. Not when she knows everything.
I meet his gaze, unflinching, the weight of everything I’m carrying pressing down on me like armor. “I haven’t forgotten what we’re here for, if that’s your concern,” I bite.
Therion scoffs, shaking his head. “No? Well, it seems like you’re forgetting fucking everything,” he spits the words, hurling another rock at the tree. “We agreed—no magic. No signals. No fucking risks. For all we know, Thalmyr’s already sent legions after us. Maybe Maldrak, too.” His chest rises and falls too quickly. “YourLightborne,” he snarls the words like an insult, “has just scorched the entire forest in a blinding fucking light that was the equivalent of a signal flare. It could be seen all the way to Kryntar, for fuck’s sake. And if they didn’t see it, any magic wielder on the continentfeltit. And if Maldrak felt it, Thalmyr did too—and we don’t want either of them coming!”
I know he’s right. Stars help me—he’s right. He pushes on, “I fear that youhaveforgotten what we’re here for,andwhat the original plan was. Because this, sure as the fucking Stars, is not it,” he pauses briefly, as if measuring his final words. “I see the way you look at her, Kael.”
I rise to my feet, the tension crackling between us like a storm waiting to break. Not for a single heartbeat in ten fucking years have I forgotten my people.So fuck him.
I dust off my leathers, keeping my movements deliberate, and then fix him with a look I reserve for the battlefield—a silent warning that this conversation is over. I’m close to snapping. A single word from him, and I might. But no. Control is my armor. I won’t lose it—to him or anyone.
“Remember your place, Therion,” I say, my voice low and steady. “You’re my brother in every way that counts, but don’t think for a second I’ll hesitate to remind you where you stand the next time you speak to me like a petulant fucking child.” I shove myself up to stand. “You’re on first watch.”
He doesn’t reply, his glare cutting through the dark, but I’ve said my piece. I stalk away, leaving his anger to smolder in the shadows behind me, an ember waiting for the right moment to catch fire.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ELYSSARA
I waketo the crackle and pop of a small fire, the sound tugging me from a foggy dream. My eyes flutter open—or maybe they don’t. The world feels distant, slippery, as if I’m caught in a half-formed thought. I try to sit up, but my body refuses to cooperate, tethered to the ground by some invisible force.
“You’re awake,” a low, gravelly voice says, somewhere just above me. “Good evening, Duskae.”
Kael.
The sound of his voice tugs at something deep inside me, grounding and disorienting all at once. I force my head to roll toward him, my vision blurring, then sharpening just enough to make out his silhouette against the firelight.
“You...” My voice slurs, words tumbling out before I can catch them. “You’re... really handsome. Like... unfairly handsome.”
His lips quirk up in that infuriating smirk. “I’m glad you’re finally being honest. Though I do wish it wasn’t because you have duskprowler venom and lunabark root in your veins.”
“Duskprowlers?” I echo, the word thick and clumsy on my tongue. I blink at him. “Is that what’s happening? Or is it just you? You’re... doing something to me.”
Kael leans closer, his smirk softening, though his eyes stay sharp, watchful. “And what exactly am I doing to you, El?”
“You’re... unfair,” I murmur, flopping a limp hand in his direction. “With your face. And your shoulders. And your...” My eyes drift downward before I force them shut, heat rushing to my cheeks. “You’re distracting. That’s what you are.”
Kael chuckles, low and deep, the sound vibrating through the space between us. “Distracting, am I? That’s quite the accusation coming from you.”
“I’m an unbathed girl from the slums,” I say, my words tangling together. “Your eyes... they’re like... the sky. No, waves. Big blue waves. Why are they so... blue?” I ramble nonsensically, half laughing, half groaning. “You’re too much, Kael. Too... symmetrical.”
His brow arches, and he leans back slightly, clearly amused. “Symmetrical?”
“Dangerously so,” I mumble. “It’s not fair. It’s just not...” I trail off, my head lolling to the side again. “I like your face. A lot. Even though you’re really bossy... and... arrogant.”
His smirk falters, just for a moment, and his gaze softens. “You’re beautiful too, you know,” he says, his voice quieter than before, almost hesitant, as if admitting it aloud shifts something neither of us can take back. “Even if youarehigh on that unholy combination, Duskae.”
The words hit me like a warm rush, but my brain is too foggy to process them fully. Instead, I let out a soft laugh, the sound strange even to my own ears. “I knew it. You like me,” I giggle, my tone tender.
“Maybe,” he says, his voice low, teasing. “But you’re impossible to deal with when you’re like this.”
