Lirane’s gaze lingered on the skies, where Dorian had vanished minutes before. Her black hair rippled with the breeze, but her posture didn’t shift. She was all stillness and steel.
“Where is he going?” she asked without turning, her voice as smooth as ever, but sharper at the edges. “And don’t insult me with a lie, Zander.”
Zander didn’t flinch. But I could feel the way his magic stirred beneath his skin, Dark Fire thrumming just beneath the surface.
“He’s on assignment for the crown,” he said carefully. “He’ll be back.”
Lirane finally turned, her expression unreadable. “Don’t lose faith,” he added.
“In Dorian?” Her lips tilted, just barely. “Never.”
And with that, she turned on her heel, her cloak whispering over stone as she strode back toward the tower.
I watched her go, my heart aching with something I couldn’t quite name. She didn’t ask for proof. She didn’t ask for details. She believed, so deeply it was almost holy.
I envied her conviction.
Because mine was beginning to crack.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
The king is under attack.
Kaelith’s mental scream slammed into my head like a storm wind. I nearly staggered from the force of it.
Zander was already moving. “Come on.”
We bolted to the castle and through the marble corridors, my boots striking the floor hard enough to echo off the vaulted ceilings. Every guard we passed flinched or stepped aside.
The moment we reached the king’s chambers, I shoved the double doors open, but it was too late.
The assassin was gone. The guards posted nearby looked dazed, one still bleeding from his nose. But what caught my attention first was the magical barrier hovering above the king’s bed.
It pulsed like a sick firefly, it’s light ebbing in erratic, dying beats of amber and violet. Magic sputtered against the velvet canopy in jagged flares.
What is happening?
A spell was used,Kaelith growled in my mind.A dark one. It’s unraveling my protections. I won’t be able to hold this barrier much longer.
“No,” I whispered, stepping closer, my hand outstretched toward the flickering shield. “No, no, no—there has to be something. What if I give him another dose of the fae elixir?”
Zander stiffened behind me. “We don’t have much left. I wanted to save some for Dorian…”
I nodded, heart hammering. “Then we use some of it.”
He didn’t answer, just moved beside me, jaw tight as he looked down at his father—pale, breath shallow, his skin damp with sweat. The king wasn’t just sleeping. He was slipping.
Kaelith’s barrier flared again, then dimmed to a pulse no brighter than dying coals.
Hurry,she said.I will drop the barrier one last time. The next time it falls will be the last.
I pulled the vial from beneath my tunic, the amber glass catching the light like a dying star. My fingers trembled as I unstoppered it. The faint glow of fae magic shimmered inside—this was all that remained.
Drop the barrier, Kaelith.
As you wish,she said, though I felt the strain of it in every syllable.
