He smiled. “Good. That means it worked.”
He led the way now, posture slouched, voice clipped and businesslike, as if he were delivering orders from the castle interior. No one stopped us as we passed through the lower halls and out into the open stretch of the Ascension Grounds. The air was cold and heavy with dew, the stars sharp overhead.
We cut across the stone square, past sleeping dragons and watch posts where guards stood in near-trances, and made our way to the base of the Warder Tower.
Quinn was waiting just outside the door, arms crossed, his face pulled tight with anxiety. He barely spared Zander and me a glance, his eyes locked immediately onto the stranger between us.
“May I help you?” he asked warily.
Alahathrial smiled, and then, with a flick of his wrist, let the glamour fall away.
The spell peeled back like smoke, revealing his true form—silver hair falling to his back, ancient eyes burning gold, robes stitched in a language that pulsed with latent magic.
Quinn stumbled back a full step. “That’s… impressive.”
“Not really,” Alahathrial said dryly. “Take us to the pool.”
Quinn didn’t argue. He simply turned on his heel and moved, faster than before, through the narrow tunnels. We followed in silence, the burden of what we were about to do pressing heavier with every step.
When the cavern opened around us and the pool came into view, shimmering, sickened with dark veins, Alahathrial stopped short. His expression shifted, not with shock, but with reverence. Like he was standing before a lost temple.
“I haven’t seen it since the elders placed it here,” he said softly. “I helped them draw the boundaries. We made a vow not to interfere with human politics unless directly asked by a member of the royal house.”
I turned to him, narrowing my eyes. “So that’s why you’re helping us? Because Zander is royalty?”
“I am,” he agreed, unbothered. “Treaty-bound to answer a call from the royal line. And Zander, by both blood and magic, fits that criteria.”
I frowned, arms crossed. “So this is just duty to you.”
Alahathrial turned his golden gaze on me, and for the first time, something warmer passed through it.
“No,” he said. “In all honesty… I would have helped anyway.”
And when he looked back at the pool, something like sadness flickered behind the gold. Like he already knew what it was becoming.
Alahathrial stood at the edge of the pool, the soft glow of its surface casting pale reflections across his angular features. His expression had shifted—less awe now, more… grief. Or memory. As if the magic humming beneath our feet had pulled him into a different century.
He knelt slowly, pressing his palm against the water’s surface.
The reaction was immediate.
The entire pool surged with light, brighter than when Zander or I had touched it. The black veins recoiled sharply, the iridescent shimmer flaring so brilliantly that Quinn had to shield his eyes. The cavern itself seemed to exhale, the stones along the ceiling vibrating faintly with the sudden surge of magic.
The pulse faded after a few moments, but the light it left behind was stronger, steadier. Alive.
Alahathrial didn’t move. His voice was soft, reverent. “This pool is the last echo of a bond forged in defiance of two worlds.”
Zander stepped beside him. “What do you mean?”
Alahathrial looked up at the water, eyes far away. “Long ago; even before your kingdom had finalized the treaty, a fae warder fell in love with a human woman. She was brave, unrelenting…and magicless. He gave her a piece of his essence, and from that bond, they produced the first halfling warder.”
He glanced at Quinn. “The line of warders began with him. The first fae to leave the isle permanently, and the first human to stand beside him. This pool was his final gift, a living tether between worlds. Meant to defend, to connect… toendure.”
He dipped his fingers into the water again, gently this time. “But no pool lasts forever. Not unless renewed by one who understands its creation.”
Zander looked down at the glowing water. “Can you restore it?”
Alahathrial shook his head, slow and solemnly. “I have given what I can. But only a truefae warder, one born of the Fae Isle can create a pool. I am not of his bloodline. I do not carry the magic required.”
