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Lily rocked her foot impatiently. If only Reina were here. She had the patience to deal with this. The only child Lily ever spent time with was her younger brother. When she’d last seen him at the age of ten, she would have rather pruned their father’s garden than spend time with him. He wasn’t as reclusive as this kid, but when he was in a mood, there was one way she could get him to talk.

She leaned slightly toward him. “Want to know a secret?” He didn’t respond, but his eyebrows rose. “My name is Lilith.”

His face drooped, disappointed. “Your name’s not a secret.”

“Yes it is. I haven’t been called Lilith in a very long time. I go by a different one here.”

“Lily," he said. She smiled, surprised he remembered. “Why are you here?”

“Because I want to be.”

He studied her for a moment, then turned from her again and wrapped his arms around his knees, letting the air between them stale with a yawn.

Regardless of the questions she had, she refused to let the answers be her problem, nor should this incarnation be one of them. He and his family had caused her enough trouble.

But in the back of her mind, she found that like her, he was a player in the game his grandfather started. Lily avoided moving her piece on the board for as long as she knew she was playing, but the reach of the Reatian Empire was invading not only Eizreth, but Lily’s mind again. This boy was like her reflection in a clouded mirror.

I bet he’s also as valuable. She still needed to get out of Reave, and suddenly, she had a meek, easily manipulated token to ensure a clean escape—no matter what kind of force crossed her path, be it a sentinel, Stalker, or Brialis herself, surely they’d want no harm to come to a Hazevale incarnation?

Lily practically jumped to her feet.

The boy snapped up from his dozing. “Where are you going?”

She stretched one arm then the other. “I have to go.

“Go? Where?”

“Anywhere. I can’t stay here with that Stalker looking for you. I have to leave the city.”

The boy was on his feet again, examining his surroundings with agitated eyes. When he said nothing, she started off.

“Wait!”

Lily did as she was told. After a few patient seconds on her part, he found his words.

“Can you take me with you?” he asked.

“Take you? Where?”

“Away from here.”

Lily brought a finger to her chin, tapping it leisurely. “I don’t know. I can get in a lot of trouble if I’m found with you.”

“I’ve been trying to find a way out, but I don’t know where to go. The gates are guarded, and I can’t climb down the mountain by myself. Can you help me?”

A lump formed in Lily’s throat. She intended to intentionally draw out the anticipation, but instead actually got lost in her thoughts. The entire idea was ridiculous. What if they managed to leave? She’d just have a larger target on her back.

I could go back to Tyrsia… Although angry, Amalia would let her return. But would Rimore’s fearsome Imordial allow her to with a Hazevale incarnation at her heels?

Lily shivered. Definitely not.

Amalia Argent—Imordial for the Gnaw, Queen of Rimore, and the woman who rescued Lily from Reatian Stalkers after her family fled to Markoth over a decade ago. She had harbored the Wraith, keeping its vessel safe and practically raising Lily alongside her own children.

But it wasn’t without expectation. Amalia needed Lily’s power to help hold off the empire’s renewed expansion into Eocera. The Gnaw sought war and with it, a Wraith Lily refused to be—a force capable of leveling the empire to the ground like its previous life attempted to do. That was why she saved her. Why she kept Lily safe. Amalia wanted a weapon capable of tearing down everything the Hazevale family built.

“Please?” the boy urged, looking up at her like a hungry dog.

Whatever the right or wrong choice, finding a way out was what mattered right now. She’d drag him around like a shield until she found Xavier, then leave him here to get the Stalkers off her back.