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"You're breathing hard." I whisper.

"So are you."

"I'm winning."

"No."

"You're against me and still arguing."

"You talk too much."

"You like it." Silence. I meant it as a joke. Mostly.

Rhyven doesn't answer. His eyes stay on mine. I stop smiling. Oh. His hand releases my wrist. For one second, disappointment hits. Then his fingers settle at my waist instead. Lightly. Not pulling. Not claiming. Just there. Like he's giving me every possible chance to step away. I don't. The space between us changes. There are maybe two inches now. Maybe less. I don't know who moved. Maybe neither. Maybe breathing is enough. His nose nearly brushes mine. I can feel warmth from his mouth. My pulse is everywhere. Throat. Wrists. Chest. Gods. Is he— Yes. He is. Rhyven Corvell is going to kiss me. And the realization doesn't scare me nearly as much as the next one. I want him to. Badly. His forehead almost touches mine. My eyes drop. His mouth. Back up. He sees. Of course he sees. Something dark and warm moves through his expression. His thumb presses once against my waist. Barely. I inhale. He leans— The first bell rings.

We freeze. The sound crashes through the training hall. Deep. Ancient. Wrong. No. Second bell. Rhyven is already pulling away. All heat disappears from his face. Not physically. The man in front of me becomes Chief Wings Officer so quickly it is almost frightening. His hand leaves my waist. Blade drops onto the mat. Third bell. He turns toward the gate. "Boots."

My brain is still approximately two inches behind.

"What?"

"Now."

Fourth bell. Recall. My blood goes cold. Eleven fifty-nine. No. No, no, no. We move. No conversation. No acknowledgment of what almost happened. I grab my coat. Rhyven unlocks the gate. We're running before the fourth echo finishes.

The corridors explode into controlled movement. Doors opening. Students emerging. Professors directing. Wardkeepers running toward exits. No screaming. No confusion. Varethia trained for this. That somehow makes it worse. Rhyven catches the first guard we see.

"Report."

"Western perimeter."

"What happened?"

"Keeper missing."

My stomach drops.

Rhyven's face changes. "Who?"

The guard hesitates. "Aelindra." Oh.

We reach the command courtyard in minutes. Caelen is already there. Dax. Soren. Lyss. Maelis. Professor Neris. My father. Council guards. Everyone talking at once. Rhyven enters. The talking stops. Not completely. Enough. "Time." He asks.

A wardkeeper answers. "Twenty-three fifty-eight."

One minute. They waited until the last minute. Or we did.

"What happened?"

The keeper standing before us looks destroyed. Mud covers one side of his uniform. His hands shake.

"I was with her." His voice breaks. "All night. No separation. Not once."

Professor Neris steps closer. "Start from the beginning."

The keeper swallows. "We were stationed at Western Marker Twelve. Continuous observation. Two dragons overhead. Three ground patrols crossing every fourteen minutes. Nothing happened." He looks toward the courtyard. "Nothing all day. At twenty-three fifty-eight..." His breathing changes. "The secondary ward indicator shifted."

My father looks up. "Shifted how?"