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“Yes. I’ll be organizing a Virel event, and he’ll perform. There’s something about that boy. I need to know if what I heard was coincidence.” A pause. “And if it wasn’t, then you need to understand something, darling.”

“What?”

“That boy may not be as innocent as you want him to be.”

Ice knifes down my spine as I stare out across the sleeping city while her words echo inside my skull.

Fuck me. One minute he’s sleeping in my bed, and the next Mom is talking about him like he’s the key to something.

Rowan flashes through my mind. Sleepy green eyes. Bruised lips grazing my throat barely half an hour ago. His body curling toward mine beneath the sheets like he already trusts me more than he should. He certainly looked innocent while taking my cock.

“I’ll keep an eye out for any interesting things,” I mutter.

Mom laughs on the other end of the line, which pisses me the fuck off. “Be careful with interesting things, darling. They have a habit of changing the shape of a house once they’re brought inside it.”

I promise Mom I’ll come home for dinner soon with the others before we finally hang up.

Even afterward, I stay there staring out across Tolian, the cold air biting against my skin as unease keeps twisting lower in my stomach.

Then my eyes drift back toward the open terrace door. Toward Rowan still asleep in my bed.

And all I can think about is the hidden Noctis above Caervast. The Black Chapel. The footsteps. The proof Rowan keeps chasing. Mom recognizing that sequence.

Something is connecting all of it.

I need to see that Noctis again.

And this time, princess, I’ll get answers.

24

ROWAN

“Seriously, Ro. Lucan called yesterday and said you were okay, but I texted you three times after that.”

“Good morning to you too.”

“No, actually. Not good morning.” Damaris points the screwdriver at me like he’s considering murder. We both jerk back when the machine spits sparks directly into his face. “Light⁠—”

I snort.

He glares up at me. “Don’t.”

That only makes me laugh harder. He does look funny, all startled outrage and flailing limbs and just... Dama.

“Not funny,” Damaris says, still glaring at me. Then he smacks the side of the machine and smoke starts pouring from the rotating engine.

“Maybe a little funny.”

My friend just glares at the machine, then at me, and points the screwdriver in my direction again. “Rowan, I’m serious. This is the second time I heard from someone else that you weren’t coming home. I’m your best friend. I know what feelings you go through... I know you better than anyone. Please, trust me. Lean on me.”

Students drift through the courtyard around us, voices carrying beneath the Caervast towers while transport lines hum somewhere beyond the walls.

“You disappeared into the city terrified out of your mind and spent two nights in a Virel house.” He rotates one of the loose gears between his fingers before looking back at me. “I need to know you’re okay.”

I pick at a loose thread on my sleeve while guilt twists in my stomach. “I know. I should’ve texted you. And I kept meaning to, but everything just got... complicated.”

Damaris studies me before setting the gear aside.