Jayce nodded. “I agree.”
Jayce coughed. “I doubt he will be pleased about that.”
Rush slowed finally and looked at him and noticed Tessa was signing more.
Jayce sighed. “I know Tess. I’m sure he knows too and he wouldn’t hold it against you.”
Rush walked beside them now and took a deep breath. “They are fine.”
Jayce nodded. “That captain was very clear on that matter, you didn’t need to slam him against the wall.”
Tessa smacked Rush’s arm. He glared at her. She smacked him again.
Rush took a moment to understand what she said. He still didn’t know all of it and glanced to Jayce.
“She says don’t start a war. Be nice Rush.” Jayce supplied.
Tessa made a hissing noise of displeasure and turned at the next hallway.
As they came around another corner, Darius was leaning against the wall beside a door. He was looking up at them and gave a tiny wave.
Rush pushed forward and they followed again. Darius saluted and glanced between the three of them.
“Where is my sister?” Rush demanded more than asked.
Darius gestured to the door he was standing beside. “She was sleeping when I came to check on her. Dato is getting food for her as we speak.”
Rush simply nodded and then took a breath. “Thank you.” He opened the door and went in closing it behind him.
Jayce relaxed while Tessa stood in front of Darius.
Darius nodded. “The Prin-“
Jayce gestured silence. Darius paused and took the mental note. We aren’t saying she is a Princess here.
“The lady took care of him. Zen also helped with any patching up. We all have some bruises, but nothing life threatening at this moment.” Darius looked at them both and looked down at his hands so they would follow. He signed quick.
Tessa’s eyes were hard as she looked up at Darius.
Jayce glanced down the hall and back to Darius. “Kurt and Zen?”
“They are fine, probably sleeping or eating.”
Jayce nodded to that and rubbed at the back of his neck. “You said Dato went to get food?”
“Yes, after he went to talk to Damon. I saw him just recently leaving Damon’s room.” Darius confirmed.
They heard some footsteps coming down the hall behind them. Tessa grinned and was getting ready to check her Prince and make sure he was whole when the fortress captain from before turned the corner with Shade.
Jayce watched Tessa’s face go neutral and then icy. His gaze shifted over to Shade and the captain. Shade had blood and dirt on him. Some splatter and smear on his face and neck.
“Captain Vale, this is the last of your team you had us keep an eye out for. I’ll leave him to you.” He saluted and left them.
Shade stood there for a moment and shifted just slightly as if the eyes on him brought some discomfort. “Rush?” He asked.
Tessa pointed at the door. Her expression hadn’t softened yet.
Darius knocked on the door.
“Come in” came the muffled reply from Kairi.
Darius opened the door to see Rush sitting with Kairi. Both look curiously at them. Jayce moved aside so Shade could step forward.
Rush stood up then. “What happened?”
Everyone filed into the room and took a place like pieces settling on a board.
Jayce sat on the edge of the bed and exhaled. “Let us start.”
Darius stayed by the door, posture straight, eyes never stopping their sweep. Tessa sat beside Jayce, hands already restless. Rush took the chair at the small table with Kairi, Shade hovering near the last open seat like he wasn’t sure he deserved one.
Jayce gave their side first. The bridge. The blast. Rush’s power splitting the impossible open long enough for them to cross.
Darius followed with the other half. The horses. The chase. The way the road didn’t stop trying to kill them even after they’d escaped the first trap.
Tessa signed fast, sharp.
Kairi and Darius answered at the same time. “Yes.”
Kairi’s mouth tugged into the ghost of a smirk, and then it died when her eyes slid back to Shade.
Shade hadn’t looked up once. He stared at his hands and the bag clutched in them like it weighed more than metal.
Rush tapped the bag lightly, once. “What happened, Shade?”
His gaze flicked over Shade’s clothes. The dried blood. The dirt ground into seams.
Shade drew in a slow breath, then glanced at the attached private bath. “Can I clean my hands here?”
Kairi nodded immediately and pushed herself up. Too fast. She steadied on the table for half a heartbeat, then moved anyway. “I’ll grab the basin while you start talking.”
Shade watched her go, eyes following like he didn’t know what to do with kindness right now. Then his gaze dropped back to the bag.
“Emery is dead, Rush.”
The room went still.
Rush’s fingers tightened around the table edge. Kairi’s eyes widened just a fraction, like the name struck something old in her chest.
No one interrupted. No one filled the silence. They all waited, because if Shade was saying this, it meant there was more.
Shade sat back, shoulders set like he’d decided this was a punishment he would finish. “I followed the trail. The evidence of the battle.” He swallowed. “I followed the surviving attackers who fled the devastation.”
Kairi returned with a small basin and set it down gently. Shade murmured thanks and started peeling off his gloves.
“I made sure those men didn’t get to pass along any details of what they lost.” Shade’s voice stayed flat, practical. “Then I followed the only tracks that kept pace with them.”
He gestured toward Kairi and Darius. “He stayed close. Camped near you. Watched.”
A muscle jumped in Darius’s jaw. Kairi’s hands tightened in her lap.
Shade scrubbed at his fingers as if dirt was the only thing on them. “He knew I was following. When I caught up to him… he was waiting. Leaning against a dead oak.”
Kairi reached out then, quietly taking his hands and the soap from him. Shade blinked, startled.
“Let me,” she said softly, not looking up. “You’ve been picking the same spot too long. You’ll rub your skin raw.”
Shade stared down at his knuckles. Saw the truth. The redness. The scraped skin.
“…Okay.”
Kairi worked the soap into the creases of his palms with careful, steady motions that didn’t ask permission from his grief. It was oddly soothing. Almost unbearable because of that.
Shade’s stare went unfocused for a moment as he pulled the memories into order.
“He set a trap. I moved quickly enough to stay out of it and we grappled.” His eyes flicked toward the bag. “He had a collar on.”
Rush opened the bag and spilled the fragments onto the table.
The moment his fingers touched the metal, his face tightened with disgust. His thumb dragged over a rune like it bit.
“I thought it was controlling him,” Shade said. “Forcing him to betray us.”
His gaze dropped to Kairi’s hands cleaning his. He seemed to anchor there.
“I started to overpower him. He tried to flee.” Shade’s voice sharpened. “I grabbed the collar when he ported.”
Jayce stood and came closer, eyes narrowing as he studied the runes. “You rode a teleport with him?”
Shade nodded once. “Emery was one of the four Draggoons. Blessed with strength and teleportation.” His breath left slow. “He ported a handful of times. The last time we came out on a hillside and started rolling.”
Kairi looked up, all healer now. “Do you have injuries?”
Shade’s mouth twitched like he could have smiled if the world wasn’t what it was. “I’m fine, little coal.” His eyes slid away from her and back to Rush. “He hit a tree. Hard enough to jar him lucid.”
Shade’s fingers clenched instinctively, then eased when he remembered Kairi was still holding them.
“He was still in there,” Shade said, voice rougher. “Rush… he was still in there.”
He swallowed once. “I broke the collar. Hoped it was the reason. He told me it helped. Said it made it easier to resist.”
Shade’s expression darkened, anger crawling up through grief. “But he was already lost. Lore had hooks in his mind. The collar wasn’t a leash.”
He looked at the pieces on the table.
“It was a handle.”
Rush didn’t speak for a long beat. His hand closed around a shard until his knuckles went pale. “What did he say.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Shade’s head dipped. When he spoke, there was no ornament left in him. “Don’t make me watch myself hurt you.”
A beat.
“Or her.”
Rush’s jaw flexed. He didn’t ask the next question. He didn’t need to.
“He asked you to,” Rush said quietly.
Shade’s throat worked once. “He begged me to.”
Kairi’s fingers tightened around his hand, a small squeeze that said: I heard you. I’m here. Don’t drift.
Shade looked up at her. “I killed him. He was losing control again. I killed him.” His voice cracked on nothing, somehow worse than a sob. “I buried him.”
His gaze went distant. “He fought it. He never betrayed us in the end.” His eyes flicked to the dragon-mark that still lived in his memory. “The dragon never left him.”
Jayce stared at the table for a long moment, then finally said, voice low, steady. “Thank you. For coming back with the truth.”
Darius broke the quiet with the thought everyone had been circling. “She’s in Carlbrin.”
His eyes locked onto the collar pieces. “And she doesn’t need a collar to use someone without a gift.”
Tessa’s eyes went hard. She signed slowly now.
Jayce watched her hands. “It’s not.”
Rush’s chair scraped back slightly. “Darius, Tessa, and Dato will sleep in this room with Kairi.”
Kairi looked up, startled. Jayce’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s safer,” Rush said, like he could force the world to agree.
Kairi’s anger flared hot and immediate. “It’s safer because you already dug through everyone’s mind the moment you walked in.”
Shade didn’t react. Jayce didn’t either.
Tessa froze mid-breath. Darius went still. “You… dug through our minds?” His voice went careful. “Is that a gift you have?”
Rush kept his eyes on Kairi. “Yes. And I will use it to keep her safe.” His voice turned iron. “I’ll know if anything is wrong before it becomes action.”
Kairi looked away, jaw tight. “That’s going to complicate things for Dato.”
Rush shrugged. “I’m answering his ask now.” He looked at her. “I accept his betrothal request. Tearian traditions honored.”
Kairi flushed, caught. “He… asked?”
Rush blinked at her. “He asked in Brindlecross. Before he gave you his ring.”
Kairi’s eyes widened. “…Oh.”
Jayce cleared his throat, stepping back into motion. “I’ll get Dato from the kitchens. He’s bringing food.”
He looked to Darius and Tessa. “Pack your things. Room assignments are changing. Darius, grab Dato’s things too.”
Tessa and Darius saluted and moved.
After the door closed, Jayce glanced at Shade, then leaned toward Kairi. “I’ll be back soon.”
Kairi nodded once.
Jayce left.
The room fell quiet again, the kind that pressed on skin.
Kairi turned to Shade and took his hand more fully this time. “You can shower in here. Take your time.” Her voice softened. “Thank you for keeping us safe. I’m sorry for what you had to do.”
Shade managed a small, thin smile. He stood and went into the private bath without a word.
A moment later, the shower started.
Kairi’s eyes found Rush again, sharp. “Are you accepting his betrothal because he’s safe… or because you like him.”
Rush let out a rough breath that almost became a laugh. “A little of both.” He shrugged. “It won’t be finalized until after his Name Day. Courting with the intention of marriage.”
He started putting the collar pieces back into the bag.
Kairi reached toward one shard, then recoiled the instant her fingers neared it. “How can you touch that,” she hissed. It felt wrong. Hungry.
Rush didn’t stop packing it away. “Because the dragon knows it,” he said quietly. “It has worn it for too long.”
He paused with one piece in hand, rubbing it absently with his thumb.
“It makes the world quiet,” he admitted, softer.
Kairi’s expression broke into something sad. “You don’t need a collar, Rush. Don’t even think about that.”
He met her eyes. “Not a collar.” A beat. “Maybe a token. Something I can hold when I need quiet.”
Kairi blinked against the sting gathering behind her eyes. “Maybe,” she conceded. “A small token then.”
Rush placed the last shard in the bag. He lingered on one small piece, thumb stroking it once more before he forced it down and closed the cloth.
The door opened and Tessa came in, dropping her pack at the foot of a bed like she owned the room. She turned with a grin and lifted her hands.
Kairi nodded, exhaling a surprised laugh through her nose. “That’s for the best. Dato or Darius would probably faint if we did anything else.”
Tessa covered her mouth, trying to contain the rasping laugh that escaped anyway.
Rush headed for the door. “I’m getting Shade clothes. I’ll be back.”
Darius returned a moment later with two packs and set them at the foot of the other bed.
No one spoke for a while. They just… sat with it. Carlbrin. Lore. The collar.
Kairi sank back at the table and pulled the chain from under her shirt, spinning it slowly around her finger as her thoughts ran.
Tessa positioned herself so Kairi couldn’t see her hands.
Darius started to shrug out of his jacket and placed it on the back a chair.
Darius cleared his throat, drawing her attention. “Share your thoughts?” he asked quietly, pulling out a chair and sitting.
Kairi paused spinning the ring and looked at Darius. “What is expected of me as soon as I step foot in the palace?”
Darius didn’t answer immediately. He didn’t give her platitudes. He looked at her like she was a person, not a title.
“You will be watched,” he said.
Kairi’s jaw tightened.
“And you will be weighed,” he added. “The way you stand. The way you speak. What you wear. What you eat. Who you look at too long.”
Her fingers resumed their slow rotation, but the motion had gone tight, like she was trying not to crush the metal.
“They will want you to perform the role they already wrote for you,” Darius continued. “Some of them will be polite about it. Some will not. Most will pretend it’s concern.”
Kairi let out a breath that was almost a laugh. “So the same as Tearia. Just different faces.”
Darius’s mouth twitched once. It wasn’t a smile. It was understanding.
“The difference,” he said, “is that here you will have backing. You will have the crown. You will have Rush. And you will have Kylar at your side. That matters.”
Kairi’s eyes dropped to his ring and the chain. “If the King accepts Tearian rites… does that mean I’m expected to… act like a vessel.”
Darius watched her, careful. “In public? No.”
Kairi blinked, surprised by the bluntness.
“In public, the palace will try to wrap you in Naberian modesty,” he said. “They’ll call it respect. They’ll say they’re protecting you.”
She made a face like she’d bitten something sour.
Darius continued, voice steady. “The temples are different. If Niveus and the crown say Tearian traditions are honored, the Phoenix temple will push for it. They’ll phrase it as reverence. They’ll also phrase it as necessity.”
Kairi’s throat bobbed once. “And the court?”
“The court will whisper,” Darius said, simple as stone. “They whisper about everything. The only thing that changes is what flavor of cruelty they pick.”
Tessa shifted to the chair beside Kairi and smiled for her.
Kairi’s fingers slowed on the ring. “I don’t want to embarrass Kylar.”
Darius’s gaze sharpened at the name, but his voice stayed gentle. “Then don’t.”
Kairi looked at him, brows knitting.
Darius held her stare. “Hear me. You are going to make people uncomfortable simply by being alive. If you bend yourself smaller every time they twitch, you will shrink until you disappear. Kylar doesn’t need you to be less. He needs you to be steady.”
Kairi’s eyes softened, then immediately guarded again. “Steady is hard when my brother just told me Lore is in Carlbrin.”
Darius nodded once. “Yes.”
Kairi watched him. “So what do I do?”
Darius sat back a fraction. He chose his words like he chose where to stand in a fight.
“You do three things,” he said. “First, you stay close to the people who are yours. Not because you’re weak. Because you are a target.”
Kairi’s mouth tightened. “I hate that.”
“I know,” Darius said, and there was no judgment in it. “Second, you let the palace see what it needs to see. A polite smile. The right answer. The calm face.”
Kairi’s fingers moved again.
“And third,” Darius added, quieter, “you keep a private piece of yourself that they never touch.”
Her eyes lifted then. “Like the meadow.”
Darius didn’t smile, but something eased in his shoulders. “Yes.”
Kairi stared at the ring for another long beat. “What if the private piece becomes… him.”
Darius went still.
Tessa’s hands clenched in her lap.
Kairi swallowed. “What if being close to him is what makes her come for us harder.”
Darius’s answer came without hesitation. “Then we make it harder for her to reach you.”
Kairi’s gaze flicked up. “That’s not an answer.”
“It is,” Darius said. “It’s just not a comforting one.”
Kairi exhaled slowly, then looked toward the bath door where the shower still ran behind it. “You don’t think anyone here is compromised?”
Darius’s eyes didn’t leave Kairi’s face. “Anyone in Carlbrin could be an enemy.”
The sentence landed, heavy and final.
Kairi’s grip tightened on the chain and then eased as if she’d realized she was hurting herself.
Darius shifted forward, elbows on knees, voice lower. “But that doesn’t mean everyone is. Don’t let Lore make you afraid of every hand that reaches for you. That’s how she wins without ever touching you.”
Kairi’s eyes stung. She blinked, stubbornly. “You sound like you’ve done this before.”
Darius’s gaze flicked away for a heartbeat. “I’ve watched people be eaten alive by fear. I don’t want that for you.”
Tessa leaned forward, then, and placed a hand lightly on Kairi’s shoulder. Not signing. Not demanding. Just a silent, steady touch.
Kairi looked at her hand as if she’d forgotten for a moment that comfort could be that simple. She nodded once, the motion small.
“Okay,” Kairi whispered. “So. Palace rules.”
Darius inhaled. “When you enter the palace, you will be introduced to the court. You will stand beside Kylar. Likely beside the crown prince as well if Ryder chooses. You will be expected to bow to the King . You will be expected to accept greetings from nobles.”
Kairi’s lips pressed together. “And if someone says something cruel.”
Darius’s voice sharpened. “You do not react. You look at Kylar. You let him handle it.”
Kairi’s brows rose. “You want me to let him fight my battles.”
“I want you to let him be seen defending you,” Darius corrected. “He’s a prince. He needs the court to understand you are not a charity case he picked up on the road. You are his choice. Let them see he chose and picked a Tearian Princess of his own free will.”
Kairi’s expression shifted at that. Something warmer. Something vulnerable.
“And if they try to corner me,” she asked, “to ask me about Tearian things.”
Darius’s answer was immediate. “You redirect. You smile. You say, ‘The temples will advise.’ You say, ‘My brother and the crown are guiding these matters.’ You say nothing that locks you into a promise you didn’t make.”
Kairi’s fingers finally stopped spinning the ring.
She looked at him, really looked. “You’re good at this.”
Darius huffed once, almost a laugh. “No. I’m just tired of watching people get trapped by words. Don’t forget, I’ve been beside Kylar for a long time.”
Tessa nodded agreement to that.
Kairi’s gaze dropped to his hands. “You’re going to be tired.”
Darius glanced down as if noticing his own exhaustion for the first time. “Yes.”
Kairi’s voice softened. “Thank you.”
Darius held her eyes. “It’s my job.”
“No,” Kairi said, firm. “That’s the line you use because it’s safer.” She swallowed. “Thank you anyway.”
Darius didn’t know what to do with that, so he did what he always did.
He nodded once.
The corridor outside shifted with footsteps.
Tessa’s head tilted, already listening with her whole body.
Then the door handle turned.
Jayce stepped in first, opening the door for Kylar who was carrying a tray balanced in his hands like he’d done this a thousand times in war camps and royal halls.
He froze for half a heartbeat, eyes flicking over the room like he’d walked into a new arrangement of reality.
Tessa in the room. Darius seated close to Kairi. The shower running behind the bath door. The faint, metallic wrongness still lingering in the air.
Kylar’s gaze landed on Kairi.
The tension in his shoulders broke like a knot cut clean.
And then his eyes dropped to the tray.
Two bowls of stew. Bread wrapped in cloth. Apples.
And, absurdly, a thick slice of honey cake.
Jayce lifted a brow as if daring anyone to comment.
Kylar didn’t speak at first. He stepped in and shut the door behind them, then crossed the space with the tray like it was an offering and not dinner.
Kairi’s expression shifted, the hard edges softening. A tired smile tugged at her mouth.
Kylar’s voice came out low. “I brought food.”
Jayce’s tone was light, but his eyes were sharp. “For two. Because apparently the fort needed to learn how to behave.”
Kylar shot him a look that said: later.
Kairi’s smile widened just a fraction at that, like the room had remembered how to breathe.