“You want her to touch it.” Sylas’s voice had gone flat. Dangerous.
“I want her toproveherself.” Xar’s mask of respect slipped, revealing something uglier beneath. “If she is blessed, the core will respond to her as it did to the pure one. If she is merely a pet with a pleasant smell...” He shrugged. “Then the faithful will have their answer, and my king can keep his property without further challenge.”
If I refuse, I prove I’m nothing special. If I succeed, I prove I’m dangerous. And if I fail—
The contaminated crystal pulsed, its sickly light throwing shadows across the chamber floor.
If I fail, I become Fallen. Another mindless creature to be put down.
“Absolutely not.” Sylas rose from the throne, the chain jerking tight as his movement pulled her forward. “You would risk my property on a test designed to destroy her—”
“The test is designed toverifyher.” Xar didn’t back down, though his ears flattened slightly at his king’s fury. “If she is what the faithful believe, she will survive. If not...” His smile returned, cold and sharp. “Then surely a simple pet’s life isn’t worth defying the will of those who serve Lux most devoutly?”
The galleries had gone silent. Every eye in the chamber fixed on the dais, on the Alpha King who stood with his pet’s leash clenched in one fist and murder written across his features.
This was the real challenge. Not combat—not yet—but a trap nonetheless. Refuse, and Sylas appeared to fear what the test would reveal. Accept, and he risked losing the one thing keeping his sanity intact.
Elsa’s mind raced through possibilities. Through calculations that had nothing to do with stars and everything to do with survival. She would be foolish to believe that she would be able to maneuver through the mountain caverns.
There would be no slipping through these caverns unnoticed. Not here. Not among them.
She wasn’t a pilot in control of the sky.
She was prey in a den of predators—a rabbit dropped into the middle of a wolf pack.
She couldn’t refuse. If she was truly blessed—if any of what the Lux Priest and Ari had suggested was true—then the core might respond to her the way the pure one had. And if it didn’t...if she died screaming while Moon Tear madness ate her mind...
Then at least Sylas would be free of whatever dependency my scent created.
The thought should have been bitter. Instead, it felt almost like peace.
“I’ll do it.”
Her voice cut through the tension like a blade through silk. Every head in the chamber swiveled toward her—the pet who’d spoken without permission, who’d dared to make a choice that wasn’t hers to make.
Sylas’s paw closed around the chain, growling. “No.”
“You said yourself—they need to see me controlled.” Elsa forced herself to meet his gaze, to hold it despite the fury blazing there. “What better control than ordering your pet to prove her worth? I succeed, and their doubts are answered. I fail...” She swallowed. “Then you’re rid of a liability.”
“You’re not a liability.” The words came out raw. “You’re—”
He stopped. Whatever he’d been about to say, whatever truth had almost escaped, he buried it behind walls of ice and authority.
Elsa rose from her cushion. Her legs screamed protest, circulation flooding back in waves of pins and needles, but she stayed upright through sheer force of will. The chain pulled tautbetween them—the physical manifestation of everything binding them together.
“Let me do this.” She kept her voice low, pitched for him alone. “You’ve protected me. Let me protect what’s yours.”
Your throne. Your sanity. Whatever fragile stability my presence brings.
She didn’t say that last part. Didn’t have to. His expression said he heard it anyway.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. The chamber held its breath, waiting for the Alpha King’s decision.
Then Sylas’s paw opened. The chain slithered free, pooling on the dais at his feet.
“Proceed.” The single word carried the weight of empires. Of kingdoms built on blood and bone and the impossible hope that something might survive the violence of their making.
Xar’s smile widened. “The human accepts the test. Let Lux witness her faith—or her failure.”