My shoulders tightened. “I didn’t come looking for purpose.”
“That’s the thing about purpose,” he said smoothly, tilting his glass. “It rarely waits for us to seek it. It arrives. It demands. And it will shape you, Aurelia. Whether you accept it… or I do it for you.”
Something in his gaze sharpened just slightly, and I didn’t like the way it settled on me.
Dinner began. I ate carefully, cautiously, trying not to stare too long at Kaelith and trying not to let Malachi’s silent brooding presence crawl under my skin.
This was a game. I knew it the moment I stepped into the hall. And I wasn’t sure what role I was supposed to play.
Kaelith raised his goblet and stood. “A toast,” he announced, voice resonant and smooth. “In honor of our guest—Aurelia Moirae.”
A low hum rolled through the room, curious glances cast my way.
“It has been some time since the Moirae line graced these halls. Tonight, we celebrate not only her survival—but her rightful return to Nyxarra.” He paused, letting the words hang. “A ball will be held in three nights’ time to mark the occasion—our long-lost lineage returned to its rightful place.”
Rightful place?
A murmur of excitement swept the room. Goblets lifted. Cheers erupted, echoing against the high-arched ceilings.
Lysara and Santiago entered just then, slipping through the doorway and positioning themselves along the far wall, calm and watchful as the cheers died down. I turned slowly to Kaelith, keeping my voice low. “I’m sorry, but I don’t intend to stay.”
He didn’t look surprised as he sat back down. He shifted in his seat, swirling the wine in his goblet. “I know,” he said simply. “But you will. Willingly.”
My pulse kicked hard against my ribs. “How very presumptuous of you.”
“Oh, I’m not being presumptuous.” His smile curved like a blade. “You will stay. Because I’ll allow you to return home—to fetch your brother.”
The words rooted me to the chair.Allow me.He was saying aloud what I’d already suspected since the moment I woke in this place: every hallway I’d walked had been chosen for me, every door one I’d beenallowedto pass through. This castle was a cage.
The shadows here answeredhim. Every corridor breathed with his will. Even when I’d been well enough to walk, the air itself had watched me, waiting. And Santiago’s warning echoed in my skull:Malachi’s shadows don’t just bind—they tether.
Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t make it three steps before those shadows dragged me back.
Not when I still didn’t understand what this place was. Not when I didn’t even know where the gardens were. Not when Aeryn’s life depended on me staying alive long enough to find the Etherblooms.
I needed to play along. Bide my time. Survive.
“What did you say?”
“To bring him here,” he said, setting his goblet down gently. “So he may be cured.”
My throat went dry. “And if I refuse?”
“Then he dies.” His gaze held mine—too calm, too knowing.
His fingers brushed against my wrist before I could react—and the world blinked away. Suddenly I wasn’t at the table.
I stood in the town square of Synnex—the same square where my parents had burned. The air held the scent of ash and citrus blossoms. Aeryn sat on the steps of the library, flicking seeds to a circle of birds, his boyish smile tilting toward the sun.
I wasn’t myself. I was watching from eyes that weren’t mine, staring down at hands pale as the moon.
“Aeryn,” a voice said—my voice, but not.
He looked up, brow furrowed. “Yes? Do I know you?”
The hand that wasn’t mine extended toward him, gentle. Aeryn took it. And then—something shifted.
The second hand blurred past my vision, striking through his chest with terrible, perfect precision. Aeryn’s eyes widened, confusion flooding them, quickly overtaken by pain. His lips parted as blood spilled over them, and his body sagged forward.