LOGINXAHEN.The first step onto Obsidian soil nearly put me on my knees.My legs shook under my own weight. Something in my left side pulled wrong every time I breathed. The wounds from the Unders still wept and the healing crawled so slow it felt like the damage might win. I kept moving anyway. One foot. Then the other. The path ahead swam in and out of focus.Someone shouted.I didn’t catch the name at first. Then it came again, louder, and more voices joined it. People stopped in the path. Faces turned. I watched recognition hit them one after another like a physical blow. A woman dropped the basket she was carrying. A guard took two steps forward and froze.“It’s the king—”“He’s alive—”“Get the healers, now—”Hands reached for me. I tried to shake them off and failed. My balance was shit. Someone got under my right arm. Someone else took the left. The wolf under my skin surged hard at the contact and I had to grit my teeth to keep from shifting right there in the open. The pain made
THEODOSA.Kane led the way without looking back to check if I followed.I did. The path toward the cells felt longer than it should have. My stomach sat tight the entire walk. By the time the familiar stretch of corridor came into view, the discomfort had settled into something sharper.There were guards everywhere.More than last time. Stationed in pairs along the walls, at the corners, near the heavy doors. Xahen’s men. Binny was his prisoner. I shouldn’t have been surprised if they turned us away on sight. I tensed as we got closer, then forced my shoulders back and tried to shake the feeling off. It didn’t work very well.Kane reached out and grabbed my elbow.I tensed harder, looking down at the point of contact. His fingers were firm without being painful. When I brought my eyes up to his face, those brown eyes coasted over mine slowly. He said nothing. His grip simply tightened and he kept walking us forward.I studied him a moment longer, then swallowed and faced ahead. If
THEODOSA.I was halfway back from breakfast with Afnie when I saw him.Kane stood near the cabin like he’d been waiting there a while. Hands in the pockets of his suit. Posture easy.The greenery and dark wood of the nursery building framed him in a way that made the whole scene feel wrong.My steps slowed on their own. The hair on the back of my neck rose.He noticed me immediately. Of course he did. He gestured around the clearing with one hand, the picture of casual interest.“I’ve been searching for where exactly Xahen kept you,” he said. “This is quite something.”I stopped a few paces short of him and didn’t answer.His mouth curved. “Making a home for yourself already. How domestic.”“I’d never call this a home,” I said. “Not even close.”“No?” He looked past me at the cabin, then back. “Four walls. A bed. Regular meals. From what I hear you’ve even got a kitchen in the works. Sounds like settling to me.”“Sounds like a cage with better furniture.”Kane’s smile widened a fracti
XAHEN.I leaned against the wall and stared at the boy in the cell across from me.Binny Fane lay on the cot with his eyes fixed on the ceiling like every last bit of fight had already left him. The silver bars threw thin shadows across his face. I stayed in the dark longer than I needed to. Watching. Studying him with more care than I liked giving the kid.The similarities kept pulling at me. Same blue eyes when the light hit them right. Same stubborn set to the jaw even in sleep. Same scatter of freckles across the bridge of the nose. In a little over a month of Theodosa being here I had never once met a living relative of Luna or Oceanne. Now there was this relentless boy who had swum currents that should have killed him, burned my ships, and still sat in my cells trying to drag her home.I could have told myself it was another ploy. Another long game dressed up as family loyalty. The thought sat there ready if I wanted it. I didn’t take it. I just stood there and let myself turn o
XAHEN.Theodosa left.The door shut. I sat back down and looked at Nala.“Talk.”She didn’t waste the opening.“I’m not marrying Kane. That was never real. But the partnership idea? I’m not against it.”I watched her. “Why.”“We don’t know what’s coming. That decay isn’t slowing down. For all we know the kingdoms might need each other if any of us are going to make it.”I sat with that.The office door opened before I could answer.Kane walked in like the room was already his. No knock. Just that same easy stride and the half-smile from the shore. The sight of him put a bitter taste straight in my mouth.He took the seat next to Nala and settled in.I looked at him and said nothing. The old distance sat right there between us. I watched him with a taste like bile in the back of my throat. He had put this distance here. He had kept it there. And a long time ago? I stopped trying to change it.Kane leaned back. “Miss me already?”“Get to it.”He glanced at Nala, then back at me. “Th
THEODOSA. I left Ember later than I meant to. The others were still talking when I slipped out. Base had started another round of complaints about the kitchen staff. Beanne was laughing too hard to stop him. Afnie caught my eye once and didn’t ask where I was going. I was grateful for that. The paths felt different in the early evening light. Less confusing. Or maybe I was just too tired to care if I got lost again. I walked without a real destination until the familiar shape of the nursery cabin came into view. Huh. My home away from home. I stopped at the edge of the clearing. Children’s voices carried through the open windows. High and bright and completely unbothered by anything that had happened on the shore or in Xahen’s office. I almost turned around. Then a small face appeared at one of the windows and spotted me. The door flew open before I could decide. Three of them spilled out at once. The smallest one—the girl who’d once hung off Xahen’s arm like it was t
XAHEN.“Search the western wing again. Every closet, every crawl space. If a mouse moves, I want to know about it.”My voice seemed to bite into the walls of the throne room. The guard didn't even look up. He simply bowed, his shoulders hunched in fear, and scrambled away. I watched his retreating
THEODOSA.Ten years.I drew back from the bars, the weight of those two words crushing down on me like a boulder.Ten years locked in this cell? Ten possible years waiting for a king who believed I was his twice-over betrayer. Ten years hoping he'd shift back into a man who wanted me dead anyway?W
THEODOSA. I should try to escape. The thought had been circling my mind like a vulture for hours—maybe days—waiting for me to be desperate enough to actually consider it. I stared at the bars of my cell, then down at the silver chains on my wrists. The burns were worse now. Red and weeping,
THEODOSA.Four days.Nala’s cabin had approximately forty-two steps from one end to the other if you went in a straight line, which you couldn’t because of the furniture, so realistically it was more like thirty-seven with a slight detour around the reading chair by the fire. I knew this because I’







