"Step away from her," Edric said.

Kael stepped forward, and this time, decisively. "She is under my protection," he said again, and this time, steel rang beneath the words.

Edric’s gaze moved slowly to him. "Yes," he said. "I have noticed."

He paused again, observing every single expression on his son’s face. Kael looked like he would defy him for her. And he knew the only reason Kael would act this way.

Then, more quietly, he added, "Which is precisely why I am asking." His eyes returned to Aveline. Sharper and colder now.

"Who," he said softly, "are you really?"

Aveline lowered her head.

The hesitation in her chest felt too familiar. Too close to the fear she had once known so well—the same dread that had come before the beatings, before the hands, before the pain that had once driven her to curl up in the chicken coop with bruises blooming beneath her skin and no parents left to call her back.

Her breath turned shallow.

She clutched her shirt, fingers trembling.

"I..." she tried to say.

Nothing came.

Not again.

She could not speak. She could not even look up. And just like that, she was no longer standing in a mansion with polished floors and cold light.

She was back there... Small...Hiding.

Her knees went weak.

Kael, for all his alertness in battle, was not particularly observant in moments like this. He did not notice the way Aveline’s face drained of color, or how silently she was fighting to keep herself together. But Hamilton did.

He always did.

From the moment he had come into the world, Aveline had been the one thing he watched most closely. He knew when she was happy, and when she was pretending to be. He knew now, with painful certainty, that she was not happy.

And Hamilton was not pleased with that at all.

He wriggled out of her pocket and climbed up toward her shoulder, as if to remind her, in his own tiny way, that she was never truly alone.

Edric noticed the movement and stepped back at once, his composure cracking for the first time. "W-what is that?" he demanded, the words stumbling out of him.

Had a lizard just come out of her pocket?

Instinctively, his hand went to his dagger.

Aveline saw the blade catch the light.

"No!"

The word burst out of her with a force that cut through the haze closing over her thoughts.

It was one thing to be dragged back into old memories—to feel trapped, cornered, helpless all over again. It was another to watch someone reach for Hamilton. Hamilton, who was depending on her and the only friend she had at the moment.

She would not allow that.

"Do not touch Hamilton!" she shouted, thrusting her hand forward, palm out. The air snapped. Something dark twisted under her feet.

The moment she did, Edric’s shadow on the floor went rigid.

He tried to move.

He could not.

His eyes widened, and his breathing stuttered as the realization hit him all at once.

This hold...

He looked at her with startled awe.

Aveline, however, did not notice what she had done. She only saw Kael’s father freeze in place, and that was enough.

She had no intention of staying in a place where she was not wanted. Not when they looked at her like a threat, and certainly not when they threatened Hamilton.

So she turned to leave.

The instant she did, the moment she lowered her hand and turned her back at them, the pressure released.

Edric staggered, catching himself before he could fall. His gaze flew to Kael, wide with disbelief.

It had been a very long time since anyone had pinned him down like that. And whatever countermeasures he had prepared, whatever tricks and disciplines he had honed over the years, had done nothing. Not a single one had worked.

Who is she?

Kael understood the question in his father’s eyes well enough. He had asked himself the same thing more than once.

"She walked through our North Passageway," he said, keeping his voice low. "The runes lit up... and then went dark. She felt nothing."

Edric remained still for a long moment, his eyes fixed forward as if he were seeing something far beyond the room before him.

Then, slowly, he drew in a breath.

And just like that, his usual composure returned.

The shift was subtle, but Kael saw it.

His father’s expression settled back into place, calm and unreadable once more.

Kael’s fingers twitched at his side.

What had Edric decided?

Edric followed after her.

Aveline was already moving down the hallway, Hamilton cupped protectively in her palm as she walked with her head high and her shoulders tense. Servants whispered in clusters as she passed, their voices dropping the moment she looked their way. One by one, they stepped aside, making space for her without quite meeting her eyes.

She did not look back.

Holding onto Hamilton as if he were the only steady thing in the world, she retraced the path she had come in by, each step measured and quiet.

"Ava," Edric called from behind her.

Aveline did not stop.

She could forgive people who hurt her. She had done it before, again and again, until the pain had become something she carried rather than something she fought.

But not this.

Not when it came to someone she loved.

Not when someone reached for Hamilton.

Her grip around the tiny creature tightened just slightly, protective.

Behind her, Edric slowed.

He studied her back, the set of her shoulders, the way she walked without hesitation, as if she had already made a decision.

Interesting.

"Most people," he said, his voice carrying just enough to reach her, "would have stopped."

Aveline kept walking.

Edric’s gaze flickered, thoughtful.

"Most people," he continued, "would have turned. Asked questions. Tried to explain themselves."

Still nothing.

Not even a pause.

Only the soft, steady sound of her footsteps against the polished floor.

For the first time, something like faint amusement touched his expression.

"...you are not most people."

That, at least, made her slow.

"And you know that deep down, don’t you?" he asked.

Aveline still didn’t stop.

"I might know who you are," he said.

And that made Aveline stop.