Aveline stared down at her hand.

Something had happened.

She had touched something... barely brushed it, really, and then it had burst apart and vanished in a flicker she could not make sense of. Her fingers glowed faintly in the dull morning light, the pale dawn spilling across the clearing in a cool, silvery wash.

Before she could even begin to understand it, the man in the tree moved.

Aveline stiffened.

He made a strange motion with his fingers, one she could not follow, and the air around him seemed to shift. The leaves nearby trembled unnaturally, as though caught in the grip of an invisible current. The next moment, something sliced through the air toward her.

A blade of wind.

A scythe made of nothing but air.

Aveline gasped and tried to throw herself aside, but before she could move, a dark curtain dropped before her in a sudden, protective sweep.

Kael.

He shoved her back just as the wind tore through the space where she had been standing. She lost her footing and fell hard onto her back.

For a stunned moment, all she could do was blink up at the ceiling.

Then she saw them.

Kael and the other man... locked in combat.

Shadow against air.

Darkness rippling and folding around Kael like living ink, while the other man’s movements sent sharp, invisible lashes of wind slicing through the clearing. The two powers clashed in a blur of motion, one suppressing, the other striking, the air itself turning restless and violent around them.

Aveline watched, breathless. She knew if Kael failed even a bit, she’d be dead... or worse, captured.

It was beautiful. Terrifying, too.

But beautiful.

In the end, Kael prevailed.

The other man staggered back, forced out of balance, and Kael’s shadows closed in with chilling precision until the threat was finally pinned down and silenced.

Aveline blinked, still trying to gather her thoughts.

So... this was why Kael served the crown prince.

So... this was what magic looked like.

She had seen Theron’s light once already, brilliant and merciless as a falling star. She had seen Kael’s shadows now, swift and suffocating and utterly controlled.

And she could not help wondering...

She barely remembered her doing something, but she didn’t feel as powerful as watching those two fight.

Could she one day be like that?

Could she ever stand with that kind of power in her own hands?

Could she be as powerful as Kael?

She had watched him fight using these runes with his fingers and at times with his hands. He was so fast he could move so much in just a few seconds. And the power rising from him...

She didn’t just want to survive anymore. She wanted power.

Then another thought slipped in, softer but no less vivid.

If Kael could fight like this...

Then Theron must be even stronger.

Her heart gave a small, traitorous skip.

She wanted to see Theron fight too.

Just once.

To see what he looked like when he let that power loose.

But the thought that followed hurt almost immediately.

He did not want anything to do with her. Still...

Aveline pressed a hand over her chest as if that might quiet the ache there. Hamilton who was on the bed, rushed to her, with a few jumps and climbed to her lap. She picked him up with a deep breath.

Kael lowered his hand and turned toward her. "Come with me," he said, holding out his hand.

He looked almost startled that she had been found so quickly. That veil his liege had placed over her... There was no reason it should have failed.

Aveline looked at Kael, and something in his expression made her pause.

He looked worried.

Not just alert. Not just cautious.

Scared.

"Shadow Spider..." Aveline looked at him, her voice quiet but sharp with sudden fear. "Is my life in danger?"

Kael froze.

On his face, she saw the alarm clearly enough, but there was something else there too—something she could not quite name. Surprise, perhaps. Or unease.

He had not expected her to see through it so quickly.

Kael frowned, more confused now than before. "Did you touch anything by the window?" he asked.

There should ne no one who could take the Aurelion Lattice other than the prince himself. Had the King found it? Or... was she somehow powerful enough to take down that?

He had no clue why his first instinct was that she took it down accidentally, but he wanted to make sure.

Even as the words left him, a small portal shimmered open behind Aveline. From within it, a folded parchment slipped out and drifted gently to the floor.

Kael’s eyes narrowed the moment he saw it.

A message from his liege.

He bent quickly, picked it up, and unfolded it.

[Bring her to your mansion. I have a shielded carriage ready for her.]

The handwriting was unmistakable.

Kael looked up sharply, glancing around the room. He could feel his liege’s presence nearby—not in the room, not visible, but close enough to make the air feel different.

So His Highness was already here.

And yet, stubborn as ever, he still refused to appear before Lady Aveline.

Aveline’s gaze lingered on the parchment in Kael’s hand. She still could not quite believe how quickly they could send messages like that, but something else bothered her more.

"Is that... Theron?" she asked, unconsciously wetting her lips.

She had decided not to let him affect her so much. And yet he still did.

What was she supposed to do about that?

Kael caught the hope in her eyes and swallowed hard. She looked almost like a child waiting for a sweet she had been promised. He didn’t have the heart to crush that look.

But he had to listen to his liege.

"It’s from my father," he said carefully. "He wants me to take you to the Vantaris mansion."

The change in her face was immediate. Her smile vanished. The light in her eyes dimmed, so quickly it almost made Kael wince.

And just like that, he regretted the lie.

"Oh?" Aveline said, turning her face away.

Why had she even expected anything else from him?

"Get up. We have to leave soon," Kael said.

Aveline lowered her gaze and looked at Hamilton instead.

Kael watched her and, for a brief moment, she looked exactly like a child who had been denied candy and was trying very hard to pretend she was fine. He let out a quiet breath.

"It is getting late," he said, reaching for her arm. "We have to leave before it gets more dangerous."

Aveline stood, but her mind was already elsewhere. "Who wants me dead?" she asked, slipping out of his hold before he could lead her away.

She turned back toward the bed.

She needed to pack her things. The gifts Theron had bought her were still there, and if she had known he would leave her so suddenly, she would have held onto the rest of them more tightly.

Kael shut his eyes for a moment and exhaled again.

She was like a river—there was no forcing her against her current. He could only follow along, or risk making everything worse. So he gave in and helped her pack.

"That is what we are trying to figure out," he said, and the word we slipped out before he could stop himself. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Aveline’s fingers paused over the bouquet of roses Theron had bought for her.

We?

Her head lifted slightly.

"Theron knows I am in danger, right?" she asked.

Kael’s hand froze over the bag he had been about to lift. He cursed himself inwardly. He had slipped, and she had heard it.

"That thing at the window..." she continued, her voice sharpening as pieces began to fall into place. "Something was over that window. It broke when I touched it. That was Theron, wasn’t it?"

Her breath quickened as realization rushed through her.

"He did not leave me... did he?" she asked, her eyes widening now with a hope she had not allowed herself to name. "He is watching over me. He wants to protect me, right?"

Kael could not bear to look into those clear eyes and say nothing.

He took her by the arms and gently but firmly pulled her away from the room. Hamilton scrambled up her skirt and disappeared into her pocket, though Aveline barely noticed.

Her mind had already caught hold of one thought and refused to let it go.

"Is my life in danger because of him?" she asked, her throat tightening. "Is that why he is staying away from me?"

The question hurt her as she said it.

She had believed one thing after another, each more painful than the last. That he had abandoned her. That she meant nothing. That he had simply left.

But now...

Maybe it was the opposite.

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"He is protecting me, isn’t he?"

That must be why he had told her not to speak his name to anyone.

Kael looked at her, wondering how he should answer her... And for the first time, he did not know how to lie.