Part of her still held on to what they’d shared.
The realisation washed through him like warm rain, stirring something tender and dangerous in his chest.
Katell ignored his question. “And how do they treat you now?” she asked.
Nik offered a small shrug. “It’s not so bad. Leukos has my back.”
“You two are… friends?” she asked, looking between them.
Nik hesitated. How could he explain something so tangled? Leukos was like a brother to him—a long-lost brother whose trust he was still trying to regain. Nik had sworn himself to the rebellion and given up his soul so Leukos could reclaim his Gift. Yet walls remained between them.
Werethey friends?
“Yes,” Leukos said at last. It was the first thing he’d uttered since they entered, and the firm admission struck Nik deeper than expected.
Katell gave a slow nod. “On my way here, I passed through Bruna and saw the arena.” A flicker of vicious satisfaction curved her tone. “It was almost burnt down, and they’re tearing down the rest.”
Nik couldn’t stop the smug grin that spread across his face. “I have to admit I’m particularly proud of the damage your sister and I inflicted on it.”
Her brow arched, and he couldn’t help but indulge her. “Alena came looking for you and stumbled on me instead. She got me out of there along with every other slave and prisoner, Gifted or not. Even the Non-Humans.” He’d never forget that day: the smoke, the chaos, and Alena at the centre of it all—a slip of a girl draped in silk, wielding nothing but fierce determination and the kind of courage that made grown men pause. “Your sister is quite something.”
Katell’s features flickered with something—pride, maybe—but it vanished as quickly as it came. “She has a big heart,” she said, her tone unreadable. Then, more sharply: “I’m surprised she isn’t here to welcome me.”
A beat of silence followed, heavy with the weight of what neither of them wanted to say. Nik glanced at Leukos, unsure who should speak first.
“She isn’t here,” Leukos said flatly.
Katell frowned. “What? What do you mean she’s not here?” She resumed pacing, more agitated than before, sharp steps echoing off the walls. Then she spun and jabbed a finger at Leukos. “You were supposed to look after her!”
Nik flinched at her sudden anger, but Leukos didn’t even blink. His expression darkened, his jaw clenched.
“That’s rich, coming from you.” He scoffed, pushing off the wall and stepping forward.
Nik shifted instinctively, sliding between them. This wasn’t part of the plan. Leukos had promised to keep his distance, to stay calm. But that promise looked ready to snap.
“Alena isn’t my responsibility anymore,” Leukos continued, voice biting. “She makes her own choices now.” Then, with a cold curl of his lip, he added, “If you were so concerned about her well-being, maybe you should’ve stayed with her—instead of running off to join Dalmatius and his Black Helmets.”
Katell’s eyes blazed and, in an instant, she lunged at him. The chain at her ankle snapped taut with a harshclang, yanking her to a stop, but not before her fury slammed into the room like a wave.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” she snarled. Her chest heaved as she glared at him. “I thought Alena was dead! I thought you had killed her or that you’d both died escaping. How was I supposed to know she would come after me?”
Her voice reverberated through the room, but Leukos didn’t flinch. He was a marble statue in the face of her fury, unyielding.
“Because she’s your sister,” he shot back, his icy tone slicing through her anger. “And you should’ve had more faith in her.”
Katell’s breath hitched just for a moment. Then she turned her back on them, fists clenched at her sides, the muscles in her shoulders tense and trembling.
But Leukos wasn’t done. His control cracked, and his voice surged, raw and furious. “I watched her cry over you, day after day, sick with worry.”
Sharp, searing cold needled through Nik’s forearm beneath the leather arm guard, where the Mark shimmered just out of sight. A warning.
“She put herself in danger for you,” Leukos went on, his breath misting the air. “She snuck into the arena, joined the rebellion, and travelled to the Western Lands—all foryou!”
Magic rent the air. The pressure dropped. Frost bloomed across Nik’s skin, sinking needle-deep. He clenched his jaw and crossed his arms, masking the reaction. He couldn’t afford to draw attention to the frost creeping beneath the arm guard.
The temperature plummeted, but Nik barely felt the cold, not since the pact with the North Wind. What chilled him was something else entirely.
Tiny shards of ice formed in the air around Leukos, razor-sharp, suspended like a constellation of blades. They spun, orbiting him in a chaotic dance of glassy light, faster and faster.
