Varek inclines his head in thanks, but Aelith’s slow exhale grabs all our attentions.
The prince looks back at Varek. “That is not all,” he says. The shift in his tone has everyone’s undivided attention. “She believes the boy may be her fated.”
The words hit like a physical force.
For a heartbeat, the room freezes.
Then everything breaks.
“What?” Sonny snaps, pushing off the wall.
“That’s not—no,” Jack snaps, stepping forward without thinking, his entire posture changing in an instant. “Absolutely not.”
“He’s a kid,” Solan adds, his voice dropping into a tone so deadly, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “That’s not how that works.”
“It shouldn’t,” Shanae says.
Aelith doesn’t flinch under the reaction. If anything, he looks like he expected it. “She does not know for certain,” he says. “But she believes the possibility is sufficient to act upon.”
“To act upon?” Jack repeats, incredulous. “You mean what—lock him up until he’s old enough to confirm it?”
Aelith’s silence answers him.
The fury that follows is immediate and visceral.
“That’s insane,” Sonny says.
“That’s not just insane,” Jack adds, his voice hardening. “That’s fucking wrong.”
“That’s her,” I say quietly.
Jack’s hands curl into fists at his sides. “He’s twelve.”
“Yes,” Aelith replies.
“And you’re only telling us this now?” Sonny demands.
Aelith’s teeth grind. “I delivered the information as soon as I was capable of doing so.”
“Fucking princes,” Sonny mutters.
“Enough,” Kael says, stepping forward before the tension tips into something worse. His steady gaze locks onto Aelith. “Would it even be possible to know at his age?”
That question cuts through everything.
Because it matters. Because if there’s certainty, or even the possibility of it, that changes the stakes all over again.
Aelith shakes his head once. “Not definitively.”
“Among my people,” Varek says, his voice calm and measured, “the bond does not fully declare itself until maturity. Approximately twenty-four cycles.”
“So even if she’s right,” I say slowly, “she wouldn’t know for years.”
“Yes.”
A beat passes.
“And in the meantime?” Sonny asks.
