Riftborn. Different species, different shapes, all carrying that same underlying tension I remember. Purpose. Readiness. No one here is idle unless they’ve earned the right to be.
A few glance at me as I pass—some with curiosity, some with recognition, a few lingering just long enough to make it clear I’m not exactly hard on the eyes, even half broken. No one stops me, which is good. I don’t have the patience for conversation right now. I have questions.
And exactly one person I want answers from.
Varek.
My molars press together as I make my way deeper into the settlement.
He’s been avoiding me.
Not deliberately. Not in a way anyone else would notice. He’s been with me every night, like he always does, checking on me, making sure I’m breathing, not actively dying, not about to do something stupid like rip out my own stitches.
But during the day?
Gone.
Command meetings. Patrols. Planning sessions. Whatever it is he’s doing to keep this entire operation from collapsing in on itself.
I get it, which still pisses me off. Because there’s one thing he hasn’t done: explain.
I turn down another corridor, moving carefully as the ground slopes slightly underfoot.
Aelith.The image hits again, clearer now.The prince standing in that courtyard. Bound, but not broken. Choosing—choosing—to walk back into the palace with his human mate at his side.
For me.
For the exchange.
For whatever plan Varek apparently has running through that head of his.
I exhale through my nose. “Yeah,” I mutter. “That’s a conversation we’re having.” Because I’m not stupid. That wasn’t just a trade—not really.
Aelith going back to the palace? That’s not a loss. Not for someone like him. Not for someone raised inside that system, who knows every corridor, every weakness, every person worth watching.
That’s infiltration. It has to be.
But that raises about fifty other questions.
What’s the plan?
What’s he actually meant to do once he’s inside?
And more importantly?—
What the hell did Kael and Sonny find in the citadel?
The break-in wasn’t for fun. Kael and Sonny didn’t nearly get themselves killed just to prove they could pull it off. They were after something.
Records.
Scrolls.
Information about the rifts.
About how people end up here.
About whether they can leave.
