“It’s beautiful,” I breathed, my thumb tracing along each intwined link in quiet awe. I had never owned anything like it—something I hadn’t taken, but which had been given, meant just for me. Which made it more precious than anything I’d ever stolen.
He watched me with a quiet satisfaction, as though my reaction were the true reward. “A prize for your efforts.”
I lingered on it a moment longer before lifting my gaze to his, struck by the unexpected softness in his expression. How could he look at me—a common thief—with such tenderness? “But I’ve never won our game.”
His smile deepened, something almost vulnerable flickering beneath it. “Little do you know that in every encounter, you’ve emerged victorious…leaving me at your mercy.”
The memory faded, leaving my heart reaching for it. Evander was still watching me, bearing a look as though he knew exactly the moment I’d relived. I yearned to ask him about it, but before I could he hastily crossed towards the far side of the chamber. “There’s something else we should investigate,” he said.
I didn’t immediately move to follow. He was trying to regain control of a situation that was firmly mine and I had no intention of surrendering it so easily, not when he already held far more influence over me than I’d ever yielded anyone before. I’d agreed to work with him, but that didn’t mean trusting him. Especially not now.
“Your warning before I touched the mural gave you away,” I said. “It seems I’m not the only one familiar with this room. You claimed to know this castle’s secrets and promised to share them. Yet when we find one you clearly recognize, you say nothing and pretend ignorance.”
He glanced back at me, lips slowly curving. “I promised information,” he said. “Not the exposure of secrets that aren’t mine to tell.” His gaze sharpened slightly. “And I’m not the only one keeping secrets.”
I held his stare, refusing to allow him to win this battle.
“You saw something when you touched the mural,” he continued. “I know you did. You can lie, if you like. But each time you do, it only makes me more inclined to return the favor.”
I lifted my chin. “Allow me to be the one to determine the value of your lies.”
A familiar, measured smirk touched his mouth as he turned away again. “Very well. I’m a man of my word, especially when you changed the rules by which we’re playing when you touched that mural. It’s time to finally give you what you’vebeen searching for since you arrived: a way forward…or have you grown tired of chasing answers?”
A challenge, my favorite. I stepped towards him to meet it head on. “I don’t chase,” I said.
His smile sharpened. “No,” he said softly. “You steal.” With that, Evander turned and led me towards the doorway that felt like a boundary I couldn’t see. This time I hesitated only a heartbeat before following.
The moment we crossed the threshold, something shifted, and in it I knew—whatever waited beyond this room was not the same world I had left behind.
CHAPTER 19
Ididn’t recognize the world when we stepped beyond the chamber. The shift after each cursed sleep was never gentle. Reality adjusted each time I awoke—a corridor that felt too long or too short, a detail just slightly wrong, as though someone had moved an object from its usual place. Enough to create the subtle sense something was off, but not enough to name.
Today was different, creating the sense I’d woken into an entirely different castle, with only the mural room—the place I had fallen asleep—serving as the fragile thread tying the two realities together.
It had been harder to notice when trapped within the chamber itself. The empty, windowless room had been stripped of anything that might anchor my senses…except for Evander’s presence. He had a way of turning even the smallest space into something vivid and alive, as though the world bent subtly around him.
But the moment we crossed the threshold, I could no longer ignore the differences. Gone was the vibrancy from the dream. The color had almost entirely disappeared, leached from the stone and air. Whereas the dream had been sharp with starlightand shadow, this world was muted, dulled to shades of grey and dim gold. Even the light seemed reluctant to exist here, thin and lifeless as it spilled across the corridor. The deafening silence pressed in from every side, swallowing even the faint echo of our footsteps.
“Where are we?” I asked breathlessly.
Evander didn’t answer at once. He stood still, taking in our altered surroundings not with surprise, but with the quiet focus of someone observing details that hadn’t been noticed in a long time.
“The world itself hasn’t changed,” he said at last. “The structure of reality is merely becoming…unstable.”
“It’s more than unstable.” I gestured sharply around us. “Lookat it.” The difference was so obvious it was a wonder he could stand there and speak of it so calmly.
He smiled faintly. “Always one to contradict me. For as obvious as they currently appear, these changes are not new. You’ve only just begun to notice them.” His thoughtful gaze flicked back to me. “Though I admit I find you rather endearing like this when you’re flustered and indignant.”
My cheeks warmed. “Is now truly the time for theatrics? I told you before—your charm won’t work on me.” It was perhaps my gravest lie.
“Pity,” he said lightly. I opened my mouth to snap a retort, but he lifted a hand, cutting me off. “As entertaining as this is, time is not so generous. If you’re willing to be patient, you will have the explanation you seek.” His gaze sharpened slightly. “What I meant is: the world hasn’t changed at all, you’re only seeing it as it’s always been.”
I stared at him. That…couldn’t be true. I would have noticed the lifelessness, the way the world seemed to exist as nothing more than an outline of a painting, absent of color and form.
“This can’t be real,” I insisted, more quietly now.
He didn’t answer, only watched me, head tilted slightly, as though waiting, for what I didn’t know.
