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By the time it came to light that Lunara was somehow the next bleeding Keeper, Brand knew her. Trusted her. Loved her. His response had been helping her through the agony of discovering she was the very creature she’d loathed for decades. To promise—repeatedly—that he’d never let her drown beneath the weight of it.

She’d left him anyway, but that was beside the point. They worked it out.

And then he was taken.

There was no telling how he’d react now, stranger that she was to him. So, she kept Illamiata hidden from sight and never misted in front of him, hoping to hide as much of herself as possible.

That old and evil voice echoed through her mind again, something else it said in the chasm suddenly twisting with new meaning.

“You would bring that trinket here, into my domain? Interesting choice, little one. If only you understood what it was you had. The gift you were giving me.”

Illamiata vibrated in her chest, ever so slightly, as if it heard and hated the words too. As if its concern was the same.

What if Brand wasn’t the one they needed to worry about?

Lunara nodded at Lyriat, incapable of anything else.

“As I thought.” Lyriat rested his forearms on the table and steepled his fingers. “So, the plan…”

Brand glanced around the Great Hall, tamping down a rising panic as he searched for normalcy. Grounding. For anything in the evergreens outside the windows or the cracks between the flagstones that would help make this make sense.

Not from fear of what lay on the other side. Not really. The others told him most of what to expect and, though it shocked him to hear that dreadbeasts were real and roaming the Westrealm, he was ready enough. This was his purpose as an Imperial Son, after all.

No. He wasn’t scared, he was…confused, more than anything at the moment.

“There’s a portal nearer to the spot than Fanghold,” Thad said, “but it’s a wee bit of a mess ‘round there. Still better than the longer journey.”

The Thaddeus he knew was equal turns sad and childish since the death of his mother, Meliora. He regularly made rash decisions and got up to all sorts of nonsense. Liked games and pranks, or faffing about. Carried on endlessly about how bored he was, or how unfair it was to be left behind while Brand and his brothers saw to more serious matters.

The creature standing before him, passing out stems of flaxen wheat for their toll, was…not that.

His cousin was different, as surely as everything else. Brand noticed, of course, but not with the intent of accepting it. Of seeing the world with open eyes and acknowledging this reality as truth.

He wanted to crumple at the sight of new, blackened ink appearing from the collar of Thad’s robe to trail up his neck. At knowing he’d missed something so vital to his Wolflord family. At the years his cousin had aged in what was supposedly only a few months.

“You’ll get it back.”

Brand flinched at the sound of Fern’s voice beside him, and looked down to find her twirling that infernal mace. “Get what back?”

“Yourself,” she answered, unaware of the havoc she was wreaking inside him. “Lunara will see it done. For both of us, I’m sure.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The Fae laughed, a raspy, mocking thing. “You’re bad at lying. Also, keep hold of yourself, eh? Deep breaths or whatever else works for you. I like to pummel shit, personally.” She waved that away. “Doesn’t matter. My point is, I’d like to reiterate that I don’t give a flying fuck about you, twig dick. If you want to live to see the day you remember who you are, refrain from all that shadow fuckery. None of your creepy outbursts.”

Brand didn’t know whether to laugh or punch her. Instead, he settled for, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Please do. If I have to kill you, Lunara will be blimmin’ pissed and she’s my only hope for getting my own answers. So, don’t fuck this up for me.”

“Noted.”

“Oh, and another thing.”

Burning Solyrian, when would it end?

“If you wanted to…” She cleared her throat. “I mean, if you thought it might help, we could always go out to the practice⁠—”

“Are we all ready?” Hedda called out, interrupting the incessant Fae.