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While I’m grateful for the one-on-one time to help discover more of my Starwatcher powers, I don’t see why I would be worth keeping one of the most promising future military leaders off the battlefield.

Castor squeezes his eyes shut. His chest rises and falls in a deep breath. “He wants proximity to the Starwatcher.”

I don’t have to know who “he” is referring to. Elder Superior Markus. “More like control.”

Castor’s light blue eyes flick to mine. “That’s not why I do this; you have to know that,” he says quietly then takes a step closer.

A slight tremor reverberates beneath our feet.

Castor must have felt it too by the way he freezes.

The rest of the cadets party around us, oblivious to the miniature earthquake that just took place. A reverberance that I’m uniquely attuned to.

Atlys.

Where are you? I ask mentally, knowing that he cannot hear my thoughts unless I intentionally direct them outward.

Farther away from you than I would like to be, he answers back. And much farther than where that Watcher is standing.

You know Castor’s name, Atlys, I sigh.

I realize at that moment that I haven’t replied to the man in question. Meeting his gaze again, suddenly I notice how out of place he looks. A graduate returned to teach. To coach. To serve.

“I know,” I say on an exhale.

He looks at me, an undertone of something sad within his azure gaze, but then a small smile forms on his lips. “I should get going soon.”

I smile back, watching as he turns and makes his way to where Leaf and Ramona are still talking. A man trapped in a different cage from what he was born in but similar nonetheless.

Turning to the woods, I step away from the firelight and into the darkened shadows of the pines. Only when the sounds of the party are faint behind me do I spin. “I know you’re here.”

“Mmm, how could you tell?”

I spin in another direction, squinting my eyes into the darkness. “Oh, I’m not sure, maybe the earthquake.”

“It was that noticeable, was it?”

“To me, it was obvious.”

A pause, then a whoosh of air tickles the back of my neck. I whip around, heart picking up to an allegro.

There, standing nearly seven feet tall, is the Lord of the lowermost Underworld Territory, clad in all black, silver eyes smeared in dark war paint.

I do a double take.

“Atlys,” I say breathlessly and run into his outstretched arms. He scoops me up easily, and I wrap my legs around his waist.

“My beautiful Sunrise,” he says before crashing his lips into mine, as if starved for the very light he claims I am.

His darkness swallows me in turn, surrounding me with its heavy weight, like security and safety made corporeal.

I break apart from our kiss. “What are you doing here?”

He chuckles for a moment, then his eyes harden into a shield of solid steel. “I had to see you.”

“Couldn’t wait until the Spring Equinox, now could you?” I tease. Ever since I discovered the location of the third powerful relic—the Cebalrai Stone—we planned to go there together. Atlys could use his earth magic to help find the cave entrance while I use my Starwatcher abilities. It’s a simple plan, but it should work.

I pull myself closer to Atlys, hugging him with all the strength I can muster. I kiss the side of his neck softly, and he lets out a low moan. “I missed you too, Atlys, but you have to be so careful! We are on the Watch grounds. We could get caught!”