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I swallow hard, the eerie feeling still clinging to me like frost, but his explanation brings a fragile clarity. I take a deep breath and nod.

Lyxander steps back, but his gaze remains fixed on my face.

I attempt to study him, squinting as his features waver. “Why do you need to keep others away?”

“It’s safer that way.”

I purse my lips as I consider that. He’s right. It is safer. Wherever I end up, I’ll carve hundreds of wards—thousands, even—to keep people away.

“Makes sense.”

I keep walking, the heat in my body growing stronger and spreading beneath my skin.

He falls into step beside me, and I smile at Klem and Rios over my shoulder. Then I catch a glimpse of something in the corner of my eye—a flicker of white, like wings.

“Don’t look now,” I say under my breath. “But I think the cat is following us.”

Lyxander peers back at me. His eyes are stars. His hair is moonlight. As if he’s fallen right from the sky and the rest of him formed when he reached the ground.

“Aella.” His voice pulls me back, sharper this time, and I realize I’ve stopped again, my legs trembling beneath me.

“I’m fine,” I lie.

He steps closer, expression tight. “You don’t look fine.”

I wave him off, forcing my feet to move again, but each step feels heavier than the last. The heat in my body is unbearable now, a suffocating weight that makes the cold air feel distant, unreal.

“Your wards are broken. They’re making me…hot.” I reach for the clasp of my cloak and tear it off. I tug off a glove next, then my other comes free and Lyxander cradles my bandaged hand.

“We’re past the wards.” He touches my forehead with the back of his hand, and frowns. “Aella, you’re burning up.”

I blink at him. His face seems to shift, the sharp lines of his jaw softening, blurring, until he looks ethereal. Like he’s fallen from the sky itself. “And you’re…” I stumble. “Stars and moonlight.”

His eyes widen, and he glances down. “Fucking moonflower.”

I laugh, the sound light and breathless, as if it belongs to someone else. My fingers fumble at the bottom of my woolen tunic, and I pull it off, letting it fall to the snow.

“Stop.” Lyxander steps in front of me, blocking my path. “The leonai must have eaten moonflower recently. Its blood—”

I shake my head, the motion making the world tilt dangerously. “No…no, it’s fine. I just need to…” My knees buckle, and I stumble forward.

Lyxander catches me, his arms steadying me as the ground sways beneath my feet.

I blink up at him, my vision narrowing to the faint glimmer of his hair, the stars in his eyes. “You’re so bright.”

He curses under his breath, his grip tightening as he lowers me to the ground, then starts tugging off his own cloak.

“Aella, stay with me.”

I try to respond, but the words won’t come. The world rolls again, the edges folding inward, and the last thing I see is Lyxander’s face, his expression grim and determined, before the darkness swallows me whole.

Chapter 15

Aella

Heat gathers under my skin. I drift, untethered, through an ocean of sensations, each one brighter, sharper than the last. The smell of charred ash and pine lingers at the edges of my awareness. Something heavy presses down on my chest, an invisible weight that is both suffocating and grounding at the same time. I try to move, but my limbs are distant, like I’m sinking into myself.

Hands work gently, untangling strands of my hair. A voice rises, singing a lullaby I can’t quite comprehend. The words slip away, but the rhythm stays, soft as a breeze curling through the moment.