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“Do you want me to kiss someone, Poison?” he murmurs, his voice a velvet whisper that wraps around me and holds me captive.

He swipes his thumb across my lip and my breath hitches. My eyes dart to his lips, and something sharp twists in my chest. The thought of him kissing someone else—of his mouth on someone else’s—makes my stomach churn in a way I don’t want to examine too closely.

I force myself to meet his gaze again, my expression carefully neutral, even as my heart pounds in my chest. “Yes.”

He searches my face intently, as if trying to pierce through the charmed facade I have in place. For a fleeting, breathless moment, his eyes linger on my lips and the press of his thumb deepens. Then, a bitter smile curls across his mouth, and he pulls his hand away.

“I’ll pass the details along to Maxim,” he says, turning, dismissal dripping from every word.

And I hate how easily I let it end there.

I can almost feel the weight of his gaze burning into my back as I retreat, but I don’t dare look over my shoulder.

It’s only when I’m back in my room, the door clicking shut behind me, that I realize he didn’t agree.

Chapter 27

Aella

I falter as I emerge from the stairwell, my gaze sweeping over Lyxander and his kin, who have all gathered at the top of the tower. The morning light barely filters through the haze hovering beyond the archways, but it’s enough to highlight the arcs of their wings.

Gods, their wings.

Kato’s sleek feathers glimmer a velvety gray. Rhaya’s are tawny brown, the edges dipped in umber, like brushstrokes streaking down her back. Silas and Cynna both have wings of pristine white, just like Lyxander’s.

My gaze rests on Cynna, and I grapple with the contrast before me—the court lady who once stood as my rival now transformed into this mythical figure, her wings unfurled at her back. I suppose I’d known she was one of the Harpaurai when she turned up last night, but seeing her like this makes it real in a way I can’t quite articulate.

“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” The voice cuts softly through the air, drawing my attention as Titaia stops at my side.

“That’s an understatement.” I turn to face her, and I’m struck by the expression she wears. It’s so unguarded—so achingly soft—that it makes my chest tighten. She looks so different from the night I last saw her in Eretria; there’s a color to her cheeks that had never been present before, a new gentleness to her stance. She mentioned back then that she was fleeing the Vilean Court. Fleeing Keres and the consequences she would have faced for freeing me. “How are you here, Titaia?”

“That is a story that will require more time and wine. But I can tell you when you return.”

My brow furrows. “You’re not coming with us?”

“I’m not meant to be here. So I’ll be hiding in the tower.”

There’s a scoff, and my eyes snap toward Silas.

“Which is exactly why you should have remained in Kosmos,” he says, before muttering something under his breath.

“Mind your tongue, brother.” Cynna’s gaze sharpens on him, then her eyes thaw as she shifts them to Titaia. “Don’t go outside, Taia. We shouldn’t be long.”

My eyebrows climb as Titaia flashes me a smug smile, before she waves a hand and heads down the stairwell. That is a development we will definitely be discussing later.

“All right,” Lyxander says, and I turn to find him pinning everyone with a hard stare. “Whatever disagreements or misgivings you’re clinging to, leave them here. Once we leave this tower, we’re a united front. Understand?”

Everyone nods, apart from Kato. He smirks, wings flexing behind him. “It’s as if you think I’d deliberately cause trouble.”

“You would,” Rhaya mutters. “But hopefully not today.”

Cynna steps to the edge of the platform, her wings stretching wide, and leaps into the open air. Silas follows, and the pair vanish into the hazy sky without looking back.

I exhale slowly.

Rhaya turns to me, her amber eyes softening. “You’ll be fine, Aella. If we didn’t think you could handle it, we would have walked.”

There’s something undeniably grounding about her presence, like she’s the anchor this chaotic group so desperately needs.