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I scrambled for a better view, almost falling off my rock.

My throat ached viciously. My lower lip trembled until I sank my teeth into it. But I couldn’t hide the tears rolling down my cheeks in twin rivers.

In the distance, behind the terrovians, Prisca and Lorian rode toward us on horseback, Galon and Marth by their sides.

Rekja rode near Prisca and Lorian, Thora on one side, Tor on the other.

And behind them was an army.

The army that had somehow made it across the pass before Regner’s foot soldiers. Fae, humans, and hybrids marching together for a better life.

And in the Sleeping Sea…Daharak Rostamir’s fleet slammed into Regner’s ships.

MADINIA

I’d lost track of time again.

When Miric left, Rythos had sat on my bed. Slowly,in a whisper so faint I’d barely heard him, he’d relayed their conversation.

Miric would try to find a way to get us out of here. But it would take some time. Time that Rythos needed to use to distract his brother. To bargain with him.

While Rythos’s cousin had warned that Brevan would be coming “soon,” it was still hours before the Arslan prince strolled through the main cell door.

“You know what I want,” he said, meeting Rythos’s eyes.

“My power only allows the council to feel friendship, Brevan. If they’ve continued to work to prepare our fleet, perhaps it is because they truly feel it is necessary.”

“Then remove your power and let us see what happens.”

“I will.”

Triumph flickered across Brevan’s face, almost too quickly for me to catch it. But I had.

“Your father sent you down here?” I smirked at him. “Why doesn’t he come down himself?”

Brevan ignored me. But several tiny lines appeared next to his eyes. Tension.

Rythos shot me a warning look before turning back to his brother.

“I will remove any remaining power from the council,” Rythos conceded, and I considered finding the cheese knife once more. “But only if you will agree to listen to what I have to say.”

Fury raged in his brother’s eyes. “I know what you will say. You want our fleet for your own use. Even after leaving this island so many years ago, you believe youcan now come back and take whatever you want.”

Rythos stared at him. “That’s what you think this is?”

Brevan’s expression grew flat once more. But Rythos let out a disbelieving laugh. “This is no power struggle. This is about the future of this continent.”

His brother paused. After a long moment, he waved his hand. “Then speak.”

And so Rythos spoke. He told his brother about meeting Prisca and learning she was the hybrid heir. He told him of the grasp Regner had on his kingdom—but that it would never be enough. He told him of the invasion of Gromalia, and how Rekja had been forced to concede the kingdom’s shining star to Regner’s soldiers.

He told him of Prisca and Lorian and their mating and marriage.

He told him of the barrier, and how bringing it down had given thousands of humans back their power.

Brevan had a chair brought in at one point, and food was delivered for all of us. I’d expected him to lose interest by now, but he was clearly a man of his word, because he gestured at Rythos to continue.

Likely, Brevan was simply toying with him.