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“I tried not to,” he countered. “But when I thought of them hurting you, I couldn’t hide my fighting skills. You seemed too preoccupied to notice.”

“Maybe I didn’t want to notice. Maybe I wanted to consider myself the superior fighter.”

“You are the superior fighter.”

I huffed. “Fat lot of good it did us.”

“They bound and gagged us,” Navin reminded me. “But even without the gag, songs still don’t heal as fast as a Wolf’s shifting. Our lesser magic is only slightly faster than a normal, non-magical healer.” He stared up at the cloudy sky above us. “I thought for certain we were going to die.”

“We nearly did,” I said, the guilt seeping from my pores, leaving an invisible sticky shame that only I could see. I’d carried that shame, that panic, for months, thinking that I had led Navin into the Silver Wolves’ path, thinking that I was almost responsible for his death.

He leaned his shoulder into me. “You saved us.” I dropped my head into my hands, pain rolling off me. The memories flashed through my mind like flashes of lightning. “Sadie?”

“I thought I had put you in the worst danger of your life. I thought you were this sweet musician and I felt responsible for your suffering. I wassickthat I had done that to you, ruined someone so kind and pure. But you were never that, were you?” I stood too quickly. “I’m going to bed.”

Navin caught my arm as I spun.

“Remember what I said about you grabbing me,” I warned, but neither did I move.

Navin waited a breath before saying, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was. When we met, you were pretending to be a human, too, remember? We thought we needed to keep our true selves from each other then, but whatever burden you carry for letting me get hurt, I absolve you of it.” He touched a hand to his throat where I’d choked him. “And of the pain you’ve inflicted since,” he added with a chuckle. “I’ve known danger, known pain, my whole life.”

“I thought they were going to kill you,” I whispered, choking on the words. “And I thought it was my fault.”

“None of this is your fault,” he said. “I chose this life.”

“But you did not choose me!” My chest heaved, my heart cracking open as I laid it all bare for him. The truth echoed between us. He hadn’t chosen me, just kept me on a too-long string, reeling me in again and again. I still felt gripped by a fear and shame that I never needed to feel because he was never the person I thought he was.

I cleared my throat and folded my arms tighter around myself, not wanting to face him anymore and all the feelings still being unearthed inside of me. All of it was just a manipulation. All of it was from his songs and secret power. All of it was a lie. “Just... I’m going to bed.”

Sadie

The crack of a whip sounded overhead, and I shot up from my bed. The satin sheets slid down my body and my pulse raced as the thunder rolled in. It was lightning. Just a storm. I let my breathing slow. I was safe.

Or as safe as a prisoner surrounded by monsters that would tear her to pieces the moment she stepped outside could be.

The skies seemed to open, and a deluge of rain poured down. The sound was deafening, torrents falling from the sky. I leapt out of bed and threw open my door. Both ends of the hall were obscured by waterfalls of rain. Navin’s room was straight across the atrium, and I wondered if he lay awake in his own bed listening to water pour down from the roof.

My fingertips buzzed and I stalked toward that wall of water. Another rumble of thunder rolled in, echoing across the tiles. The reverberations shook through my body, and I braced myself against the wall. A flash of lightning lit up the whole space, and I saw the shadow of a figure on the other side of the water.

My chest rose and fell faster, knowing that exact silhouette. Was he coming for me? To check on me during the storm?

The deafening drum of thunder and clatter of rain was like a song all its own, pounding like a war drum and ratcheting up my pulse. I wondered if this storm song came with its own sortof magic, too. Time seemed to stand still, and I wondered if only for this moment the sounds could drown out my righteous anger, my wary heart. Maybe tonight I didn’t need my weapons drawn. I could pick them back up with the rising sun.

I reached my hand to the waterfall and Navin did the same in mirror to my own. We stood there in this strange limbo, neither of us seemingly wanting to break the spell. Finally, I extended a hand out through the water, the coolness soothing my hot skin, and that hand grabbed mine and pulled me through.

I let out a surprised laugh as Navin yanked me into the rainstorm. I stretched out my hands in supplication, feeling the thousand little droplets dance across my skin. He smiled at me, his chest heaving in unison to my own as the rain washed over us.

“Rahm Bek Annataf,” he said, closing his eyes and tilting his head skyward. “This storm comes only once a year.” He had to shout to be heard over the rain. “Every plant and animal in Lower Valta lives and dies by this storm.”

“Except for here,” I said, spinning in a circle, my hair flying out behind me, spraying water as I spun. My feet slipped on the tiles and Navin’s hand shot out and steadied my elbow. His laughter made my skin buzz along with the heavy rain massaging over my limbs.

“The rains of Rahm bless you,” he said. “The Songkeepers believed they were magical. Many a song was written in their honor.”

I could feel it. The magic consuming me, the storm seeming to wash everything else away.

Slicking my bangs out of my eyes, I paused to take in Navin’s now soaked-through shirt. It clung to the lean muscles of his torso, creasing around his biceps and pecs in a way that made it hard to look away. I knew my nightdress, too, was similarly glued to my muscles and curves.

“Can your magic control the weather?” I asked.