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“Taly, don’t move!” the Queen snarled, and Taly backed up another step. “Just put the mimic down,” she said a bit more gently, like she was negotiating. “Put it down and move away. For once in your life, please don’t question me, child.”

“A mimic?” Taly looked down at Calcifer. “Is that what you are?”

Azura held out a hand. “Give it to me, Taly. That is a direct order from your High Lady.”

Taly clutched Calcifer closer to her chest. The Queen had told her to start training her instincts, and right now, her instincts were telling her that her new friend was in danger. “I don’t understand.”

“And that is my fault, I suppose. I didn’t think their kind would be able to find their way into this world.” Azura took a cautious step forward. Her aether dimmed but didn’t extinguish. “That is a mimic. It’s an eldritch beast, a creature that lives alongside the Weave. They only ever come to our world to feed.”

“On what?” Taly watched as the Queen edged closer. “I’ve tried everything, but he won’t eat.”

“That’s because it doesn’t want food. It wants time aether.”

Taly blinked. “What?”

“You heard me.” Azura’s eyes never left the mimic. “It feeds on time aether—us. That one is small right now, but when it’s older, it will be impossible to track and even harder to kill, and believe me, girl, it will drain you without remorse.”

Taly held up her hand, letting Calcifer climb onto her upturned palm. His hind legs splayed out to the sides as he tilted his head. “He doesn’t look dangerous.”

“Because it’s young—newly hatched. This is the only point in their life cycle when they’re vulnerable. I don’t know what drew this one here, but we need to kill it.Now. While there’s still time.”

Azura was almost close enough to grab him, so Taly plucked Calcifer up by the scruff of his neck, placing him back on the table. Reaching for the plate she’d brought up from the kitchen, she overturned its contents as she bit down on her thumb.

The Queen’s power guttered, and she looked on in mute horror as Taly smeared a trail of blood across the white porcelain.

Calcifer immediately pounced, making the strangest little purring sound as he began to lap at the plate. Azura had been right. He wanted time aether.

At least, that would make feeding him easy.

“His name is Calcifer,” Taly said. “And I don’t care if he is dangerous. The Sanctorum judges people based on the things theycoulddo rather than what they’ve done. I won’t be the same.”

Azura stumbled back a step. “You’re insane,” she murmured. Then, louder: “Do you not understand? That thing willeatyou when it’s grown. Do you have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever?”

“If I did, I probably wouldn’t have ended up here.”

Azura only frowned.

Point. Set. Match.

Before the Queen could lodge another complaint, Leto drifted into the room, pausing in the doorway. The set of her shoulders immediately stiffened; her glow slightly dimmed. The tea service she held in her ghostly hands began to rattle.

“Leto,” Azura hissed. “Please talk some sense into her.”

Leto looked from the Queen to Taly to Calcifer and back again. “I believe,” she said after what seemed like an eternity, voice soft and careful, “that the Lady Caro has often spoken of a pet named Calcifer.”

“That’s a housecat,” Azura whispered harshly, as if Taly wasn’t right there.

“Weassumedit was a housecat,” Leto corrected just as quietly, drifting to Azura’s side. “It was never explicitly stated.”

“No,” Azura said to Leto. “No, no, no. It’s too dangerous—”

“Consider the timeline, Majesty.”

Azura hesitated at that, a frown creasing her brow. She and Leto exchanged a glance, something unspoken passing between them.

“Fine,” Azura finally relented. Turning back to Taly, she said, “If you’re intent on gambling with your life, there’s not much I can do. But I don’t want to see that thing outside of this tower. You keep it away from me, away from the fairies, away from… everything.”

And with that, Azura turned on her heel and swept out of the room. A moment later, the door to the apartment slammed.