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“That was the message, Prince Doman. Nothing. Please, listen to it.”

Doman steps forward. He stands before her, towering, the golden crown gleaming against his soaking wet hair. “Do you think the Toad Kingdom shares your qualms? They’ve begun their own tests. And unless we give them this warning, they will continue. They will come to Pentaris, with ships that can turn your planet intonothing,and pull you all into the void. Usingthe Planet-Killers is the only way to stop them. The test will continue. There is no other path.”

“You’re a Prince, Doman. You’re not a God.” Aeris has regained her composure, her face an icy mask.

“I am what I need to be, to end this war and keep you safe from forces you don’t understand. Move aside, Aeris of Etherion,” he orders, his voice cold, and she steps away from the float. Doman steps onto it and turns, extending his hand to me, pulling me on.

The float coasts through the city, back through the packed streets, but I feel the gazes of the Etherions in a new way. The masses staring at me make me feel like an alien in a strange world. We’re silent as we pass through the crowds, silent as we return to the vessel, and we sit looking out through the air-shield as we ascend through the abyss and into the clearer waters above. Up and up we go, and I’m unsettled as we rise through the oceans. I yearn for the rays of the sun on my body, for fresh air, far away from that dank cave.

As the sun’s light glows through the ocean surface, Doman turns to me.

“Aeris believes the Planet-Killers are certain death for the universe. And when you believe something so deeply, any evidence reinforces your position. But the Toad kingdom has tested their weapons, and life goes on. If she was right, the krakens would have shown me what they saw. They would have shown me it, to stop me.”

“They were terrified. Of you. Of us.”

I feel like I’m in a nightmare. Only this time, I’m the monster hunting down a dreamer.

Doman shakes his head, his thick, wet mane of blond hair cascading. “Or they were terrified of the violence they saw in my past and my future. Pentaris has been blissfully spared this war. Now the krakens have seen, firsthand, what battle is. They haveseen the wrath of Obsidian.” He swallows, and there’s a strange vulnerability to him. “I do not bring these horrors, Adriana. I stand against them.”

I shiver, but as we surface, the light of the sun feels harsh, making me blink as my eyes adjust.

Doman turns to me, and he raises his hand, gently stroking his fingers up my neck and under my chin, so tender as he slides my gaze upwards to meet his fiery blue eyes. “I need to know you believe that. Everyone else… I let their hate wash over me. But you… I can’t have you fear me, like those creatures did.”

“I don’t think you’re evil,” I whisper, and his eyes glow in response. A week ago, I would have viewed him as the incarnate of the most dangerous evil that exists in this universe, the man who thinks he is good and who will justify anything to win.

Now, I’ve seen him laid bare by guilt and fear, and he made his choice. He’s risking everything for two innocent lives. Whatever the krakens saw in him, they were wrong.

The warship rests easily on the waters, a glowing dot against the vast expanse, and our float moves closer, until the huge, yawning bay is a foot away. Aurelian soldiers await us, like statues, military discipline as we step onto the metal floor of the bay.

I glance towards the hallway that will lead to my ship, but Gallien turns to me, his sharp eyes searching me. “Would you dine with us?”

“I don’t much care for an Aurelian feast,” I say, imagining sitting at the side of the three, while his army stretches out in front of us.

“Then in our quarters,” say Titus.

I pause. The little chamber in my ship is familiar. A simple meal, tucking away in bed. This last week has passed in a blur. I had thought they would be stopped by the magma flows in thefirst ritual, and now I see how easily they crossed that barrier, how relentless they are in their pursuit of what they want.

I shouldn’t make it any easier for them…

But I feel like I am just starting to know them. Not as warriors, not as princes, but deep down, what makes them unique.

“Alright. I’ll join you for dinner. Just let me get changed.”

Gallien smiles, and his eyes roam over my gray uniform, in that hungry, unashamed way of the Aurelians. A human would be embarrassed to be caught so obviously checking me out. “You would be perfection in an ivory dress.”

I raise a brow. “I didn’t take you for a fashion expert.”

He smiles. “I’ve imagined you in a thousand different ways, Adriana. Would you allow me to send a dress down?”

I cross my arms. “I’d rather not be stuck in a pleasure dress. I’ve heard it’s distracting.”

“More for us than you for,” grins Doman, the dark depths of the ocean cave disappearing from him. He is a titan of marble, a golden Viking God, and I feel the deep unease of the cave dissipating. He has that way about him. He’s like a shield.

“Very well. I will not send down a pleasure dress,” says Gallien, and I give him a suspicious look, then go through the white tunnels back to my ship. There’s a cleanness to the ship, a brilliance that used to feel oppressive. After the dark, murky depths of the caves, I am glad to be back in their warship.

It’s a thought that makes me shake my head. The fear I felt when my little ship entered their bay, the way the Imperator felt like a prison. Now it feels like an armor.

I shower in my tiny bathroom, cleansing myself of the saltwater, and pull on my bathrobe when there is a knock at the door.