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Kato fell back in his chair, arms crossed and grinning. It was indeed a clever way to send a message. And dramatic. Both things he respected.

And the starting glamour, just the way that it moved, the Sun and the Moon caught in their celestial dance—he looked to Aimee and began to clap. Slowly.

He also respected talent.

Aimee smirked, sitting up straighter.

Taly was shaking—and doing her best to hide it—when they finally reached their box. They took their seat in the row below. Kato’s eyes immediately went to the crown in her hair.

A human wearing the Ghislain sigil, walking on the heir’s arm and sitting beside him. And with his scent upon her, and hers on him, with the way he was touching her—courtly yet attentive, the hand at her waist low enough to signal possession…

Another message, and as Kato surveyed certain members of the gathered nobility, it had been received. Skylen’s heart—and, more importantly, his crown—were no longer available. Claimed by a human, no less. Certain courtiers didnotlook happy.

Kato arched a brow at his brother.I hope you’re ready for what you just started.

Skye only shrugged as he took his seat beside her, the portrait of arrogant, male pride. A mask, a persona, but no one could say he didn’t wear it well. A few well-placed glances, each laden with casual venom, had those certain people quickly looking away.

People were still cheering, still clapping and stamping their feet. Ivain waited until Sarina took her seat in the front row of their section to hold up a hand.

The room immediately quieted. And in the silence, he said simply, “Well, let’s get on with it then.”

All you have to do is walk, Sarina had said. Walk, and don’t trip, and oh, don’t forget tosmile.

Taly took a shaky breath. Her heart was still racing, pounding against her ribs, as Ivain launched into his opening remarks. The worst was over, but she was still considering walking Sarina off the edge of a cliff for having ever talked her into this—while smiling, of course.

The nobility listened with practiced boredom as Ivain first listed their victories, both inside and outside the city walls. The battles they’d won, the people that were still trickling in day after day, their ever-widening perimeter, safe enough now that the hunters would soon be allowed to resume. He told them about the upcoming Aion Gate connection, the help that would be available on the other side, knowing they would need that small bit of hope.

Because the bad news was coming.

Taly scanned the faces that lined the terraces, aware of the murmurs and furtive glances clearly aimed at her. She wondered if they would still call her a hero if they knew what lay beneath the glamour—if they saw the truth of her: a time mage and a coward who never meant to save anyone. How quickly would their faith shatter once they realized it had been given to the wrong person?

I’m changing my vote on the dress.

Taly’s eyes shot to Skye. One corner of his mouth lifted. She hadn’t actually heard him speak. It was more a shape, an idea, that appeared in her head.

The bond. It was a new development, being able to speak this way. Yesterday morning, she’d awoken to Skye gathering her to him from behind, and then, still fuzzy with sleep, the words…smells good…had suddenly slid into her thoughts, as lazy as the man nuzzling her neck.

She probably should’ve been worried about how strong the bond was getting and howfast. But something had shifted between them, something that had maybe always been a little out of balance. In the wake of it, she was having a hard time mustering the same level of concern she’d had before.

Plus, the whispers had quieted since she let him back in—like there was only room for one voice in her head that wasn’t hers. She far preferred this one.

From the corner of her eye, Taly glanced at him.You said you liked the dress,she spoke into his mind.

Oh, I do… but so does every other man in this room.

Taly didn’t allow herself to frown, not with so many people watching. She only raised a single, incredulous eyebrow.What the hell are you on about now?

He didn’t answer, but she felt a nudge at the back of her head, right in that space he now occupied. And when she let him in, let him push through just a fraction of his magic—

Noise

Taly blinked and gasped in a breath.

Shards, how did he ever manage to hear anything over all the damnnoise?

She remembered how muted everything had been as a human, how vivid it became when she turned Fey. But this—it wasn’t just sharper; it wasmore. A whole new world of sensations and awareness opening before her, layer by impossible layer.

Snippets of whispered conversation from the farthest terraces, shuffling feet, even the stamping and snorting of the horses outside—all of it competed with the strange hollow wheezing of a thousand sets of lungs expanding and the overlapping, rhythmic thuds of a thousand beating hearts.