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Boots that would never lose their footing—she outgrew them.

A guardian breeze to keep away biting insects that caused rashes and carried disease—that, at least, she still had and used every summer.

Skye still remembered the night that a loud crash awoke him. Taly met him in the space of hallway between their rooms.

“What do you think it is?” she asked, eight years old with rag curlers falling out of her hair.

Skye shook his head. “I don’t know. You should probably—”

But Taly was already gone.

“Or, you know, we could walk straighttowardsthe danger.” And with a huff, he followed her. Because what else was he supposed to do? Let her go on her own? She might fall down and bleed to death.

Under the cover of darkness, they snuck through the house out into the coolness of the night. Dew-kissed grass brushed their ankles as they followed the scent of smoke and magic through the fog. He could still smell it to this day.

He remembered walking for what seemed like hours, venturing beyond the outer meadow into the forest until finally they found light.

Among the trees, Sarina was a bright flame. Ivain, cloaked in violet shadows, flickered like her dark twin. As they drew nearer, Skye could see that between them, a figure dressed in black was caught in a vortex of their magic.

Aether and fire melded seamlessly, light and darkness flowing, ebbing, and giving way to the other.

Taly ducked around him. Skye couldn’t stop her. But she was laughing, and Sarina smiled as she opened her arms and lifted her, flames peeling back in welcome.

It was not the first assassin to have found him, Ivain explained. All this time, Skye had been waiting, dreading the day, but, apparently, he’d already been discovered. Others had come before, and they had been dealt with before he ever became aware.

Indeed, the reason his mother chose Ivain as a mentor was twofold. Tempris was remote, that was true, but Ivain was, well,Ivain. The one they called White Fox and Shadeslayer. He trained the best because he was the best. And as the bodies piled up, the noble Houses were, more and more, having trouble recruiting mercenaries. The frequency by then had dwindled to a few sporadic, foolhardy attempts. This was the first in months.

Something shifted in that moment. Skye’s compass veered and pointed in a new direction. Towards Harbor Manor and…home. He was familiar with the word, but he’d never truly understood the feeling. Until then.

Home meant safety. It was a place filled with people who didn’t leave.

As the days passed, the feeling didn’t go away. It grew stronger. The years resonated with the cadence of lessons, the aroma of shared meals, and always music. Taly couldn’t get enough of it…

The silence wasn’t just in his head. It was in his chest, in his bones. It crept into the spaces where her presence had been, lingering like an open wound.

More than silence, it was absence. The bond was gone, and with it the music that had been her—the hum he hadn’t even realized he was listening to until it stopped.

Skye was almost used to the feeling of falling.

Stars and space and infinite black wheeled past him. Then his boots splashed through water as he hit solid ground.

Kato came through next, dropping from the air above the sunburst riftway hidden beneath the waves. Eula followed.

The shoreline stretched wide, a sweeping crescent of rocky beach kissed by the foamy tide. Just offshore, the ocean deepened to a rich blue-green, the riftway’s glow flickering beneath the water, casting shimmering rays across the surface.

It gave a final pulse before extinguishing completely. A chill lingered, threading through the tide.

The rest would come later—hopefully. Sarina and Ivain had stayed behind to rally reinforcements, assuming the nobility didn’t stall. A small strike force made more sense anyway. Theycould get in, grab Taly, and be gone before anyone realized the back door had been left open.

Waves crashed. The air was thick with salt and the tang of seaweed. Gulls called overhead as they waded to shore, water dragging at their legs.

As one, they moved toward the cliffs, the setting sun at their backs.

A mile from the Aion Gate, a small force of shades and their keepers stood guard. Just where Cori had said. They were so shocked to see three shadow mages armed to the teeth surging across the valley, they never stood a chance.

Likewise, two Mechanica suits crouched against a rock, hidden beneath overgrown brush and weeds, and Skye had to admit—time mages could be useful when they weren’t being so contrary.

Kato and Eula took the suits. The plan was simple. While they created a distraction, Skye would sneak in close and find Taly. Maybe Aiden and Aimee too—they’d also turned up missing.