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My eyes lift, searching out the scorch marks at the corner of one tapestry. Put there by my hand, when in rage over the news, I lay waste to this chamber while I replayed every mistake that led us there.

She’d stood and watched, then stepped in front of me and pressed a hand to my chest.

“You’re no good to anyone if you break,” she’d said, and channeled my frustrations elsewhere.

There was nothing soft about it. Just heat, and breath, and another body close enough to keep me grounded. We nevermentioned it afterward. She never used it against me. Just met my eyes the next morning and passed me a map.

Gone, like so many others.

My familiar recoils, withdrawing from pain it cannot stop. Not physical, but the memory presses too deep to defend against.

“How many more?” I need to know. I need to carry the weight of each name.

Varam sighs, and sets down his glass with such delicate care it betrays the tremor in his hand.

“Too many.” His eyes fix on a point beyond my shoulder. “Tallis fell defending the southern sanctuaries, took six Authority soldiers with him before they cut him down. Nerin and Savril were betrayed by informants in the western territories—hanged side by side while their families were forced to watch. Kelren’s brother, Renth, was captured during an infiltration mission. They say he lasted sixteen days under questioning.” His voice drops to a whisper. “The list is long, Sacha. Longer than one night allows.”

The use of my given name rather than my title speaks to the depth of his emotion. Not Shadowvein Lord, the Vareth’el, or Veinwarden commander now, but two men facing what remains of a war we didn’t finish.

“But still, you persisted.”

“What choice did we have?” He shrugs. “Surrender wasn’t an option. Not after what we’d already sacrificed.”

He means me. The cost of my capture. The absence they survived. The belief they chose to keep breathing.

He tops up his glass, then drains it. “The Authority hasgrown complacent over time. They believe the Veinwardens gone, and assign any attacks to patrols as bandit activity.” His eyes meet mine, and a spark lights deep behind them. “But with you back, we can rebuild. Take back what was ours.”

He leans back, tapping the side of his glass. “Tell me about the woman. She doesn’t belong here. Where does she fit into all this?”

It’s a question I’ve been waiting for, and Varam is the only one brave enough to speak it aloud.

“Her name is Ellie. She responded to my summoning spell. It took the last of what I held before they sealed me away. I thought it failed. But the spell took form. It reached into the darkness, searching for someone who could break me free.”

“And she did this?”

“More than that. She crossed worlds to reach me.”

Varam frowns. “Another world entirely? Not just beyond the Great Divide?”

“A different world, yes. She says she was in a place calledChicagoone moment, and in the Sunfire Dunes the next. She opened the tower door when no one here could even see it.”

“Interesting. Maybe the laws that bind us don’t touch someone like her?”

“I believe that’s why the spell found her. And why she may matter to what comes next.”

“Can you trust her?” His question cuts to the heart of his concern, though what lies beneath remains unspoken.Can you afford another vulnerability? Not when the last one cost my freedom.

I could lie. Offer theeasy reassurance he wants to hear. But he deserves more than that.

“Her only goal is to return home. She believes helping me might lead to discovering how that can be accomplished.” I turn the glass in my hand, watching how the liquid catches the light. “She saved me when she had every reason not to. She’s risked her life since arriving here, despite having no stake in our conflict. No knowledge of what we fight for.”

“And will being here help get her home?”

My fingers tighten around the glass.

“Perhaps.” I don’t share my deeper suspicion—that the summoning forged a bond more complicated than I yet understand. “For now, our purposes align.”

Varam nods, accepting my words without argument. “What is our immediate plan? The network has been splintered. Many we once trusted are gone.”