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Issa’s mouth curled at the edges. ‘Something like that.’

Zavei laughed. A dark, knowing sound, full of calculation. ‘We shall soon see how impressive he ends up to be.’

And just like that, he took his leave in a whirl of paradisaical robes.

The gardens of Sivania were unlike anything in the temporal realm.

Ancient, eternal, untouched by decay.

The air was thick with the scent of celestial flora.

An intoxicating blend of honeyed moon-fruit, crushed silver leaves, and the deep, resinous aroma of life that had never touched death.

Luminescent trees stretched toward the violet-hued sky, their branches woven with sapphire-veined ivy that shimmered as though whispering to itself.

Floating blossoms drifted, suspended like frozen petals caught in a wind that did not exist.

Beneath their feet, the pathway was not stone but liquid starlight, solid enough to walk upon but shifting with each step, sending ripples of soft gold over the ground.

Ki’Remi walked beside Issa, his senses on high alert, his jaw still set from their earlier confrontation. He glanced at her features illuminated by the glow of the celestial flora.

‘I loved this place when I worked here.’

‘How long?’

‘Years as a Saatifa guardian soldier, then physician to Sulfiqar and his daughters, who have all fled Sivania and are now scattered through Pegasi and across the seven heavens. Hiding from their father because he wanted to drain their souls to remain immortal.’

‘Fokk. He sounds like a macabre maniac who enjoys setting up divine death traps and pissing off the heavenly hordes, including his blood,’ he muttered.

Issa smirked. ‘He’s always been a two-faced divinity. Hell, they all are.’

They turned a bend in the path and slowed their roll.

In the distance, half-obscured by towering silver willows, two figures stood in hushed conversation.

Zavei and Somayeh.

Ki’Remi’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t need metanoids to sense the desire between them.

Zavei’s posture was possessive, looming over Somayeh.

She leaned intimately, her gilded robes shifting in the breeze, her dark eyes locked on Zavei’s face with intensity.

The war goddess surged forward and kissed the Saatifa commander.

Issa turned to her man and raised a brow as amusement flickered in her gaze.

‘Well, well.’

Ki’Remi exhaled through his nose. ‘I take it that’s not just a casual fling?’

Issa’s smirk deepened. ‘Not a chance. Those two? They’re up to something. I suspect Ssigard’s fall cleared a path to the throne for both of them.’

Ki’Remi tilted his head, observing the pair with his meta-vision, his instincts thrumming, his node recording.

He had seen enough power plays and manipulations in his lifetime to recognize a conspiracy lurking beneath the surface.

He glanced at Issa, his voice a timbred rumble.