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“And we don’t need answers because I know what the Starsearcher meant,” Vale whispered, lips barely moving. I bent lower to hear what she said next, my heart pounding. “The ninth floor below the archives. That’s what she said. That’s where we’ll find what we need.”

“Which archives, though?” My hand tightened briefly on her shoulder, but I dropped it and stepped back. I was supposed to be keeping my distance, and that speech I’d just given was certainly not doing that. I dragged a hand through my hair and tried to breathe normally. “Are they in the…”

I didn’t want to say temple.

“The ninth floor is a clue for me. Because of the Fates I’m drawn to.” She swallowed. “And the archives she’s referencing are the Valyn Citadel Archives.”

My heart crashed through my chest.

Valyn.

The Starsearcher capital.

Where Titus was.

“We have to go to Valyn?” I mumbled, hands fisting at my sides.

“We have to go to Valyn,” she confirmed, voice as numb as the words made me feel.

Vale had gone dull during the journey from Lumin to Valyn, like her starlight winked out.

I hoped getting her away from the temple would restore a bit of her confidence, like what she’d found during the hunt for the emblems as she stood up for herself.

Something was stopping her, though.

And despite everything I swore, every boundary I promised myself I’d restore, it was driving me crazy.

“Did you have friends in Valyn that you’d like to see when we’re there?” It was a pointless offer. We couldn’t make our presence obvious if we didn’t want Titus to know we were in the capital. And with how elusive his moves had been—how he hadn’t written to her once—it was best if we concealed ourselves.

But if she needed it, I could find a way.

“I did not have friends,” she deadpanned. Her voice didn’t sound like a bell anymore. “I rarely left the chancellor’s manor due to my work.”

“None?” I should have stopped pushing her, but she was speaking at least. That was better than an evasive silence.

Vale cast a distant stare over her shoulder. “We are not all as fortunate as you, Cypherion.”

And I was an ass.

Vale was alone in so many more ways than I’d known, ways she’d implied but had never fully explained because Titus forced her to hide so much. But she’d always watched my friends with a glint of longing in her eye. Now I knew why.

We were all searching for things in our lives. Maybe Vale’s was a home. A place to belong. She needed people who truly cared for her.

And she had apologized on that roof. For the first time, she’d torn down that wall and sorrow had burned beneath those words.

Perhaps I could be that friend for her, until she left.

It was clear there was too much damage between us to go beyond that, no matter how badly I wanted her. At the end of this, she’d go back to Titus.

I’ll go home, she’d said to Harlen. That was her home, wasn’t it?

But the prospect of heading back to the capital now had leached color from her face. So why would she return when this was done?

I didn’t understand, but I knew when this was over, I’d be in Damenal as Ophelia’s Second, Angels willing we all make it there. Until then…

I cleared my throat. “I…I’m your friend, Vale.”

“Are you?” It could have been teasing once, months ago. A jokingly arched brow waiting for me to admit I wanted her as more than a friend. But now there was genuine pain lacing her voice.