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“Well done for the quick thinking with the shield,” I murmur. His hand hangs down by his side and I trace his palm lightly with my fingers. “But then I suppose that’s to be expected from a Solskir.” I say his true name so lightly under my breath that it could be a sigh. I’m joking, teasing him, but even as I say it, I realize it’s true.

Once, a long time ago, I only saw Ruskin Blackcoat as a taker, someone who destroyed and diminished. His real self has unraveled to me, but the process was as slow as thawing ice. It kept my curiosity alive, waiting for the day when I can look into his eyes and know I’m seeing the real him.

That day has come and gone without me being able to pinpoint it, blurring into a thousand small shifts in the way we trust and love each other. My curiosity will never truly dim—I’ll always want to know more of him, want to see his reaction to everything the world holds. But I know the core of him now, and he is, at heart, a protector. Someone who will do whatever they must in order to keep what matters safe: his court, his loved ones, and now the peace between Seelie and Unseelie.

“If we’re speaking about living up to our true names, you’re one to talk,” Ruskin murmurs back to me. “Going around slicing things apart, Lunasworn.”

I smile, the name no longer bothering me. I’m glad I had the strength and power at my disposal to fight for Faerie, but eventually I realized that being a “sword of the moon” did not have to be the violent label I had imagined.

Because I’m still me. I’m not a warrior like the Sunshards, or a leader like Ruskin, or even someone who makes the world more beautiful, like Destan. At heart, I’m an inventor, a tinkerer, and experimenter. It’s in my nature to ask questions, to take things apart to learn how they work, and to try to see them from a fresh angle. Once I remembered that, it became obvious to me that there’s more than one use for a sword.

I intertwine my fingers with Ruskin’s, feeling a bone-deep contentment wash through me.

A blade can be a weapon, sure, but it can also be used to cut the bindings that hold people back.

It can also be used to set them free.