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“You didn’t answer my question,” Alex said quietly.

Holding her steady gaze, Zaylin said, “If you prove yourself to the empress, she will come to your aid. Continue to impress her with your tenacity and you will have allies in your war—for what little it may be worth.”

Alex felt a heavy weight leave her so quickly that she swayed on the spot. “Thank you, Zaylin.”

The helper’s eyes flared with an unreadable emotion. “Don’t thank me yet, Alex. You still have a long few days ahead of you.”

That much, she already knew. And when Zaylin relieved Alex of her empty chalice and told her to get some rest, she didn’t hesitate to crawl into bed, turning her back on the light streaming in from the three suns blazing in the afternoon sky.

It was a mark of just how exhausted she was that she didn’t linger on Zaylin’s words despite her overwhelming curiosity about the Immortal Wars. She was desperate to hear how the Tia Aurans had conquered and banished the Meyarins, just as she was intrigued by why Zaylin believed they were no longer capable of doing so again. But her questions could wait, because as D.C. had said, Alex had time.

And right now, that meant she had time to do as Zaylin had ordered—and rest.

It was dark by the time Xira’s quiet mental call woke Alex, the blue moons glowing brightly in the sky.

Feeling wonderfully refreshed, she responded to his question and sat up with a yawn, clapping her hands three times to turn on the light before stretching languidly.

“You look about as relaxed as I feel.”

Alex jumped and twisted towards the balcony, finding Kaiden striding casually through the wispy curtains and stopping just in front of them.

Self-conscious, Alex asked, “How long have you been out there?”

Kaiden sent her an amused look. “Despite what you think, I’m not a total creeper. I only just arrived.”

She tilted her head and squinted as if to judge his honesty. “You weren’t standing there and watching me sleep?”

“As delightful as that sounds, my preference would have been to join you.” His eyes were filled with mirth as he finished, “You should know that by now.”

Flailing for a response, Alex settled on rolling her eyes as she slid out of bed, grateful that she’d gone to sleep fully clothed. Not that Kaiden hadn’t already witnessed her in all her pyjamafied glory, but still. Rumpled as she was, at least she was decent.

“Are you going to make a habit of climbing into my room under the cover of darkness?” she asked, pulling on her boots before walking over to him, past him, and stopping on the balcony under the moonlight. She looked to the skies briefly only to whip back around at his next words.

“I sure hope so.”

Alex couldn’t keep her lips from twitching—or her cheeks from heating—before she wiped her features clear again. “Sounds like you’re feeling better.”

He allowed her change of topic, but the gleam in his eyes made it clear he understood it for what it was.

“This morning was rough,” he admitted, moving to stand with her on the balcony. “Telekinesis is one of the harder abilities to control, and since I was already drained from using it during our strength test, the repeat today was brutal.”

Alex’s forehead crinkled. “When did you use it in the strength test?”

All of a sudden, Kaiden looked uncomfortable. “It was nothing, really. Forget I said anything.”

Even more intrigued, Alex said, “I want to know.”

She was surprised when he rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not wanting to answer. Nevertheless, he said, “Let’s just say that rocky overhang wasn’t entirely… secure.”

It took Alex a second to catch on. “Wait. Are you saying…”

“Turns out, we all need to lose some weight,” Kaiden said in a dry attempt at humour. “The six of us combined were toomuch for the overhang to handle, so I did what I could to keep it from ripping off the mountain. That’s why I couldn’t use any kind of gift to help you catch and hold D.C. when she fell, just in case you’d wondered why I left you both hanging.”

Alex hadn’t wondered. Not even once. “You kept us all from falling? And you didn’t even tell us?”

“Like I said, it was nothing.”

Looking at him in wonder, Alex said, “You have a strange definition of ‘nothing’, Kaiden James.”