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It was her turn to glare.

“Fine. The rules of friendship dictate that I take your side on this. That wasn’t very nice. So, what did you do to him?”

“I went to see him. He looked so fucking smug when I accused him of hurting you, and I snapped. I just?—”

I grimaced. “You attacked him.”

Her blush only deepened.

“I take it it didn’t go your way.”

“He won, all right. Fair and square.”

Ah. So that’s was why she was bothered. Silver wasn’t used to losing fights.

“Using magic?” I guessed. “Didn’t your pendant work?”

“About that.” She wrinkled her nose. “He won,thenhe took the pendant from me. I don’t have it.”

“I’ll charm something else,” I promised her, ignoring that it was completely her fault she lost it.

I still wasn’t about to let her walk around vulnerable.

“That’s not all. He said—” Silver hesitated. “That I was prejudiced.”

I blinked, remaining silent.

“I mean, he’sknownfor being dodgy, isn’t he? And Gideon said he was a rune expert. I can’t be the only one who would have added two and two and come up with him.”

I sighed. “Look, Silver, I love you. But you hate strangers. You don’t like, or trust, unfamiliar people. You’re twice as likely to suspect someone from unders as a valer. It’s not just you,plenty of people up here think that way. Butweknow Lucian—Gideon more than me. And there’s a reason we told you he didn’t have anything to do with it. I know his magic, all right? I’ve sensed his energy, and I would have recognized it if that had been what hurt me back then. Plus, he’s…a nice guy?”

I said it like it was a question. It wasn’t necessarily true. Lucian was cold, remote, and every look discouraged people from coming too close. He wasn’t a nice guy. Gideon was a nice guy. Timothee was annoying as fuck, but still, nice. Uncle Leo, or Stillwater, the fae protector who sometimes let us shadow him for extra training? Nice.

Lucian was something a little more nuanced.

“All right,” I had to admit, “he’s not nice. But he’s also not an abusive fucker. He kills abusive fuckers.”

“Fine, fine, I fucked up,” Silver admitted. “And, fuck. He said he could get me fired. That as a Regis, if he complained about me to the council, they’d just kick me out of the Guard. Do you think he was kidding?”

Oh, Silver.How could she have thought he was kidding?

Rather than voicing the obvious, I told her, “Well, you’re in luck.”

“Because the rubbish collection firm is hiring?” she grunted. “That’s about the only other thing I could do in this town.”

She was exaggerating, but not by much. Like Vance, Silver’s career opportunities were seriously limited. If she was kicked out of the Guard, I could convince my father to hire her as a bodyguard, but I couldn’t think of anything else off the top of my head. She’d suck in the hospitality industry—no people skills—didn’t have the patience for admin, and wouldn’t last more than a day before punching someone in any customer-facing position. She could push her art, but sometimes told me that, like me with jewelry, she wouldn’t enjoy making a career out of what wassupposed to be a hobby. Besides, she needed a regular paycheck, living alone and not relying on her foster family.

“No,” I reply, raising three fingers. “But I’m seeing Lucian this afternoon.” I lowered one finger. “I happen to like having you around.” I dropped the second, and finished with a smile. “And he happens to be fond of cupcakes.”

18

KLEOS

Iran home on my lunch break to pack some of the goodies I’d baked over the weekend. Kept fresh under a charmed cloche, the assortment of little cakes, cookies, brownies, and tarts was perhaps a bit much, but I knew Silver probably made her actions sound less awful than they had been, so I didn’t hesitate to fill my biggest cookie box to the brim.

As agreed, I met Gideon at the entrance to the Hall of Truce, where the largest elevator took us straight down to the town circle of the underside.

The circle was humongous, as wide as all of Highvale aboveground. Thirteen large columns seemed to support the cave’s ceiling, miles and miles above head, but I knew that what did support the vale was magic. The dark columns, illuminated with shining crystals that lit up the darkness, only served as direct transports from the vale to unders, for those who didn’t fancy a month-long hike to get up there on foot. I exaggerated: climbing up the millions of steps going up to the vale would only take about a day.