Page 70 of A Court of Wings and Shadows

I stepped closer. “Is there anything you could do to help us?”

Alahathrial turned his gaze to Zander again. But this time, it wasn’t in greeting, it wasmeasuring.

“No one,” he said, slow and deliberate, “since the fall has possessed your power.”

Zander tensed beside me. “What do you mean?”

Alahathrial’s eyes glinted like polished amethyst. “Dark Fire,” he whispered. “It’s an old magic. If anything can create a breach in the sanctuary wards—it’s that.”

The room went deathly quiet.

Even the chandelier’s light seemed to dim.

Zander’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

And for the first time… I realized that unlocking the truth might mean burning through the last safe places left.

“Why is Dark Fire the only way to breach the wards?”

“Because it is considered a dark magic. But Zander is of the light. It is a unique combination.” He glanced at me. “Not unlike you.”

Zander’s voice was firm, but I could feel the tension rippling beneath it.

“Can I use my power, my Dark Fire, to detect the sanctuary’s wards?” he asked, his arms folded tight across his chest, like he already knew the answer but needed to hear it spoken aloud.

Alahathrial moved to the center of the room, his movements graceful and full of quiet purpose. He lifted one hand, and a soft glow radiated from his palm, illuminating invisible threads of magic across the ceiling like a delicate web of starlight.

“You must attune your flame,” he said, “not to destroy, but toreveal.Focus it, not outward, as a weapon, but inward, through your senses. You’re not burning the world to find truth, Prince… you’re burning away the veil that hides it.”

Zander nodded slowly, absorbing every word.

“But,” Alahathrial added, voice tightening like a thread drawn taut, “you must be on the isle. In the territory of the BloodFae. That is where the original sanctuary was carved from the earth. That land still hums with the last of our ancient magic.”

Zander’s jaw clenched. “That’ll be a problem.”

I glanced at him, already seeing the wheels turning in his head.

“Thank you,” Zander said to Alahathrial, bowing slightly. “We’ll take this knowledge and use it carefully.”

Alahathrial gave him a somber nod. “Careful will not be enough. But you are running out of time, so choose what must be risked.”

We exited in silence, the corridor cool and shadowed after the warmth of the chamber.

Zander turned to me before we reached the fork that led to the barracks. “I need to get a mission approved, something that won’t raise suspicion. Meet me back at the Thrall Squad barracks in an hour. Don’t tell anyone except those we trust.”

“I won’t,” I said, and he nodded once before disappearing into the turning halls of the palace.

I made my way quickly back through the side tunnels, past the torch-lit hallways and up through the hidden sconce exit into the familiar corridor near our barracks. When I stepped inside, the squad was lounging in various stages of boredom and gear maintenance.

They looked up instantly.

I dropped onto my cot, breath catching up with me. “We saw him,” I said. “Alahathrial.”

Cordelle perked up, and Riven leaned forward.

“He says the Virelith Crystal is in the lost fae sanctuary… if it still exists.”

Naia frowned. “But nobody’s found it.”