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T he sweet, intoxicating scent of her still clung to the walls of the shelter we’d been sharing.

But she was gone.

The hollowness in my chest confirmed it. I’d always felt the pieces of my soul that didn’t belong to me, but now that we’d sealed our bond, now that we’d given ourselves to each other, I recognize the strands that wove us together. And I could feel her slipping away from me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose to dull the gnawing ache in my skull as I watched Lucius lose his head.

“He fucking took her against her will!” he shouted, tearing through the room.

“You don’t know that for certain,” Luca countered. Ever the optimist.

“You’ve seen the way he’s been acting—his stories don’t add up,” Lucius barked.

“You said the two of you have some kind of mental connection. Can’t you reach out to her?” Luca asked.

“I don’t know how it works,” Lucius snapped. “I’ve tried. Either she’s too far, or he’s done something to her.”

“Or maybe she’s just blocking you out. You are kind of a prick most of the time.”

I held my breath, waiting for Lucius to start throwing fists. But he just glared, rage dancing in his eyes.

“She would have left a note. She would have told me!” He grabbed a chair, the only piece of furniture we had in the room, and slammed it to the floor. It shattered instantly, pieces of wood scattering across the shelter.

Lucius hadn’t always had such a short fuse and a foul temper. Life had molded the sweet boy I once knew into a barely-contained fury. A blessing and a curse of being the youngest son. He was allowed to wear his emotions plainly while I had to keep mine always under wraps.

I stroked my beard, watching the spectacle as I carefully weighed my next words. I’d learned at a very early age that words held great power, and it was ill-advised to speak before knowing your heart. At the moment, mine was torn.

Lucius had been quick to pass judgment, grasping for any excuse to accuse Jase of the ultimate betrayal.

It was true—his accounts never quite lined up, and odd occurrences seemed to trail in his wake.

Now I had to decide if I’d been blind to them all along?

Or had Lucius’s paranoia clouded my judgment?

Being the eldest gave me a different perspective and a crushing sense of responsibility for them. I couldn’t bring myself to believe Jase was capable of betraying us.

“She didn’t even bring her pack,” Lucius growled, chucking her still-full bag at me. “He took her by force. And I swear to the Divine, Nico, I will kill him when we find him.”

“I’ve been tolerant of your behavior for Michaela’s sake,” I said, voice low and deadly. “But don’t ever threaten one of your brothers again. If you ever try, I will put you down.”

Silence settled over the room. All three of us glared at each other, tempers cooling just enough for logic to return.

“Let’s look at this from all angles,” I said, more composed now. “We laughed at Jase’s ideas, while Mic embraced them. For all we know, she left with him. We need to keep our heads. Gather our forces. Establish a plan to rescue our brothers, and our girl. It’s time to take back our kingdom.”

I opened her pack. One last hope of proving Lucius wrong.

The contents were ordinary: clothes, a bedroll, rations. What I wasn’t expecting was the leather-bound book nestled at the bottom.

I froze, staring down at the worn cover in stunned disbelief.

There were dozens, maybe even hundreds of copies scattered across the realm.

Each one a watered-down version of the original.

But this was it. The true Book of Astrium.

The original text that had been locked away in Mathenholm Castle.

How had it ended up in Michaela’s hands?

The supple leather warmed beneath my hands. I opened the ancient tome, flipping straight to the page that had haunted me for years: Michaela’s likeness, drawn by some unknown prophet centuries before her birth. The vibrant blue lines of power connecting her to seven bears.

I traced the lines with my finger, feeling a deep keening need to tear through the woods until she was in my arms again. Had her hands run over the same images? Why hadn’t she said anything?

“What do you got there, brother?” Luca asked, eyeing the book curiously.

“It’s the Book of Astrium,” I whispered.

Luca arched a brow. “The Book of Astrium? Are you sure that blast didn’t addle your brain?”

“How in the Divine did she?—”

“I gave it to her,” Fallon said, entering the shelter.

“You what?” I turned to her, stunned.

“The night of the Crownspire,” she clarified.

“That’s impossible. It was locked away under magical bonds. Only Father—” I paused as the realization hit me. “He gave you the key.”

She nodded. “Right before he died.”

“That doesn’t make sense. The king only passes the key to his successor.”

“Maybe he knew more about his own demise than he let on. And besides, there was no king to pass it down to,” she said, her voice edged with pain. “You weren’t there.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you gave it to Michaela. If anyone had caught her with it?—”

“She’d have been executed,” Fallon finished. “I know. But we were already marked for death, Nico. I told you that before the ceremony. Michaela had the best chance at survival. I wasn’t about to let the book fall into Johan’s hands.”

“Did you explain what it was?”

“No. I meant to. But when was the right time to tell her she’s so deeply woven into the fate of Hiraeth that her face is in our most sacred text? I didn’t want to dump that on her when we don’t even know what it means.”

“Fuck, Loni!” Lucius barked, his wrath swiftly moving over to Fallon. “Did you think she wouldn’t open it? At least you could have warned her. No wonder she thinks we’ve been lying to her.”

“Because you have been lying to her!” Fallon snapped, her gaze searing through us. “You should have told her the truth a long time ago.”

“I’m done with this conversation. Every second we sit here arguing, Jase is taking her farther away from us.

” Lucius grumbled, rising with his arms crossed tight over his chest. His amber eyes burned with resolve.

His bear stirred beneath his skin, restless and ready to act.

“I’m going after her. With or without you. ”

I exhaled sharply. “Lu, listen?—”

“No. I’ve listened to you for too long. Are you coming with me, or are you going to sit here and ponder every possible outcome while he drags her deeper into enemy territory?”

He stepped closer, daring me to stop him. I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to stay calm. He was running on instinct. I had to be the balance.

“Thinking is not wasting time,” I said. “Mic isn’t the only one at stake here. Our brothers are set to be executed in a weeks’ time. The entire kingdom?—”

“I don’t care about the realm,” Lucius said, his voice booming in the tight space, raw and unyielding. “I don’t care about a dying throne or the alliances you think we can trust. I care about Mic.”

“We have to think about this from every angle. We can’t save her without sacrificing everyone else. She wouldn’t want us to do that,” I snapped.

Lu’s jaw tightened. “All I can think about is what’s happening to her out there while we waste time quibbling over semantics. You’ve known it all along. He’s a traitor.”

“You don’t know that,” I shot back, though doubt curled at the edges of my mind. “And even if he was, he would never... he could never hurt her. Not with the fated bond in place.”

Lucius let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “No, but he can deliver her to someone who would. He’d let them slit her throat if it meant getting into Johan’s good graces.”

I swallowed hard. I had to believe Jase had a reason. That there was more to the story. But Lu only saw the risk.

“And what about our brothers?” I asked, my voice quieter now. “You’ll forsake them without a second thought?”

“You save them,” he cut in. “I’ll save Mic. Take her back to Neverland. I can protect her there. We could have a life.”

“I want that too!” I snapped, sharper than I intended. Lu stilled. “You think I don’t yearn for the same thing?” I shook my head, dragging a hand down my face. “But there’s more at stake than just what we want. We have to be rational, not emotional.”

His eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah? And how well has the rational path worked out for you?”

The words hit like a blow to the gut. He turned to me, the accusation heavy in his gaze.

“Where did all your careful planning get us, Your Highness? What did following the rules earn us?” He gestured around, pointing out just how far we’d fallen.

“We’ve been playing the long game for years, and we still ended up here. ”

I breathed through the sting. He wasn’t wrong. But I refused to wallow in my own self-pity. “If we divide now,” I started, willing the dire need in my words to come across, “we fail.”

Lu’s fingers twitched at his sides. His bear stirred under his skin. Ready to fight me for this.

“I’m begging you, Lu. Just one day. Let us meet with the Raven’s Hand. With our allies in Dunharrow. We’ll come up with a plan.”

He didn’t answer immediately. The tension between us was a taut rope, pulled to its breaking point.

“It’s a trap,” he said, stating the obvious.

“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped. “We don’t have a lot of choices. But running in blind is suicide.” I didn’t wait for him to argue. Instead, I flipped open the Book of Astrium and shoved it toward him. “Look.”

His gaze dropped—reluctantly.

Michaela’s face stared up at us, etched into the page, her presence immortalized in prophecy.

“She’s meant for Hiraeth,” I said. “You’re not solely responsible for her protection. She belongs here.”

His nostrils flared. “The picture shows seven bears, Nico. Gunner’s already dead. The prophecy is broken.”

I exhaled and flipped to another page—one he’d never seen. One Father had removed from the copies we’d studied. One that only existed in the original.