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I am struggling to keep my voice steady. He’s just doing this to get a rise out of me.

“Arina.” Her name is the only thing I can confidently manage.

“Who?” His brow furrows, and I honestly can’t tell if he’s doing this intentionally. I’d hardly be surprised if he hasn’t paid her any mind and has completely forgotten her since our last encounter. I’d also hardly be surprised if he was just toying with me.

I stalk over to his sitting area, falling into the sofa opposite. I spread my knees wide and lean back, trying to take up as much space as possible, and claim what’s his as mine.

“My friend. The one who was helping steal academy supplies. Who would ferry them out through a secret passage, who I’m so, so sure you knew of because she disappeared not long after I was captured.

” If Kaelis orchestrated locking me up, then why not capture Arina in the chaos of the same night he brought down the Starcrossed Club?

Then he would’ve also known to use her to further motivate me to escape Halazar and continue playing into his grand schemes.

It all makes so much sense. “The woman whose name you ripped from me by force in Halazar for no other reason than to torment me— because you could. I know you know who I’m talking about because you control this whole place like it’s your own little kingdom; you know there were runners last year and she was one of them.

” My words grow rougher. Colder. They’re like a saw through ice.

I’m done being fucked with. “Where. Is. She?”

“Ah, right, after our last encounter I did look into this, as you clearly won’t let it lie.” Kaelis stands, returns the poker to its place, and starts toward a door in the back corner by the windows. “Come.”

“To where?” I don’t move.

“To show you the records. I assume you will not take my word for what happened. So…” He motions to the door, and I reluctantly stand, following.

Kaelis leads me into an adjoining study. Books upon books line the three walls that are not a massive window overlooking city and sea. They pile around a lonely settee where an all-black cat lifts its fluffy head, blinking dully at us.

“You have a cat?” For some reason, that’s all I can focus on. Finding another sign of life in these dreary, cold apartments is startling.

“Why does it surprise you?” He goes to the center of the room, where a large desk dominates. His every movement is calculated and purposeful as he shifts through papers in a drawer.

“Because you…you’re…”

Kaelis pauses, hand splayed on the desk. “The second, void-born prince who’s incapable of human affection?”

“Yes.” If it’s obvious to him, I’m not going to deny it.

He snorts. I can’t tell if it’s bitter amusement or an appreciation for my directness. “Her name is Priss.”

“Priss,” I repeat, still in shock.

“It’s a perfectly acceptable name for a cat.”

“I never said it wasn’t.”

“Your face said it for you.” He puts his back to me and goes to one of the shelves behind the desk. Long, elegant fingers trail along the spines of books. He selects one, flips through it.

I’m taken aback by the surreal nature of being in Prince Kaelis’s personal study…

now scratching his cat’s chin. Priss is a ball of long, silken fur.

Friendly with a purr-box that takes no time to activate.

She might have Kaelis’s severe all-black look with resting sassy eyes.

But unlike him, she’s nothing but sweetness inside.

“Here.” Kaelis points to one of the pages.

“Once you brought her up again, asking where she was, it did jolt a memory of three initiates going missing last year. Your Arina was recorded alongside them as unauthorized departures from the academy. Runners. An investigation was launched, of course. We found her and sent her to a mill. She was declared dead before winter was over.”

It’s similar to what Myrion, Silas, and the club all said, giving credence to Kaelis’s claims.

My fingers pause. Priss lets out an indignant meow. “What happened to her body?” The question quivers slightly.

“Would you like the official answer? Or the truth?”

I straighten and lock eyes with Kaelis. What an odd, uncharacteristic thing to offer…“The truth. Always the truth, Kaelis.”

“Officially, parts of her body—enough to ‘identify’ her—were pulled from the wreckage of the explosion. They were put in the mass grave by the mill.” Explosions are not uncommon at mills, given how reactive the magic in the powders can be during processing. “Unofficially, no body was ever found.”

The mantra of the club echoes in my mind: Don’t weep for an empty coffin. “What about the other two who escaped with her?”

“One left earlier in the year. They were also apprehended and are accounted for at the mill.” Kaelis clearly expects what I’d ask next and is ready. “The other initiate was never found.”

Arina might have been caught getting someone else out…“What was their name? The other initiate?”

“Selina Guellith.”

I don’t recognize the name. Whoever this person was, Arina never mentioned them to me. Could be a lead in the future, perhaps. I’ll mention it to the club when I see them next…“ Was another search launched to try to find Arina after she escaped the mill?”

“Secretly, yes.” They wouldn’t advertise that someone escaped from the mill. “And, before you ask, that search ended a few months ago. She wasn’t found.”

Then there’s a chance. I hide my swelling hope and excitement with a dull tone and expression. “I’m shocked they’re not continuing to hunt to the ends of the world. Your enforcers would lead one to think a single missing Arcanist could be the undoing of Oricalis.”

“They are not my enforcers.” It is his voice now that is as cold as winter.

The harshness in his tone stuns me to a brief silence. I resume scratching Priss as a thousand thoughts fly through my mind. In so doing, I lose track of Kaelis for a moment. He’s looming over me when my awareness next returns. I narrow my eyes at him. “What?”

“Who was she?” Kaelis still doesn’t seem to recognize any similarities between Arina and me. I’m grateful that he seems to pay more attention to names on paper than actual faces.

“Is,” I correct him, still not ready to admit to the possibility of anything else.

“ Is she?” he relents.

“I told you, a friend. Nothing more.”

“I can help you find her,” he claims. But I don’t believe it for a second.

If he could find Arina, he would’ve by now.

Arina has always been slippery. If anyone could flee a mill and keep herself hidden for months, it would be her.

But where would she go, if not back to Eclipse City and the club?

The question is as intriguing as it is maddening… and frightening.

“Oh, like you’ve ‘helped’ me already?” I challenge, to shift the topic from Arina. I wish I were a little bit taller so I could look him evenly in the eyes. I hate feeling like my stature keeps me from being on equal footing with him.

“I took you out of Halazar, didn’t I?”

“You don’t get to make a problem and then take credit for fixing it!” I prod him in the chest. He doesn’t so much as flinch.

“ Make a problem?” Without warning, his fingers close around mine, holding my hand tightly. “Didn’t you ‘make’ that problem yourself when you decided to illegally ink and sell cards?”

“Perhaps if you and your family didn’t feel the need to control every last Arcanist to ever breathe in the Oricalis Kingdom, then—”

He has yet to release my hand, but with his other he reaches up and grabs my face, fingers curling around the back of my neck. I had already been looking directly at him, but now I lack any choice. Our noses nearly touch.

“I had no choice. I had to find you. ”

“Me?” I blink.

“Yes, you, and all the other nineteen Majors.” It sounds a bit like he’s backtracking. Find you was said with such purpose. As if I’m different, somehow.

“Once more, back to this children’s story about the World.” I narrow my eyes at him. Silas believed in this story. Prove it, I challenge Kaelis without saying the words.

“If only it were,” he says softly. His gaze drifts beyond the entry of his study. “Perhaps I should show you.”

“Show me what?”

Kaelis releases me and steps away. “Come, and I’ll take you to the place where everything you know met its beginning, and will soon meet its end.”