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“You won’t be needing those, either.” The woman extended her hand, the air around it shimmering briefly with an acidic green light.

Bastien gasped as the glamour faded from his arms, revealing the intricate lines of black ink. He ran his hands over them, tracing the designs. His breath hitched in his throat.

The woman moved over to him, wrapping wrinkled hands around his. “Paradise welcomes you, child. Do not hide from her embrace.”

Bastien nodded, swallowing.

“Come, Thessa,” the woman said, releasing her grip on Bastien. “We’ll need more rampion for our guests tonight.”

“Okay, Gran.” The child gave us another slight bow. “It was nice to meet you!”

“Likewise,” I replied, my attention focused on Bastien as he stood stark still, looking down at his hands.

The child and woman moved back up the path, the child chattering excitedly. “Why was he hiding his marks, Gran? He looked really sad.”

“You know, there are markings that are always invisible,” the woman replied, balancing the basket on her hip as she went. “And they can make even the happiest people sad sometimes. I think our new friend carries some of those as well…”

Their voices trailed off, words swallowed up by the greenery as they returned to their work.

“Are you alright?” I asked Bastien, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He flinched at my touch, blinking a few times before nodding. “Yeah, sorry. I’m… let’s keep going.”

“Stay strong now,” Kaine told Bastien. “There’s a lot more to see.”

Bastien nodded once more, squaring his shoulders. As we began to move up the path once more, approaching the collection of buildings, he reached for my hand.

It was a simple gesture, his fingers wrapping around mine. It was something that we’d done countless times during my first life. But this was different from those times. He needed strength in this moment, someone to lean on as the world he knew was being rewritten around him. It meant everything to me, that I could be the one to provide that support for him when he’d already given me so much.

It would do little to even the scales. But that didn’t keep me from tightening my grip.

Paradise was more than either of us expected. Buildings made of colorful stone rose from the earthen floor of the massive cavern with rounded doors and windows of colored glass. We walked past residences and shops, fountains bubbling with crystalline waters, grassy knolls with flora of all kinds, blooming as if it were the peak of spring. And people. So many people that all bore the markings along their arms and upper body. They greeted us in the street with smiles and friendly faces, one after another. The laughter of children carried above it all, rising as they played with toys of beautifully carved wood.

Everywhere we looked, there was joy. There was peace. There was something the world had thought long gone for people like Bastien.

Hope.

“We’re this way,” Kaine instructed us, and I realized that we were near the center of the cavern now. A row of buildings, three stories tall, sat on one side of the street, with pallets of goods stacked outside of the entrance—evidence of the hundreds of displaced Unseen. “Azrael should be here soon with the majority of those from the camp. They had to take a longer route to avoid attracting attention. It should go without saying this place is to remain a secret at all costs.”

“Only for the time being,” a voice called, coming from the entrance of the building opposite the row of housing. A woman with dark skin emerged from the doorway, approaching us with a confident stride. She was tall, even taller than Bastien, with thin braids of black hair pulled back and held by a band of golden fabric. Her clothes were just as colorful as the rest of paradise—a loose tunic that cut off just before her navel with billowy sleeves and cropped pants. “We won’t be kept in the dark forever.”

“Wilhelm,” Kaine addressed the woman. “Azrael should be here soon. These two are a special delivery ahead of our main contingent.”

“Tobias Greene,” the woman said, approaching me without hesitation. She extended her hand to me, and I dropped Bastien’s to take it, wincing at the strength of her grip. “Never in a million years did I ever think I would be welcoming a Greene into Paradise. Even a reanimated one. The universe has a unique sense of irony.”

“I’m grateful,” I replied, my diplomatic instincts taking over. “You’ll forgive my incredulity. This is a lot to take in.”

“That it is,” she agreed, her attentions shifting to Bastien. “And you, seeker? I can see the chaos that’s consumed your thoughts. Share them with me.”

Bastien’s nostrils flared, his breathing reaching near-panting levels of exertion. “How… have you been here all this time?”

“You’re upset,” Wilhelm concluded, her expression soft as if she were speaking with a child. “This is a natural response. Come with me, seeker. I will provide you with any answers you seek.”

Bastien looked at me, and I gave him a nod of encouragement. He had been disconnected from his people since his grandmother died. I knew this was something he had to do.

“We won’t be far,” Kaine added, pointing to the row of housing. “You can come find us once you’ve talked things through. Wilhelm, I’ll send word once Azrael shows up.”

“Thank you, friend.” She motions for Bastien to join her, steering him towards the building she came from. “Ask your questions.”

The two of them disappeared into the building. Kaine gripped my shoulder gently, and I realized that my hands were clenched into fists at my side. “He’ll be fine,” Kaine said, “You can go with them if you want. I’m sure Wilhelm will make an exception for lovers.”

“No, it’s not—we’re not lovers,” I sputtered, face warming at the allegations. “Not anymore, I mean.”

“Ah, and you’re upset about that fact?” Kaine questioned.

“I’m not upset,” I argued, the high pitch of my voice in perfect juxtaposition. It wasn’t like that. I didn’t think I had some weird claim over Bastien. He was free to do what he wished. But this stupid tether I felt for him—the tugging at my chest whenever he left—was getting uncomfortable.

Kaine nodded slowly. “Right. Well, that’s none of my business. And if it were, I would have told you that boy is coming apart at the seams right now. And even if the history between you two is complicated, he’s got no one to lean on.”

The invisible tether hooked into my chest pulled taut at that as if reacting to Kaine’s words. It’s not that I didn’t want to comfort Bastien. I couldn’t imagine the rush of emotion he must be feeling right now. Paradise has shown him a world he never knew could exist. It must ache, knowing that this place was here while he suffered alone.

But I wasn’t exactly the best at comforting others. And there’s nothing I could offer him but a physical presence. A hand to hold. Would that be enough? He needed more. He needed someone who could care for him completely and who understood the pain he felt.

He deserved someone better than a selfish, arsehole-of-an-ex-boyfriend with holes in his brain. Someone who didn’t fear each memory that resurfaced and wasn’t forced to reconcile their own self-image a dozen times a day.

Bastien deserved better than me. But that fact did nothing to slacken the tug of the invisible line that drew me to him.

“Kaine!”

A familiar voice shook me from my daze as Azrael appeared at the end of the row of housing.

Kaine bolted from my side, running toward Azrael at full speed. The two collided with an embrace, laughing as Kaine lifted Azrael into the air and spun him around as if he weighed nothing. The two swatted at each other, speaking in a hushed tone as I approached slowly, not wanting to intrude on the moment of surprising affection.

Behind Azrael, figures began to flicker into existence as the crowd of Unseen allowed their magic to peel away. I recognized a few faces from the chateau, including the family with the younglings, who still clung to one of their fathers, and Eustace from the kitchens. But there were far more than just those that escaped Chateau Greene.

“Sorry we’re late,” I heard Azrael say. “We ran into some trouble on the road, so we had to take the long way around. They’re all exhausted.”

“What about you?” Kaine asked a twist of worry in his expression.

“Never been better,” Azrael replied with a grin, patting Kaine on the chest. “Can you see to them?”

Kaine nodded. “The support crew from camp has been making ready the housing. We’ll get them cleaned up and fed, and then we can discuss where to go from there.”

“Thank you.” Azrael pulled Kaine in close, resting his forehead against the shorter man’s. They closed their eyes, taking a moment to synchronize their breathing. It was an intimacy that forced me to look away lest I feel a voyeur.

When they pulled away, Kaine quickly addressed the crowd of Unseen. “Follow me, everyone. There’s warm beds and a good meal waiting for you all.”

There’s a murmur of relief through the group as they trudge after the blue-haired man, streaming into the entrance of the housing.

Azrael was looking at me, I realized, so I told him, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I feel the same,” he replied with a chuckle. “What happened to Bastien?”

“He’s with Wilhelm,” I explained, motioning back to the community hall. “They have a lot to talk about, I’m sure.”

Azrael nodded, scratching at the nape of his neck. “Aye. He’ll have a few choice words for me later, I’m sure. He’s been with the Rebellion for weeks, and I never told him about this place. Then again, I’d been sworn to secrecy, so only me and a handful of others knew it existed.”

And it dawned on me again that this wasn’t just Azrael, my friend, that I was speaking with. This was the leader of the Rebellion. It was amazing how much the same he seemed, even with that enormous burden on his shoulders.

“Come on,” Azrael said, motioning for me to follow him. “I’m starving, and I know a place down the way.”

I followed, hurrying to match his confident stride.

“Have you heard from my sister?” I asked as we went, weaving our way through the street.

“Lynette should be showing up soon. She insisted on traveling with a small company, as she had an errand to run before she joined us. Being the person she is, of course, she didn’t tell me what that errand was, so I couldn’t tell you how much longer she’ll be. But not to worry, she’s got a communicator that connects her directly to us, so I’m sure we’ll get an update soon.”

“How long has she been working with you?” I continued my questioning, looking to piece together some of the fragments of my understanding.

Azrael’s ear twitched, and he didn’t look at me when he answered, “Since I almost killed her a few years back now.”

I stopped in my tracks, and he slowed his pace, finally turning to look at me. “I wanted to wait till we had some food before I dove into everything, but I guess we can talk on the way? I’ll have to start at the beginning, or it won’t make any sense.”

“Keep talking,” I said, restarting my stride.

“When your mother banished me from the chateau, she had one of the mortal butlers drive me into the city. He was a nice man. Bertrand, I think, was his name. He gave me what little money he had on him and dropped me off in the safest place he could find. Before he left, he offered a warning, saying that the madame had ordered her guard to seize me should I try and return home and that my Papa would suffer the consequences if I tried.

“I had never been to the city before, but Papa always told me that we’d go one day. For the briefest moment, I was sort of excited, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the Magi City. But reality quickly began to set in as I realized I had nothing but the shirt on my back, which inadvertently also had a target. Adored gave me baleful stares as I walked down the sidewalk, just trying to get my bearings. And the mortals just ignored me. Funny, I didn’t even have to use magic to be invisible to them. I nearly got run over a few times before I realized how traffic worked, but all in all, by the time night was approaching, I had found myself alone in a dark alleyway, bawling my eyes out and wishing I was home.

“It took a few days for me to work through what little I had. By the end of my first week on the street, my hunger had reached a ravenous state, and I felt more beast than man with each passing hour. It was there that Kaine and the others took me in. A group of fellow urchins, they had found themselves in similar situations and had banded together to survive in the Magi City. They taught me what I needed to know to survive, the best places to steal food, where to bed down come winter so you won’t freeze to death, and on and on.

“By the time we’d grown into adolescents, we’d mastered the art of urban survival. It was then that Rudderkin showed up. This grizzled old man with grey fur and fangs that never quite receded. He caught one of us trying to pickpocket on the corner and convinced them to bring him back to our hideout. He sold us on a tale of comforts that none of us had known in years if we channeled our talents. He told us he was looking for soldiers. Those who could turn the tide of the Unseen struggle. Rudderkin spoke with such passion nearly half of our group agreed on the spot. The rest of us were reluctant, but rather than split up the family that we’d worked so hard to hold together, we ended up accepting his offer.

“The training was intense. In those days of the Rebellion, Rudderkin had earned a reputation for his swift and brutal tactics. He educated us in those ways. I excelled in the training, quickly outpacing the others. Kaine and I rose to the top of the recruits in a manner of a few months, besting others twice our age. Rudderkin pushed us to be ruthless, but we never quite agreed to the level of violence that he demanded from us. He said that the path to peace for our kind would be paved in blood, but Kaine and I had other ideas, and our fellow recruits began to look to the two of us for guidance.

“When the time came for us to graduate to soldiers, Rudderkin came to me privately, asking if he could discuss a topic of discretion. He told me that there was no place for someone with my beliefs on the front lines but that me and the other Urchins, as we’d grown to be known, would be better suited for another task. So, he formed us into his own personal strike force. For ten years, me and the Urchins carried out his orders. Kidnappings, assassinations, covert reconnaissance, you name it. He gave his expectations in the form of orders, but I quickly began to push back in my decisions as leader. Rudderkin was growing more bloodthirsty the longer the conflict went on. Strategic maneuvers became acts of revenge, and both sides saw their casualties skyrocket.

“That’s where Lynette entered the picture. The Urchins were given the order to eliminate a target. We were told it was a member of Adoranda Greene’s staff and that it would sow disruption into the Adored’s military actions, allowing a long enough break in the fighting for the Rebellion to catch their breath. But once we arrived on site, the orders were clarified. We were there to kill Lynette, the heir-apparent to Adoranda’s seat on the Council. I refused the orders, telling Rudderkin that this would only fan the flames of Adoranda’s ire, that it would lead us head-first into more bloodshed. He argued that the Greene family was the catalyst for the entire affront against the Unseen population, and as long as they drew breath, the Unseen would never know peace. We had to end their line of succession to ensure the freedom of our people.

“It was a hard argument to ignore. How much blood did I have on my hands, all because of your mother’s crusade? I’d been fighting for over ten years, Tobias. And this was a way out. A way to end the suffering. The price would be a single life, and for once, I decided that the price was worth the outcome.

“I told the Urchins that I would go in alone. They each had their tasks on ensuring my extraction once the job was done, but I was the fastest, and I’d grown up alongside you and your sister. I had been touched by your magic before and would know if she were about to dominate my will.

“We waited for them to leave the chateau—some diplomatic trip to an outlying Magi City where they had to squeeze the local Adored to align with your mother’s latest political leanings. When the time finally arrived, I snuck into Lynette’s quarters late in the evening, ready to accomplish the mission. I wasn’t expecting her to be awake at that hour, and in my haste, I was spotted. It took her only a moment of touch with her magic to recognize me. I braced myself to resist her control, but instead, she merely greeted me by name, pulling me into an embrace as she told me how happy she was that I was still alive. I was speechless, waiting for the ruse to end and for her to defend herself. But that moment never came. Seeing the way I appeared to her, Lynette merely nodded, telling me that she understood what I was there to do. She told me that she knew that someone would come for her eventually and that she wished for a peaceful way to end the conflict, and if her death was the best option to avoid further violence, she’d give herself up willingly.

“I was floored by her reaction. Lynette and I never had the kinship that you and I shared, but she was always kind to me back at the chateau. It was bizarre seeing how much of that kindness survived a life alongside Adoranda. I would have thought it all wrung out by then. She turned her back to me, saying that she didn’t blame me for my task and that she hoped she would be the last life I would have to take in the name of peace. Once again, I defied my orders and told her that I wasn’t going to kill her, but maybe her being alive was the best path forward. After all, she was the next in line to power. If she was an ally to the cause, then there was no reason for her to die. We merely had to speed up her ascension to end the conflict.

“We talked into the night, discussing ways that she could begin to work from within on pushing the conflict toward a peaceful resolution. She explained that her mother would never heed her counsel, but perhaps there were others she could recruit to help apply pressure at the right moments. Negotiations would be our path forward, and all we needed was a plan to get them to the table.

“When I returned to Rudderkin empty-handed, he was less than pleased. In front of the other Urchins, he condemned me as a traitor. I explained to him, as I had to my brothers, that Lynette would be the lynchpin to a peaceful resolution, but that only angered him further, as he had devolved past the mindset of any outcome that wasn’t total annihilation.”

He paused there, and I realized we had stopped in front of a vendor’s stall, the smell of smoke and charred food hitting my nose, making my stomach growl.

Azrael held his story long enough to order us some food, handing me two skewers with chunks of potato and vegetables roasted with a dark glaze. The smell was heavenly, and we found a spot to settle in around the corner so he could continue.

“Rudderkin was beyond reason at that point. He ordered that I go back and bring him Lynette’s head, but I refused. It was then that he attacked me. Rudderkin was rusty in his advanced years, so it wasn’t difficult to overpower him. The Urchins restrained him after that as we began to argue over what happened next. Kaine was especially upset with me for how things had turned out, and the conversation quickly became heated. Before it came to blows, Rudderkin snapped and broke free of his restraints, lunging at me with the intent to kill. Kaine pushed me out of the way, taking the blow and crumpling to the floor.

“So, I did what Rudderkin trained me to do. I neutralized the threat. It was only once my claws tore a hole through his chest that I realized what I had done. Rudderkin was dying, right there in my arms. The man I had looked up to as a father, and I’d ended his life. He seemed calm in those last few moments. No longer clouded by hate like the months leading up to that point. He told me that he’d always known I was the only one who could pick up his mantle for our people and that if I thought peace could be reached, I’d better be damn sure.”

Azrael paused, taking another slow bite.

“Kaine barely survived the wound, and the other Urchins were the only ones who knew what happened to our leader. After we talked things through, they agreed that I should continue on and become the new ‘Rudderkin’ to lead the Rebellion. So, I took up the mantle as agreed. Once our contact with Lynette was established, it didn’t take long for the others to get on board with the new mission—peaceful resolution.”

“But Mother would never allow it,” I surmised, polishing off my second skewer.

He shook his head, exhaling. “It became apparent quickly after I took over. Adoranda wanted nothing more than the erasure of my people. We wouldn’t stand a chance as long as she held the reins. Maybe Rudderkin was right. Some problems can only be solved with blood.”

We sat in silence for a moment, mulling over his conclusion. A crackling noise broke my concentration, and Azrael pulled out a small device, turning a knob on top till a voice spoke.

“Azrael, acknowledge.”

“Acknowledged,” Azrael responded, holding a button on the side of the device. “Speak freely.”

“Our scouts have reported seeing Lynette Green enter the Magi City unaccompanied. She was due to arrive in Paradise nearly half an hour ago, and all attempts to reach her have failed. Her party just showed up without the fuzziest idea how they got here.”

Azrael swore under his breath. “Acknowledged. Contact the Urchins and tell them to meet outside of the community hall in ten.”

“Acknowledged.”

The device went silent, and Azrael’s eyes were on me. “Why would she go into the city?”

I’d been asking myself the same question. It didn’t make sense. She knew that she was being hunted by our mother. What would make her want to go back there?

It hit me like the broadside of a blade.

“The Council,” I concluded. “They’re set to replace Lynette tonight if she doesn’t show up. She’s trying to take Mother’s seat while she’s not there to force the hands of the Council members.”

“But why would she go alone? If Adoranda is still alive, she’s bound to show up.”

“If Lynette thought that she had a chance at ending things between the Adored and the Rebellion, she would have seized the opportunity. She may have a fighting chance if Mother doesn’t show, but with her there, Lynette is done for.”

The device sounded once more. “Azrael, additional reports are coming in. There is movement at Chateau Greene. I repeat, there is movement being reported at Chateau Greene. It appears the madame is still in play.”

Fuck. If Mother was still alive, that meant Lynette was walking into a slaughter. She’d never make it to the Council in time, which means that Mother’s plans to consolidate her power had never been closer to fruition.

“Acknowledged. Prepare transportation at once.” He turned to me once more, eyes burning. “I’m going after her.”

“Please, let me come with you. I can’t let my sister face our mother alone.”

Azrael hesitates. “Bastien should be ready to prepare the resurrection ritual by now. You should stay and take care of that.”

“If Lynette is killed, then there’s no point in me coming back.”

He watched me, a deep confliction under sparkling violet eyes.

“Fine. But you need to let Bastien know what’s going on. Meet me at the entrance to Paradise in half an hour.”

“I’ll be there.”