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“He looked at me,” one girl gushed. “His eyes penetrated my soul and I felt the thrust of the stars’ power over and over.”

“That’s nothing,” a boy chimed in, puffing up his chest. “Our souls connected. Both our souls touched, rubbed together and opened wide to each other.”

“Did you say our souls, or arseholes?” Ransom’s deep voice cut in as he muscled through the crowd and nearly knocked the boy flying. His friends let out a riot of laughter and I turned from them, blocking out the chatter.

I had so many questions burning my tongue that I had half a mind to go back and demand answers from Kaiser Brimtheon. By the ocean, was he so damn broken that he carelessly released monsters from their chains for no purpose?

No. That wasn’t it. Kaiser was clever, not reckless.

He had a purpose; perhaps one that had to do with The Matriarch’s underhanded trades with their kind.

Just when I thought that this war couldn’t get any more twisted, I discovered a secret that reminded me I didn’t know half the depths the other lands would stoop to to secure an advantage.

If The Matriarch managed to make an alliance with the Vampires, then we were all fucked.

I’d seen what they could do and the thought of facing them on a battlefield was frightening to consider.

Was that Kaiser’s angle? He had risked everything by releasing that Vampire, because if the bloodsucker was caught, a Cyclops would search his memories and see the Fae who had released him.

Although I itched to look back at the Centaur statue and check if Kaiser was on my heels, I kept my gaze forward and blended in with those around me.

It was only as I was taking the path toward the Vault of Frost and a hand slid around my wrist that I felt sure he had followed me.

With a sharp tug, he snatched me away from the back of a group of Raincarvers into an alcove where a fountain of Pisces was built into the wall.

I prepared for an attack as he pushed me into the shadow of the stone archway, his hand slamming to the wall beside my head and his face all too close to mine.

But it wasn’t the harsh eyes of Kaiser Brimtheon I found staring into my soul, it was the copper warmth of Harlon’s.

His golden hood had fallen down and without it, he lost that untouchable aura the Reapers carried so well.

“Kaské, Harl,” I exhaled in relief, pushing my silencing shield out to envelope him.

The tension in my shoulders dropped away as his scent of lime and sea air surrounded me.

Home. That was what Harlon was to me. Castelorain would have felt just like any other town in Cascada without him in it, and that was far too apparent to me now that he’d been thrust back into my reality. Fuck, I’d missed him.

His jaw was tight and he seemed on edge, his eyes alight with urgency.

“What happened after-” I started, but he cut over me.

“The Reapers are searching for anyone who has information on the deaths that occurred beneath the Keep. Particularly that of the Reaper who was murdered. Because the only bodies that were found were from Air, they are focusing their attention on the Skyforgers and Cyclopsing all of them.”

“All of them?” I echoed in astonishment.

“Every last one. Methodically. So tell me, Ever, is there any chance one of them could lead them to you? Does a single Air conscript know that you were down there and still breathes?”

“No,” I said firmly, thinking of the Sky Witch and feeling that uncomfortable burn in my chest over her death. “The ones who did are dead.”

“Good,” Harlon said firmly, shooting a glance back toward the corridor. I knew the risk he was taking in being here and I could see the need in him to go already, but I wrapped my fingers around his arm to keep him close a second longer.

“What happened after we parted last night?”

“I woke up back in my chambers and was congratulated for passing my initiation,” he said darkly. “I’m one of them now.” He shot another furtive glance toward the hall and I reached up to cup his cheek and made him look back at me.

“What was that thing? That monster?”

He shook his head, mouth tight, clearly having no answer to give.

I dropped my hand but he caught it in his, his fingers curling around mine and squeezing tight.

“Are you well?” he asked, his intense gaze searching my own.

I wanted to tell him about Kaiser and the soul-tie he had cast on me, but as I tried to bring the truth to my lips, the Nightfire sizzled against my tongue and refused to let those words pass.

“Yes, fine,” I gritted out. “It’s you I’m concerned for.”

“I’m safe. For now.” He leaned in close, his breath skating against my mouth and the heat of his body radiating right to the core of me. It was as if he carried the sun in his chest, the warmth of our homeland burning brightly inside him.

I thought of the kiss we’d shared all those months ago, how it seemed like nothing but a dream now, a bright spark among a sea of black. But we were so much more than a kiss. We were each other’s safe place to land when a storm rolled in and tossed us from the unforgiving sky.

In truth, he had played the role of my security for so long it was painful to know he would soon part from me again.

But I’d learned to be without him during these past months.

I knew what it was to walk alone and perhaps I was stronger because of it.

But oh how easy it would be to run away to anywhere with him if the stars would allow it.

Harlon leaned in, his mouth grazing mine and our bodies crushed together, this illicit touch setting my soul on fire.

The Reapers of Never Keep took a vow never to cavort with the neophytes who trained here.

We were crossing a line painted by the stars, but forbidden fruit always did taste the sweetest.

He didn’t quite kiss me, his promise still echoing between us that this wouldn’t happen until my duty was done.

My place as a warrior secured and my revenge cast. Those two tasks were the monarchs of my soul, outweighing all else.

But just for a moment, I caught a glimpse of a life where the sun warmed my back and Harlon’s easy smiles were all that mattered.

It was a pretty dream, one that I could see no simple path to because warriors didn’t live fairytale lives like that.

I wasn’t born for simplicity; I was sculpted by the hands of Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer for the turmoil of war.

It was more than duty, it was desire. The wildness of my soul hungered for a life of chaos, not peace.

Harlon inhaled, his powerful body pinning me to the hard stone, his copper eyes blazing with a keen and roaring desire.

The energy between us was frantic, filled with everything we hadn’t been able to say to each other, but the moment was violently shattered by the sound of the bells chiming throughout the Keep.

“That’s a call for me to return to the Reapers, something must be wrong,” he muttered, stepping back.

I wanted to tell him I knew exactly what was wrong, but I couldn’t implicate him with the knowledge that the Vampire was on the loose.

“Go,” I urged and Harlon retreated further, giving me one last look before pulling up his hood, bowing his head and making a fast path away from me.

I sagged against the wall, my heart beating too hard and my lips still humming from the feather-light touch of his.

Barely a moment after he left, a shadow stepped into the alcove and I straightened, my hand slipping to the place where my dagger was concealed.

Kaiser Brimtheon closed in on me with a look of cold malice in his obsidian eyes, sending a rampant tremor through the centre of my being. “Follow me again and I will slit your throat, silka la vin.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I growled, trying to sell the lie.

“I saw you down there, running away like a scurrying rat,” he announced and my plan crumbled before my eyes, my chance of handing him to the Reapers lost just like that. Because he would implicate me too.

The blood drained from my face as he went on, “You may think yourself untouchable because of the soul-tie, but I will protect my own before I will ever protect you.”

“Your own? Like that Vampire?” I hissed, ignoring his bullshit intimidation act despite the hum of violence radiating from him.

“You know nothing of what you saw,” he said icily, hounding forward and dissolving the moment of sweetness I’d stolen with Harlon.

“But I know what I saw. A Never Keep Reaper with his mouth on a conscript, breaking the sacred vows and sharing whispered words with his dirty little secret. What would the other Reapers do to him if they knew of his sins?”

Acidic anger sliced through me and I raised a hand, magic swirling at my fingertips. “Do anything to him and I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” he drawled, his possession snapping through me at once and forcing me to drop my hand.

“You’re under my control. You’re my puppet on unbreakable strings, Everest Arcadia, and I will make you do whatever I need to to fulfil my duty to Pyros.

You think your Reaper boyfriend can save you? ”

A snarl built in my throat. “I don’t need saving, Flamebringer,” I said venomously. “If you think I am incapable of taking you down myself then I will be all the more satisfied when that time comes.”

“What kind of parents would instil such undeserved confidence in their little brat?”

“I am the daughter of Commander Rake of the Aquin Legion, the fiercest warrior of his generation and daughter of Kaylina Arcadia - who you murdered in cold blood,” I snarled, fighting furiously against his possession, but I still couldn’t move.

“I have heard of Abraham Rake and his arrogance,” he said, thinking on that, not acknowledging the other part of what I’d said. “I see that trait in you clearly enough. But why do you not claim his supposedly honourable name?”

I had no intention of telling him the inner details of my relationship with my father, so I just glared at him and waited for his bullshit lecture to be over.

Inside, a hurricane was building and I could feel the force of it promising an outlet upon my enemy.

The reminder of my mother’s death and the sight of Kaiser’s merciless face awoke the darkness in me.

The second that power rose its head, I yanked on it, forcing it at him all at once.

He blinked then frowned, noticing that something had happened, but I was still under his control.

My heart thundered with excitement as I realised I could move my fingers a little, just like before.

The lash of power I’d used was gone and I didn’t know what the strike had done to him, if much at all, but it was certainly proving I could counter his possession.

Perhaps, one fraction at a time, I could destroy it entirely.

“Why do you wear the name of The Matriarch when you are nothing but an unwanted orphan left in the street by his true parents?” I hissed, aiming to hurt, though nothing ever penetrated his unshakeable exterior.

Kaiser carved his fingers through his inky hair, the sheen of crimson to it catching the firelight of a sconce behind him. His eyes bored into mine, his gaze slipping to my lips and a world of rage twisted through his expression, that cold mask shattering at once.

He came at me in a blur, his hands gripping my arms and a stream of snarled words falling over me. His possession took a deeper root, keeping me vulnerable to his attack.

I got the sense he was going to beat me, just as Ransom had done so often with his friends whenever they caught me in their snare. But I had always had the ability to fight back in those circumstances; this was fucking cowardice.

“Perhaps you are more trouble than you’re worth, Raincarver,” Kaiser snapped, the bite to his tone sending a tremor through me. “Void or not.”

“Will the scary Fae snap my neck while I’m bound in his chains?” I scoffed. “You pathetic mama-eskar.” Motherfucker .

His possession made my chin lift, forcing my head back so my neck was exposed to him. An easy target. But what a spineless blow it would be.

The tension in my body was palpable and my pulse crashed against my eardrums in heavy waves.

I could smell oak and cinders on his skin, the scent like a toxin veiled with sugar.

It wasn’t the threat of death that made my adrenaline surge, it was the way my soul screamed for a finer death than this. A death fit for a goddess, not a runt.

“You lay your mouth upon a Reaper of the stars despite what you’ve seen of them. One thing I did not think you were was a fool, but here I stand corrected,” he hissed, his ire only rising by the second.

“He’s not like them,” I growled, unsure why I was even bothering to defend Harlon to this asshole. I owed Kaiser nothing and whatever he thought of Harlon bore no significance to me.

He released a dismissive breath through his nose.

“They were all acolytes once. He will become another number in their ranks and whatever rebellious little thoughts he might share with you now will be the last thing you cling to when he no longer answers your summons. He’s a prophet of the stars, you fool, and there is no higher purpose to them but the heavens themselves.

Cut your losses before the Reapers cut them for you. ”

With that, he turned and marched away from me with anger lining his posture. My chance at handing his name to the Reapers vanished along with him, for it would only incriminate me too now.

It was a whole minute until his possession finally ebbed from my flesh and my body was mine once again. Only it wasn’t. Not truly. Not while the Fury still lived.