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F or three days, Cora and her companions searched for the tear, traveling mostly at night. This, of course, was to limit the possibility of dragon sightings. There was no way to know if Darius didn’t already have eyes in Khero, seeking signs of the tear. He already had spies in her kingdom, or at least his Norunian allies did. And now that a third dragon had joined Ferrah and Uziel—proof that the creatures would continue to pour out of El’Ara in search of Ailan and Mareleau—it was even more imperative that they return them to the Veil.

The road was cloaked in predawn shadows and a faint wash of moonlight as Cora rode beside Ailan’s wagon. The wagon was pulled by a pair of the Forest People’s horses while Valorre served as Cora’s mount—his idea, for he seemed to have taken a liking to his fashionable saddle. Or perhaps he was jealous of the new horses.

When they’d set out for tonight’s journey, Ailan had insisted they’d find the tear before sunrise. Cora was surprised that the Veil had torn so close to Ailan and not closer to Ridine where Noah had been born. When Cora had asked her about this, Ailan had explained that even though Noah’s birth had caused the surge of mora that split the Veil, Ailan was still regent over El’Ara’s magic and would be until he came of age. The mora was just as desperate to reach her as it was to find its Morkara.

Wings beat the starlit sky overhead, and a dark silhouette rose above the tree line. Cora’s hands flinched, one toward the bow at her back, the other toward the quiver of arrows attached to the saddle. She smothered her defensive instincts to draw her weapons and settled for grasping the hilt of her dagger—the beautiful gift Teryn had given her—as she watched the dragon carry off some unfortunate creature in its talons. From the dragon’s massive size, it was Uziel. He flew over the road to the other side, where the landscape ended in a steep cliffside. His silhouette dipped beyond the cliff, likely to devour his prey upon the beach far below. Ailan had promised the dragons would cease burning crops and stealing livestock, upon her order, but they still needed to feed. Thankfully, they did so out of sight.

I still don’t like them much , Valorre conveyed. Now that I have my memories, I recall my kind has never gotten along with theirs. Too unrefined .

Is that so? Cora stifled a laugh and wondered if all unicorns were as arrogant as Valorre.

What the fornication is he even eating? His prey was almost as large as me .

What I’d like to know , Cora said, is where you got these strange expletives from .

Strange? How are they strange? The sentinels at the castle walls use them all the time in conversation .

Is that what you do when I’m not around? Wander the perimeter and listen in on the sentinels’ private gossip? Cora chuckled. Regardless, I think you’ve misunderstood. The words you use aren’t quite the same as theirs.

Yes, well, I could hardly comprehend what the sentinels’ words meant at first. Once I gleaned their meaning, I decided to use far more concise variations. I’ll have you know that makes me more refined and more creative. I can use better words than shit, crap, devils, and fu ? —

I get it. You’re oh so clever and refined with your foul language .

Thank you. I knew you’d agree .

Cora rolled her eyes.

I’m nothing like these fatherless sons , he said with a huff at the two horses pulling the wagon, Ailan at the reins. They haven’t a thought in their heads. Look how much taller I am! Look how much faster I can trot!

“No you don’t,” Cora said out loud, tone sharp. “I know you’re faster, larger, and smarter, but you don’t need to show off.”

Valorre mentally scoffed but resisted his urge to race ahead.

Ailan released a soft chuckle from the box seat. “You have a strong relationship with him, don’t you? He’s your familiar.”

“Yes, he is.” Some of her mirth died down. Even after traveling with Ailan for three days, she still hadn’t fully warmed to her. The same went for Mareleau, who often treated the woman with downright coldness. She couldn’t blame her.

Cora cast a glance down the length of the wagon, finding all the shutters closed with no sign of light behind them. Mareleau and Noah must be asleep.

Ailan spoke again. “I imagine it is like my bond with Uziel. The Elvyn don’t call them familiars, as that term belongs to witches, but the connection is the same.”

Cora was caught between curiosity and her steady apprehension of Ailan. She fought past the latter and gave in to the former. “Do Elvyn bond with other creatures besides dragons?”

“No, only dragons, and only the Morkara and their descendants can bond with them. Even so, the dragons can refuse to bond with certain people, regardless of bloodline. That was what happened with Darius. It very well might be what set everything into motion.”

Cora nudged Valorre’s side to bring him closer to the wagon. The road was plenty wide, but Cora’s curiosity made her want to draw nearer. “What do you mean?”

She opened her mouth but didn’t utter a word. Maybe she didn’t know where to start. When she did manage to speak, her eyes were distant, her gaze hovering over the star-dappled sea that stretched beyond the cliffside. “My brother’s jealousy knew no bounds. He hated me from the moment I was born. You know about my brother’s father? The prince who worldwalked into El’Ara and stole my mother’s heart?”

“Tristaine,” Cora said. “I learned about him in El’Ara. How Satsara was sent to weave a ward around him that would banish him from the fae realm, but she fell in love with him instead.”

Ailan nodded. “Shortly after Darius was born, she relayed the truth of his parentage to her consort and tribunal.”

“Her consort…” Cora was reminded of something she’d yet to mention. “Etrix. He was Satsara’s consort and…and your father, right?”

Ailan’s gaze sharpened as she whipped her face toward Cora. “Yes. How did you?—”

“I met him. He, Fanon, and an Elvyn named Garot were the ones who found me.”

“You met my father.”

“He and Garot were…relatively kind to me.”

Ailan’s lips turned down. “I’m sorry Fanon was unkind. I…I can’t imagine how the years have felt for him. I’ve had over five hundred years away from him, but it hasn’t been nearly so long for him. More like seventy-five years, based on the discrepancy in the passage of time between here and El’Ara. He must still cling to hope that I’ll return, yet at the same time, the truthweavers must have heard the same whispers that have spoken to me. He will know I’ve furthered my bloodline in the human world. Essentially moving on from him.”

“Were the two of you in love?” Maybe it was a silly question. In the human world, political alliances were often loveless, and Satsara’s affair with Tristaine suggested her relationship with Etrix may have been the same. But just like Cora had been blessed with a marriage to a man she loved, maybe the same happened in El’Ara.

“We were,” Ailan said, her expression turning distant once more. “I didn’t expect to love him, but I did, and he loved me fiercely in return. It surprised us both. The Morkara and their heirs are paired strategically with their consorts to grant honors to great Elvyn families, much like human royal marriages. Neither of us expected love.”

“What about Satsara and Etrix?”

“Ah, that brings me back to what I’d been trying to explain. Their pairing had been far colder than mine and Fanon’s was. They both had lovers, as that is commonplace for many Elvyn. And unlike human rules of succession, only the Morkara’s bloodline counts when passing the role to their heirs. The Morkara’s heir can be born from any partner they choose. So when my mother conceived Tristaine’s child, the only alarming thing about it was that the child was half human. By then, Satsara and Etrix had begun to form a warm relationship, a love born from friendship and honesty. She admitted to her newborn son’s origins and that she’d never banished the human she’d been sent to exile years ago. The tribunal agreed to treat her son with the same respect a pureblood Elvyn heir would receive, so long as she banished Tristaine once and for all. She agreed and raised Darius as her precious prince.

“After several years, Satsara and Etrix grew closer, eventually developing a physical relationship and bringing me into the world. Naturally, the tribunal favored me over Darius, for even though they treated Darius with the reverence required, they remained suspicious at heart. Their misgivings only solidified as he grew older and discovered his ability to worldwalk. What started as simple pranks—startling the servants, sneaking into places he shouldn’t go—evolved into dangerous acts. He managed to worldwalk to his father in Syrus somehow, which opened his ability to travel to the human world. From there he’d bring in human captives, sometimes for pleasure, but other times for trickery and torment, abandoning them in the woods and watching how they fared or setting fae creatures upon them.”

Cora’s stomach turned. All the childhood faerytales that described vicious fae and deadly tricks now seemed chillingly real. But there was something that left her even more unsettled.

“How did Darius worldwalk to Syrus? Had Satsara allowed Tristaine to take him there before she’d banished him, or do his abilities work differently from mine?”

“His abilities work like yours,” Ailan said. “He only ever worldwalked to places he’d been before. I never learned how he’d managed to worldwalk to Syrus the first time. Tristaine first found El’Ara unintentionally. Maybe Darius’ journey was accidental too.”

Ailan was right about Tristaine. He was a clairalient witch who’d first found the fae realm by following a scent. If she remembered Garot’s tale correctly, that had been on Samhain, when the veils between worlds were thinnest. Perhaps the same phenomenon had allowed Darius to find his father.

Ailan continued. “As much as my mother doted on her son, not even she could deny how dangerous he was becoming. He’d already reached maturity, and I was approaching it myself. The tribunal urged her to wait to choose her heir until I came of age, just to give us an equal chance at proving our worth. Mother clung to her hope that Darius would change, clung to the child that represented her first love.

“Then came the turning point. I reached maturity and was allowed to try to bond a dragon. Darius had been rejected four times, and the tribunal was beginning to worry Berolla’s hatchlings were too wild for bonding. But I was deeply drawn to the eldest and largest of Berolla’s progeny—Uziel. We bonded almost as soon as I’d begun the ritual.”

Cora couldn’t help the grimace that tugged her lips. She’d been forced to attempt that ritual herself with Ferrah and had nearly been burned to a crisp.

Ailan’s face fell. “Darius was jealous. He sought to disrupt the ritual by startling my mother’s dragon. He worldwalked in front of me and lifted his chin at Berolla—a disrespectful gesture one should never make to a dragon one has not gained the approval of. Berolla swiped out in a rage but Darius disappeared just in time, leaving me to bear the slash of her talons. Uziel swept me aside before the gash turned fatal, but I was still badly wounded.

“Darius wept pitiful tears, begging for my forgiveness, insisting it had only been a prank to test my bond with Uziel. But the tribunal turned firmly against him once and for all. My mother was finally forced to admit that her son was far more treacherous than she wanted to believe. Giving in to the wisdom of everyone around her, and her love for me, she named me heir and prepared to banish her beloved son, the same way she’d exiled Tristaine.”

Cora remembered Garot explaining Satsara’s attempt. An attempt that failed when Darius realized his mother was trying to weave a ward around him. “He escaped.”

“He did,” Ailan said. “He used his powers to escape to Syrus before her ward was completed. I’m sure you know the rest. Years later he returned to El’Ara, waging war upon the realm to claim his place as Morkaius of El’Ara. He had Syrus’ military strength by then and used his abilities plus the discrepancy of time to constantly barrage our forces. He could worldwalk with entire groups of soldiers at once, then leave and return with more in the blink of an eye. When he needed to retreat and regroup, he could take a week to recover while we had only a day. He was relentless, and his men were armed with iron—the deadliest metal to faekind. Even superficial wounds with iron could be lethal for our fighters, where normally only excessive blood loss, beheading, or voluntary Last Breath could end our lives.”

Cora couldn’t imagine the terror of constant war, yet it did help her understand—at least somewhat—the disdain Fanon had treated her with. Darius had used his abilities in horrifying ways, even before he’d resorted to war. Playing vicious pranks, taking human captives for his own amusement. He certainly wasn’t a glowing endorsement for witches. While she still resented having been treated so cruelly, the Elvyn had no other example to go by. No reason to trust humans or witches when the only ones they’d met had caused harm.

“I’m surprised you don’t blame witches like those in El’Ara do,” Cora said. “You lived alongside them. Welcomed them into the commune. Appointed them as elders to sit beside you. Or was that only because you’d lost your memories?”

“It is true I forgot many details regarding myself and Darius, but I don’t think I could have resented all witches, even if I’d remembered. Witches, fae, non-magical humans…we’re all the same. There is good and evil in all of us, and I don’t think Darius’ heritage as a witch is the reason for his darkness. Maybe my mother was too naive and didn’t try to guide him away from his darker instincts. Maybe Tristaine was responsible for filling his head with blood and violence. Whatever the case, I do hope to change the minds of Fanon and those who share his prejudices. They will need to change if we are to ally our peoples and stand against Darius.”

“Are you anxious about seeing Fanon again?” Cora asked, only to realize what a personal question that was. She continued to cling to a rebellious fire that kept her from wanting to get too close to Ailan. At the same time, she had loved Nalia, and the more they talked, the more Cora was beginning to merge the two identities in her mind.

“I am,” Ailan confessed. “Romantic relationships are hardly my priority, but I can’t help wondering if there’s a future for us. After our most pressing matters are taken care of.”

Cora’s heart softened. “Will he really be so angry that you moved on? He knows it’s been five hundred years for you.”

She shook her head. “He’s a stubborn creature, and he’s always wanted me all to himself. He never liked the idea of taking lovers or treating our relationship like anything but a committed union between us. I felt the same, of course, but things changed when I was trapped in the human world. Not only were my memories of Fanon disappearing, but I had only the whispers of my weavings to guide me. Once humans discovered the new land that had sprouted from the southern edge of Risa, my whispers urged me to integrate with society and bear heirs. I didn’t experience love again, not like I had with Fanon, but I did start a family.”

Cora knew Ailan had had children, but Cora hadn’t pictured Ailan with a family. A husband. Sons and daughters. “How long did you live in human society before you settled with the Forest People?”

“Once my children and grandchildren died, I felt the whispers calling me away. I met my great-grandchildren, but they didn’t cling to me the way my closer kin had, for they had many other relatives. Besides, I couldn’t appear to live forever, even with how my appearance had aged.”

“Were none of your children immortal, even with the Elvyn blood they’d inherited from you?”

She shook her head. “They aged the same as any human.”

“Then how is Darius still alive? Morkai used blood magic to extend his life, but from what you’ve said about Darius, he’s as immortal as you are. Can he even be killed?”

“He can be killed just like the rest of my kind—beheading or excessive blood loss. He heals relatively fast, so a minor wound won’t do. Even running him through with a sword won’t do much, for he merely disappears, removes the weapon, and heals. But he can be killed so long as he can be outsmarted. And as for your first question, I believe his immortality is due to being born in El’Ara and remaining in the line of succession. If Noah or I perish, Darius still has a chance to claim rule. Until my brother dies, the mora will recognize that and fuel his life.”

When she put it that way, Cora couldn’t help but question Ailan’s choices. If she’d died without any heirs, the mora could have chosen a new bloodline from someone still behind the Veil in El’Ara. But like Ailan had said then, there was no way to know what the repercussions would have been. Would the new Morkara have been able to fix the Veil and return El’Ara’s heart? Would Morkai still have been born to wreak havoc on the human world?

None of them had the answers to what if . Yet it did bring to mind a question she’d yet to ask. One Maiya had voiced. Since then, it had clouded Cora’s heart.

“What happens to Lela after we defeat Darius? When I asked if you could seal the tear in the Veil, you said it was more complicated than that, because sealing the tear wouldn’t bring El’Ara’s heart back. So what will you do instead?”

Ailan met Cora’s gaze, lips pursed. “I don’t know yet, and neither of us may like the answer when we find it.”

A chill ran down Cora’s spine. She opened her mouth to ask her to elaborate when Ailan tugged the reins and brought her wagon to an abrupt stop. Cora halted Valorre beside it. “What is it?”

Ailan’s gaze was fixed at the edge of the cliffside. “It’s here,” Ailan said, voice breathless. “We’ve found the tear.”