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C ora waited in the empty tribunal room, where Garot had brought her. The room was even darker than it had been the last time she was here, as the brightly hued butterflies were nowhere to be seen. The only light came from the dim sconces that lined the curved walls. She wandered the circular floor, her muscles tense. Every minute she was here were several lost in the human world, and she’d already lost close to an hour.

She’d followed the agreed-upon protocol, entering El’Ara discreetly through the tear. There she’d been greeted by the drawn blades of the soldiers who now patrolled the fae side of the tear. After that, she argued over the urgency of her visit, which had been a headache even with the translation charm on the bracelet Fanon had given her. In the end, she’d worldwalked straight to the woods outside the palace, where Garot intercepted her.

She still didn’t know exactly how Garot could locate her so easily. The first time she’d come to El’Ara, he’d told her about the triggers that were woven throughout the land, explaining that was how Satsara had come to meet Tristaine. Yet Cora hadn’t learned more details than that. How did the triggers alert the Elvyn? How did they know the exact location where the trigger had been set off? It was yet more confusing fae technology, much like the impressive bathtub with its drains and faucets.

The door opened to reveal Ailan. And then…

“Mareleau.” Cora hadn’t expected Ailan to bring her, for she’d requested to speak with Ailan alone. Nightmare flames emerged from her memory at the sight of her friend, along with a burning well of guilt, shame, and bitter rage. Her confession echoed in her head.

It should have been her .

She breathed deeply, neither burying the emotions nor trying to push them away. Instead, she let all those feelings move through her without judgment.

When they passed, her body felt lighter.

Mareleau’s expression brightened with a grin, and she met Cora in a one-armed hug. The other arm cradled Noah’s sling. Cora sank into the embrace.

She may harbor resentment for Mareleau, but their friendship was stronger. So much stronger. She hoped Mareleau understood that. Hoped she wouldn’t hate her for what she needed to do next.

“Come,” Ailan said with a gentle squeeze to Cora’s shoulder. She proceeded to the other side of the meeting room and opened an almost imperceptible door. Light flooded from behind it, and Ailan beckoned them to follow her inside.

As soon as Cora crossed the threshold, humid air filled her lungs, much like it had in Syrus. The scent of unfamiliar flowers flooded her nostrils. Glass walls comprised three sides of the small room, inviting in the glow of the setting sun. Potted plants and flowers in every color imaginable cluttered the floor and tables while vines crawled up trellises.

Among all the greenery fluttered the glowing butterflies from the tribunal meeting. They emitted a calming blue light.

“They’re beautiful,” Mareleau said, tone brimming with awe. She strolled to one of the long walls of windows and stared out at the scenery.

Cora, meanwhile, kept close to Ailan, posture stiff. She wasn’t here for a leisurely chat, and a part of her dreaded disappointing Ailan. The woman may look different now, but deep inside Cora still recognized her as Nalia, the High Elder she’d looked up to for six years. A figure whose approval she’d sought.

But Ailan’s approval was not her priority.

Her people were.

A butterfly flew over Cora’s head, its color flashing a yellow-green.

Ailan frowned at the butterfly until it flew away from Cora, its hue returning to blue. She picked up a glass bottle fitted with a pump and nozzle and began to spray the leaves of a climbing vine bedecked with violet flowers. “Did you have any trouble entering the tear? Or getting to the palace?”

“No.” It wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t what she’d come to discuss.

“You saw how many guards I’ve posted at the tear? I have more soldiers stationed throughout the Blight. Did you bring your soldiers to guard the human side?”

Cora’s eyes flashed toward Mareleau. “King Larylis is in a ship nearby with fifty soldiers. I’ll send word to him to discreetly patrol the area around the tear.”

Mareleau whirled away from the window, eyes bright. “Larylis is close by? Can you get a letter to him?”

Cora opened her mouth to answer, but Ailan spoke first.

“Fifty soldiers,” she said, brows furrowed. “That’s not what we agreed to. I asked for?—”

“We didn’t agree to anything yet. The situation has changed. I’m taking charge of our alliance. The Elvyn will agree to all my terms or they will forfeit the alliance altogether.”

Ailan paused spraying. “What happened?”

“I met your brother. He took me to Syrus and offered me something I can’t refuse.”

“You’re allying with him ?”

“No. He’s given me the options of war, surrender, or alliance, and I am choosing none of those. Instead, you and I are going to make a plan to work against him, and you are going to give me what Darius offered.”

Ailan’s throat bobbed, and the butterflies closest to her flickered orange. She resumed spraying the plant. “What did he offer you?”

She swallowed hard. “Lela.”

Another pause. Another flicker of orange. “Lela? You want me to…what? Leave El’Ara’s heart in the human world?”

“Yes.” Anxiety bubbled inside her, reflected in the spike of yellow on the nearest butterflies’ wings. To calm herself, she turned her attention to the plant life around her. She circled a potted tree, its base consisting of five slender, intertwining trunks. Its leaves were wide, flat, and bright pink.

“You know I can’t give you that,” Ailan said. “El’Ara needs its heart.”

Cora continued to circle the plant, steeling herself to explain the next part. “I know El’Ara needs its heart, and you will have it. The heart isn’t the land itself but the mora . As Queen of Lela?—”

“What do you mean Queen of Lela?” Mareleau marched toward Cora. “Are you…stealing my kingdom?”

Cora couldn’t bring herself to meet her friend’s eyes. “I’m not stealing your kingdom. I’m inheriting it. You and Larylis are going to abdicate. Teryn will inherit Vera, and we’ll merge our kingdoms into one. Furthermore, I demand Larylis and Queen Mother Helena live in El’Ara.”

Silence echoed back.

Finally, Cora forced herself to meet Mareleau’s gaze. She expected to find red butterflies all around her in a halo of rage, but instead, they only flashed yellow. With a deep breath, Cora opened herself to her friend’s emotions, sensing shock, confusion, and…

The emotions lifted.

Dispersed.

The butterflies deepened to a bold shade of green.

A bark of laughter escaped Mareleau’s lips. “You’re claiming Vera as your own and demanding that the Elvyn accept my husband and mother as citizens.”

“I am, and I will brook no debate on the matter. No one can remain in the human world who can contest my rule. Lela is mine.”

Mareleau blinked at her a few times. Then her lips curled into a trembling smile, and her emotions swelled with an unexpected warmth. Cora knew then that Mareleau had seen through her demand to her true intentions. Although Cora would be making this choice even if Mareleau hated her for it, she was determined that Mareleau and Noah wouldn’t be separated from Larylis and Helena.

Ailan wasn’t quite so moved. “You aren’t giving your friend a say in the matter? She hasn’t decided if she wants to live here yet.”

Cora lifted her chin. “No, I’m not giving her a choice, or you, and I have my reasons.”

“Explain them then.”

“As Queen of Lela,” Cora said, “I will have access to the magic that seeps from Centerpointe Rock into the human world. I’m going to utilize it.”

Ailan’s nostrils flared. “You can’t harness the magic.”

“I won’t. I’ll push it back.” She shared what Darius had told her, about the loophole he’d found in the prophecy. “One only becomes Morkaius after they harness the magic. So I won’t. I’ll go to Centerpointe Rock and use whatever temporary power I’m granted as Queen of Magic and push the mora back through the tear. With the veins of magic on this side of the Veil where they belong, you—or your strongest wardweavers—will seal the tear. Once it’s sealed, a new heart will be forged, and your mother’s wardweaving will no longer be incomplete.”

Ailan’s expression went blank, demonstrating her awe-laced shock. Then she shook her head. “I can see that as a possibility, but my people will never agree. You’re asking us to position you as Morkaius of the human world. Someone who could take everything from El’Ara.”

“I can’t take everything without harnessing the magic, which would destroy me. Pushing the mora back to El’Ara is my only choice if I want to survive.”

“My people won’t?—”

“They will,” Cora said, tone firm. “You will make them agree. Tell them anything, I don’t care what it is. Tell them I’m exactly what they fear me to be, an evil witch bent on taking Lela for her own. Tell them I’m a bloodthirsty worldwalker, and the only way to keep the peace with me and defeat your brother is to give me what I want.”

Ailan set down the spray bottle and folded her arms. She paced before the climbing vines before she spoke again. “I can get the tribunal to agree if you proceed with your plan to push the mora back to us at once. You will secure Mareleau and Larylis’ word of abdication?—”

“So soon?” Mareleau straightened. “That’s all it would take? Just a word of abdication, no formal process? No coronation? Just like that, she’s Queen of Lela?” There was no ire in her tone, only curiosity.

“This is a matter of the mora ,” Ailan said. “Fae magic. While it will likely take more work to formalize Cora’s position in terms of human politics, the magic will recognize her role once you and your husband state your abdication, just like the role of the Morkara can be relinquished upon a single verbal statement.”

“That may be true,” Cora said, drawing Ailan’s attention back to her, “but I am not going to push the mora to El’Ara while Darius still lives. That would trap him in the human world and leave us to deal with him.”

Ailan arched a brow. “Then what exactly are you proposing?”

“You said we need to outsmart Darius to defeat him, so we will. All he truly wants from me is the location of the tear. So I’ll give him a false location. I’ll lead him to a predetermined place where we will ambush him.”

“You’re forgetting he has no reason to stay and fight once he discovers he’s being ambushed. He can worldwalk away before anyone can lay a finger on him.”

“He will have a reason to stay if you’re there.”

Ailan’s eyes widened. “You want me to serve as bait.”

“I’m acting as bait myself by bringing him to the ambush site. The least you can do is face him. You have the one thing that can stop him, don’t you?”

Ailan thinned her lips as she reached into the folds of her flowing robe and extracted the magic-suppressing collar. “Yes, though I failed the last time I tried to trap him with it. I got only a single talon hooked into his skin, but he merely tore it out, tossed it aside, and worldwalked away.”

“Then you’ll have to try harder this time. Unless…there’s more of those?”

“No, this collar is one of a kind. Berolla sacrificed two talons to create it, and it can’t be replicated, even if she were still alive.” At Cora’s questioning look, she went on to explain. “She was trapped on this side of the Veil when my mother died. According to Fanon, she took Last Breath shortly after.”

Damn. There went the possibility for more magic-suppressing weapons.

“This,” Ailan said, holding up the collar, “is our best hope. Our best chance at preventing Darius from worldwalking while I land a killing blow. And you’re right; he won’t resist the opportunity to face me if I confront him. But that doesn’t mean he won’t first worldwalk away to bring an army.”

“So we’ll station troops from our human and Elvyn forces that will be ready to fight,” Cora said. “How many soldiers can Darius travel with?”

“During the war, he often brought in upwards of two dozen men at a time.”

Cora’s mouth fell open. “ Two dozen ? At once?”

Ailan nodded.

She couldn’t imagine worldwalking with that many people in tow. Still, even with those numbers, it would take far too long to bring his entire army. “He’ll be eager enough to face you that he won’t risk your retreat. He’ll only bring in enough soldiers to even the odds.”

“Perhaps.” Ailan rubbed her brow. “When do you expect this confrontation to take place?”

“He agreed to wait three weeks to hear my answer to his offer of alliance. I can pretend to agree to his terms and take him to a false tear location. But we can’t rely on that timeline or that circumstance. In less than two weeks, a rebellion in Norun will cut off his reinforcements, leaving him with fewer soldiers to face Khero with. He might grow desperate to act, or suspect Khero’s involvement with the rebellion. If that happens, he may revoke his offer of alliance and use threats against me until I take him to the tear. Our plan will remain the same.”

“Based on the passage of time in El’Ara, we have at most three days,” Ailan said, voice tinged with panic. She resumed pacing, the butterflies fluttering over her head flashing between yellow and orange. “There’s still so much more to figure out. We’ll need to establish a location, a way to communicate while we secure our plans, and a signal to alert my people that the ambush must begin…”

Cora had ideas for the latter. Berol had already been passing letters between Larylis and Teryn over the last couple of weeks. The falcon was small enough to fly through the tear without attracting the attention of potential spies. Moreover, Cora suspected the Elvyn would have less qualms about using an animal to relay communications as opposed to a human.

Ailan halted and faced Cora once more. “I have one final condition. I will convince the tribunal to accept your terms to keep Lela in the human world, but you must proceed with pushing the mora through the tear as soon as the ambush begins. I’ll station wardweavers inside the tear who can get to work sealing it as soon as they feel the return of mora . That way you have our aid in fighting Darius, but we can take comfort in sealing him out while he’s distracted.”

“And if you fail,” Cora said, leveling a pointed look at her, “the human world will be left to clean up your mess.”

“If I fail, it means I’m either dead or he’s made his way inside the Veil. Either way, you and I will have done our parts.”

“Darius…inside the Veil,” Mareleau echoed, shaking her head. “No, that can’t be an option. You said El’Ara was the safest place for Noah.”

“It is,” Ailan said. “I will do everything I can to stop Darius. However, if he does make it inside the tear, the triggers will warn Garot, and you must get to the dragon caves at once. Darius may be fast enough to evade the swing of a sword, and he may heal quickly from most wounds. But there’s only so much dragon fire he can withstand, even with his fae healing. Ferrah and the other dragons will defend you. Uziel will face Darius with me. If I can collar my brother, Uziel can burn him. I’ll burn with him if I must. If that’s what it takes to keep him from worldwalking away.”

Cora’s stomach turned at that. At the resignation darkening Ailan’s tone. She seemed very un-Nalia-like in that moment, and every inch the Elvyn warrior.

Mareleau’s throat bobbed. “What about my husband and mother? If the wardweavers seal the tear before—” She snapped her mouth shut and shifted her gaze to Cora. “Oh, right. You can still worldwalk through the Veil, so long as you have Valorre.”

“It may take some time,” Cora said, “but I can return everyone to their proper places once the tear has been sealed.”

“So…this isn’t goodbye between us yet?”

Cora gave her a sad smile. “Not yet.”

“Does that mean you agree?” Ailan asked. She certainly wasn’t keen on sentiment.

Cora had been determined not to budge on her terms, but Ailan’s proposed condition was fair. The humans and Elvyn would work together to ambush Darius. If Cora succeeded in pushing the mora back, and the wardweavers sealed the tear while Darius was fighting Ailan, at the very least Mareleau and Noah would be safe. Forever. Darius would never be able to cross the Veil.

All she had to do was trust Ailan to end him.

Her muscles tensed at the thought of leaving the ambush in the hands of others while she played her role at Centerpointe Rock. But this battle wasn’t hers. It was Ailan’s to finish.

And Lela was Cora’s to protect.

She blew out a shaky breath. “I agree.”