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Chapter twenty-three

Diverging

Zayne

Ayla looked over my shoulder as I loaded up a satchel, shoving in supplies in preparation for our visit to the nearby cove. Vanessa had found the perfect spot to test Ayla’s magic, tucked away from prying eyes.

Still, she didn’t seem convinced.

Ayla watched me pack, arms crossed and refusing to help. On the other side of the tether, her energy was irritably hot.

I tossed the packed bag over my shoulder and turned to her. “I need you to be safe. You’re what matters most.” I offered her my hand so I could jump her to shore. “Let’s go.”

Frowning, she searched my face.

My hand wavered between us, still empty. “If you accept a lesson with the Starlit King, I don’t know how to keep you safe. Trust me, I have a plan.”

Irritation flashed through the bond. “ We need a plan,” she corrected.

“Then why—”

Starlight crackled at her fingertips, the first I’d seen of her light since losing Ninti.

“I already told you my plan—I want to accept a lesson. Just one. My magic is like his, I know it. It’s the same like calls to like thing I felt with his starlit box.

A box you shadow-stepped us away from before I could even try opening it. ”

“I told you, my shadows don’t work—"

“Your shadows,” she corrected. “His starlight might feel wrong to you, but to me it feels…” She squeezed her eyes tight. “It feels like I’ve known it all my life.”

I hesitated, recalling how claiming the vault had felt just as familiar.

She shook her head. “I need to have control over my magic. If there’s a chance a single lesson from someone with experience in starlight might actually help, I want to take it.”

“I can keep you safe.”

“What happens when you’re not there?”

“I’ll always be there—”

“You’re a necromancer who regularly goes into death! I need to understand my magic if I’m to defend myself—defend us. ”

My jaw tightened.

She continued on. “Additionally, if I learn more about my magic, it’s possible I’ll be able to open the starlit box with the shards.

Ideally, we’ll try right after the lesson.

And if everything goes right, we’ll be sailing away before dark!

What’s wrong with that?” She stared at me, eyes wide. “Why don’t you like my plan?”

“Everything!”

“Then explain why !”

“Do you really think you can outmaneuver the Starlit King after a single lesson?”

She lifted her chin, the growth of her antlers on full display. “Who knows. We didn’t try opening the box.”

I drew my hands into fists, yanking the shadows closer, wishing I could protect us from everything determined to drive us apart. “I have an idea too—a way to minimize your light. It’s not perfect, but please try. We need to exhaust every other option. I need you, Ayla…”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“I do. But I don’t trust him. ”

“And neither do I!”

I shook my head. “He’ll manipulate you.”

“I’m smarter than that!”

“You just said that his magic felt familiar. Are you certain that’s real?”

She took half a step back.

I charged on. “Ayla, I hate to break it to you, but you’re just as susceptible as everyone else.”

Her eyes flashed with hurt.

That went too far.

Regret filled my chest, and I shook my head. “I’m—”

Cutting off my apology, she surged ahead. “At least I’m not like you, Zayne. I’m not so hesitant of my power that I’m afraid to use it. If you’d accepted yourself as a necromancer earlier, could you have stopped Inarus faster?”

The punch landed exactly as she’d intended.

If I had understood what I was sooner, would I have done anything differently? Would I have ended Inarus sooner or simply sworn off necromancy entirely? I couldn’t be sure.

Ayla’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You say you’re trying to keep me safe, but you won’t always be there to protect me. I need to be able to take care of myself. I need that lesson.”

And we were back to this ? “Going to him won’t help.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

Why doesn’t she get it?

Fury coursed through me. Our argument was becoming circular, and she refused to acknowledge how dangerous this was. Nobody ever acknowledged how dangerous the Starlit King was—not even me, before.

I took a deep breath. “Did you know I couldn’t shadow-step in Karenia? It wasn’t exactly something I could hide.”

She knitted her brows in surprise. “Someone in my mother’s council might have known, but I…” She shook her head. “I didn’t know.”

My throat tightened. “Wielding shadows is difficult so close to the Starlit Throne, the same way they became difficult around the starlit box. Starlight can dismantle shadows. It was the Starlit King himself who explained it to me.”

“You grew up without your shadows? They’re part of you. That’s… terrible.”

“When he gave us sanctuary, he didn’t just invite two powerful fae into his home to help them. The decision may have been popularized as altruism, but when he brought us closer, he suffocated our power.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again. After a time, she asked, “Why didn’t the two of you leave earlier?”

“We tried, but there was nowhere to go. By the time we realized our mistake, no one else would host us. I’ve always assumed that he made deals with other isles, ensuring that would be the case. Our only other option was to escape to our homeland. Which we did, eventually.”

Ayla searched my face at a loss for words.

“I can’t trust him. Never again,” I concluded.

“Even in something as seemingly simple as this. I know you’re capable—Teyr, you’re right, maybe I’m misconstruing everything—but if I’m forced to watch from the shadows as he reveals some hidden agenda, I’m not sure what I would do next, my fear of necromancy be damned. ”

She glanced at the shore and back to me. Her voice lowered. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

Though I didn’t think either of us were quite sure what we were apologizing for anymore. Resigned, I set my pack on the table. If she didn’t want to go to shore, I couldn’t force her.

To my surprise, she shouldered the bag. “If you have an idea, I’m willing to try.”

Relief flooded me. “Thank you.”

“It might not change my mind about accepting the lesson.”

I stilled.

“But you’re right, I can’t trust him an inch. We should be prepared.” She stepped closer, extending her hand. “I want to hear your plan.”

Relieved, I readied to shadow-step.

Perhaps I could never convince her that a lesson was a bad idea. Perhaps she was right, and it was a valid path forward. But at the very least, I could ensure she was prepared with every tool I could think of.