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Chapter thirty-one

The Trade Agreement

Ayla

“Do you think we’re mates?” I asked, clinging to the time that remained.

We were dressed, for the most part, and just finishing touches remained.

My flowing skirt made it easy to hide countless daggers, and I tested each one, ensuring they were easy to grab.

Zayne adjusted his cloak, probing where the shards were secured.

The pocket now bulged, the contents forcing it to hang heavily.

Through our preparations, we didn’t dare touch.

Our skin burned and the bond ached, everything throbbing for us to touch again. But if our skin so much as brushed, we’d tumble right back into that bed.

“Mates?” Zayne asked, his heated gaze sweeping over me. “Do you want to be?”

Despite Zayne filling me, claiming my mind, the throne remained. It throbbed in my consciousness, ever present, but it wasn’t where I put my attention. I studied Zayne, fixated by the way he stood, breathtaking and tall and absolutely, deliciously mine. “I want to be yours.”

“Good,” he growled. “Then that’s what we are, mates.”

My heart swelled, and I reached for him before I could stop myself. He lifted me into his arms and pressed his lips to mine. I wrapped my legs around his waist.

For three heartbeats, we kissed, and I counted each one, hanging to them like a promise.

I won’t lose Zayne, not for the throne.

We were mates. Bound. There would be a way.

Zayne deepened the kiss before straightening, setting me down, and standing tall. He offered me his hand, this time to shadow-step. “We should hurry.”

“I know.” I wrapped my fingers in his.

Darkness swirled around me. Determined, I melted into it, and for a final moment, Zayne’s shadows held me, supporting me as we entered the Starlit King’s rooms.

I exhaled, steadying myself on the other side of the jump. Bouncing on my toes, I looked around.

Get in, get out.

The Starlit King’s study was empty, the room as I remembered it, with the large desk taking up most of the space.

Except now, golden daylight scattered on the windows.

It caught in the glass where sea mist gathered on their panes, causing the light to shatter like gems, illuminating the ornate box that held the shards.

Like before, the starlit box called to me, and my magic swelled up in reply as like called to like.

Except now, I understood. It was simply another reminder of how similar the Starlit King’s magic was to my own, both of us bound to the throne.

My chest ached with the desire to step closer, but this time, I braced.

“Ready?” Zayne asked.

I nodded, and hand in hand, we approached the desk, my magic swelling with each step as Zayne’s shadows faded away.

Except as we neared the box, my gaze landed on the parchment strewn beside it, worn and folded like it had traveled a long way. My stomach twisted with a new wave of doubt.

“I know that handwriting,” I whispered, leaning closer. “It’s my stepfather’s.”

Salutations Glaucous, King of Starlight

It’s with great relief that I learned of the fall of the shades. Congratulations on the success of your mission. At long last, we’re ready to act.

The rate you have requested is steep, but we will accept your offer, with a few modifications, of course.

The letter continued, detailing specifications for various fae goods.

All of them weapons. The requests started with enough hand-to-hand weapons to outfit several elite troops.

And it went on, asking for specialized equipment from siege craft to poisons and ways to rot enemy food supplies.

It listed everything a southern kingdom, like Grayson’s homeland, would need to expand.

I scanned the items over, my eyes narrowing on the final paragraph.

For reasons previously discussed, we are willing to pay an extra fee for discretion.

Regards,

Grayson, King Consort of Valterra

Fifth born prince of Herita

I stilled. “He’s going behind my mother’s back to order weapons. I’d bet anything they’re so his brothers can rage war on their neighbors.” The southern kingdoms were nothing like Valterra, where natural formations isolated the kingdom.

Zayne frowned. “Weapon dealing would give the Starlit King influence over the southern kingdoms.”

My mind raced, recalling all that the Starlit King had told me the first day. “My mother’s illness. Is it related?”

“I don’t know.”

Suspicion pitted in my stomach. If Grayson would go behind my mother’s back to order weapons, how far was he willing to go?

Furious, I stepped closer to the starlit box—

Zayne grabbed my arm, forcing me to look at him and pinning me under his wild gaze. Too many emotions raced through me. Alarm and rage fought against fear and frustration, each demanding more space.

Zayne probed the bond, trying to understand them all. “We can still leave,” he whispered.

The promise of his words should have stung, at complete odds with what I saw. The Starlit Throne, this letter, and the shards. We had responsibilities.

Except, the way Zayne said it, his hopes filling the bond, I remembered a lagoon where the stars shined bright overhead, and he held me as dawn threatened the horizon. It was beautiful. And I wanted that with him.

“But if we stop now, what sort of future could we have?” I asked.

He didn’t answer. His silence said enough.

No matter where we hid, biding our time until the throne compelled me, our friends and families would remain threatened. The lives of countless civilians from several kingdoms were at risk.

I searched Zayne’s gaze and sought out his hand. “I want to try.” Now, more than ever, I needed to seize power from the Starlit King. “But if you really think we should just leave, I’ll go with you.”

He wrapped his fingers around mine and squeezed. He glanced at the box. “I really think you’re able to do this.” Confidence flooded the bond.

“Me too.”

“Good.” He indicated the wall beside us. “I’ll watch from where the shadows are thicker, ready to step in if necessary.”

“Okay.”

It’s time.

Heart pounding, all in a rush, I kissed him. “I love you.” Teyr, those words felt nice to say.

“I love you too.”

And they felt good to hear too.

Brow tight with determination, I turned to face the starlit box and took my first step. Zayne squeezed my hand, the length of our arms now hanging between us. When I looked back, he nodded, his gaze steady as his trust, and let go.

By my next step, Zayne had faded halfway into the shadows, and by now, I was drawn forward, closer to the box. It felt natural to reach out, and light pooled in my hands, flowing smoothly at my summons.

“Stay alert,” Zayne warned.

I nodded. “Be ready to run.”

My hand glowed brighter as it neared the diamond pommel. Power coursed through me, streaming from the heavens with newfound ease. My bond to the Starlit Throne tugged at my soul, as uncertain of me as I was of it. It didn’t resist as I took command of my power.

Before doubt could creep in, I seized the lid of the box and heaved it aside. Starlight flooded the room, and I reached within.

The bite of scorching heat could be felt just beyond the safe bubble protecting my hands. This light couldn’t hurt me. But like the molten core of a star, it would burn any other fae who tried.

The light was so bright I could no longer see my hand, the power so overwhelming I could barely feel my fingers. Despite this, searching in the light felt natural, and I could sense the shards easier than feel them. Carefully, I mentally scanned the bottom of the box, reaching out…

There.

A rough edge.

I grabbed, relying on energy to guide me. Something clinked in my grasp, and satisfied, I lifted my hand free.

I took a step back and then several more, admiring my prize.

The three shards were eerily black compared to the light still dissipating in my hand. I stared at them and, my eyes watering, offered them to Zayne. “They’re yours.”

Before he could accept, the shards jumped from my grip and levitated in the air between us. There was a ripping sound, and the other shards tore themselves free of Zayne’s pocket.

The seven shards—one nothing but slivers—swirled around one another, arranging themselves. They spun about, glinting as each broken facet caught the light, time both unnaturally fast and uncomfortably slow.

Finally, the pieces steadied into position. Surging toward their center, the shards collided together, slinking into their places with the sound of a desperate inhale. The edges darkened, healed, and scarred into place. Once shattered, the shards became whole.

Shock mixed with my relief. No one warned us the black diamond would recombine, but did it matter?

It’s done.

My jaw relaxed as the black diamond settled in Zayne’s outstretched hand. Success. We could go home. Whatever home meant to us, especially now, I didn’t know. But as long as we were together, I didn’t care.

I braced for Zayne’s shadows to wrap me tight and take me away.

The darkness never came.

His expression grew distant, as if he were descending into the Underworld. Shadows slipped away.

“Oh, no no no,” I whispered.

He collapsed, falling into me, and I slowly lowered him to the floor. Throat tightening, I brushed the hair from his face.

“Zayne, what happened?” I asked.

He didn’t even open his eyes.

Zayne

“You’ve returned,” Gloom said, her voice still carrying an ancient weight.

Once again, the detachment of this place weighed on me. I became not-quite-Zayne, a mortal soul forced to find its place in the Divine Realm, and there was no questioning the power tugging at the threads of my being.

The black diamond. Gloom’s divine artifact. As the ruby ring was to Ninti, the black diamond was to Gloom.

And it was mine.

“Brother,” another entity said. I felt my sister’s presence, and I rose from darkness and into fog.

Gloom’s mists surrounded us, my twin sitting upon the Shadow Throne, connected to our homeland and grounded in a way I wasn’t. At this very moment, she maintained the meditation she’d endured for the last month.

Her spirit was in even worse condition than I expected, withering away in her attempt to keep Gloom from expanding. I wish it surprised me more, how well she could hide her pain with what little strength remained.

Now I could end this — I could save her.

Nobody could manipulate Gloom.

Except me.

“We’ve gathered the shards,” I told her.

I turned about, trying to take in Gloom, the deity surrounding me, but I was unsure where to look. Despite the unification of the diamond, the deity remained fractioned and distant. Regardless, I opened my mouth to speak.

Gloom answered in a giant gust, seizing my intentions before I had time to voice them. With a rush, the fog darkened and took to the wind. We left the Isle of Shadow behind.

I was forced away from Eleanor before I could say goodbye.

But it was done.

At long last, Gloom drifted away from my homeland, freeing it from stagnation. The isle could live again.

But there was no time to celebrate. Racing like the wind, I was whisked away with the stagnant mists, taken northward and away from my home.

“You have the diamond now,” Gloom observed, her tone a depressed monotone. “It has been so long since I was shattered. I forgot how it felt to be whole.”

Her words shook around me, and the divine mists grew deeper and thicker, surrounding me. Becoming me. I began to loose track of who I was.

“So long, so long…” she repeated.

I have to go.

But where? There was nothing but the darkness that swallowed me. I called out, but my voice was consumed by Gloom’s mists.

“So long,” she repeated.

The last of me reached for the deity’s help.

And the fog consumed me before she took note.