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He grabbed my wrist just as the door slammed open. It was Charles. Blood crusted his jaw, his knuckles already split. And the second he saw Rok’s hands on me, something in him snapped.

“Get your hands off my sister!” Charles roared.

“Charles—wait!”

I stepped forward, but I was too late. He tackled Rok, slamming him to the floor and striking again and again, until blood sprayed across the cabin walls.

I lunged forward, grabbing his arm. “Charles, stop!”

But he didn’t hear me. He was lost in the rage. He was going to kill him, so I did the only thing I could. I pressed my relic to Rok’s shoulder and let the flame pass through me and into him.

With a guttural cry, Rok struck back, leaving a scorched lash of heat seared across Charles’s cheek.

“Damnit,” Charles hissed, staggering back.

Rok sat up, lip split and bleeding. “Your sister is powerful,” he rasped.

Charles wiped at the scorched welt on his face, his glare blistering. “You’ll be stripped of your siphon. I’ll see to it myself. ”

I stepped between them, placing my hands on Charles’s chest. “I gave him my flame. He didn’t take it. I just didn’t want you to kill him.”

Charles narrowed his eyes. “Is that true?”

Still, Rok stayed silent.

“Very well,” Charles muttered, jaw tight. “Seems as strayed as our bloodline is, so too is our judgment. Giving your quell away willingly… it isn’t right.”

I stared at him. “Strayed bloodline? That’s what this is about? You’ve been cruel to me because we’re not pure Winter?”

“Our mother was born in Summer,” Charles bit out. “It was a figure of speech.”

Rok laughed under his breath. “Your blood’s muddier than hers, Charles. At least her parents were born in the same realms.”

Charles ignored him. “Get to bed, Severyn. If I catch you out again, you’ll sleep in the dungeons for the rest of your time here.”

Rok wiped blood from his lip and clapped Charles on the shoulder. “You look tired. Anger’s not a good look on you, Charlie.”

I didn’t wait for them to finish. I ran straight back to Lorna’s cabin. It wasn’t until I reached the door that I realized, in the chaos of the fight, I’d forgotten the damn water.

I shoved the door open. “Mal, I forgot the… water.”

But Malachi was gone.

Lorna lay motionless on the cot, completely unconscious. How the hell hadn’t she woken up?

“Lorna,” I hissed, rushing to her side. “Malachi’s gone. I think someone—”

A small clink cut me off. I looked down as a glass vial rolled off the edge of the bunk and hit the floor.

Cintron.

My stomach dropped. Oh gods. Shit .

It was the same potion Amria had given me before the prison. And the vial was empty. She’d warned me that two doses were enough to kill someone.

Then came a sharp and impatient knock at the door.

I froze, panicked, and shoved the vial behind my back. “Hello?” I called. “Um… we’re sleeping.”

“I don’t give a damn,” came Rok’s voice.

I glanced at Lorna. Still out cold. “We’re indecent!” I blurted.

He scoffed. “Then get undecent. I didn’t give you back your quell so you could nap through another crisis.”

I cracked the door open, and Rok immediately shoved his boot into the gap. “Okay, give it back and then leave,” I said quickly, trying to block his view.

He raised a brow. “Are you all naked or something?”

“No.”

He pressed a palm against the door and leaned in. “I’d rather not have an heir making excuses for me again. That was foolish of you.”

I barely looked at him. My mind was spinning. “How does your little rider bond work with the other guards?”

A dark brow arched with intrigue. “I can open it whenever I want. Why? What’s wrong?”

I yanked him inside and slammed the door shut behind us harder than I meant to. Whatever ward Lorna had placed must have dropped. Or maybe no one had bothered breaking in since she passed out.

I pointed at her. “She drank cintron.”

Rok crossed his arms. “She drank a deadly root that makes someone sleep for days. Why?”

“Fix her. You must have a cure.”

His smirk stayed in place. “I rather like this version of Lorna. Quiet. No barking orders. ”

I stepped closer, jaw tight. “Oh, shut up.”

He shrugged. “What does the folklore say? A true love’s kiss will wake her. Shall I fetch your brother?”

I didn’t have time for games. And judging by how Kian reacted when he saw the caskets, I’d probably have two unconscious guards in here if I’d gone looking for him instead for help.

“Enough. Please.” My voice shook. “I’m begging you to help.”

Rok sighed, then snatched the vial from my hand. “Cintron is rare. It only grows in one realm. And that realm is barren. If anyone finds out where you got it, questions will be raised.”

“And if Lorna doesn’t wake,” I said quietly, “who’ll be left in charge of executing me?” My voice broke on the last word.

He tossed the vial into the air and caught it with a lazy flick of his wrist. “I will,” he said. “Lorna was my superior.”

My pulse spiked. “Do you hear her thoughts? Is she… will she die?”

Rok stepped closer, fingers brushing Lorna’s wrist. “Pulse is steady. After a few years as a guard, you pretty much build immunity to every poison Verdonia has to offer.”

Relief rushed over me. “Good.”

“If you’d stayed at the institute, you would’ve been bonded to a rider line.

I hear Lorna’s thoughts. Charles’, too. But I can shut them out.

No one questions a quiet mind during sleep.

” He gave a small smirk. “We’ve got about four hours before Charles starts trying to flirt with her again. He’s embarrassingly persistent.”

“Can he not hear you now?”

“Our bond’s charged with power. I choose who hears me and when.” He paused. “Though most of the time, I don’t bother. Too much noise in the mind. ”

I closed my eyes. My thoughts were spiraling. “Is it possible to break a bond? Say you left this place?”

His expression darkened. “Yes and no. That’s what makes the bond sacred… or dangerous.”

“And what about if someone dies?”

“If someone died then the bond would break,” Rok said. “But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be reforged.”

The breath caught in my throat. “Even if they were... brought back somehow?”

He arched a brow. “You’re talking about your brother. I was against Callum’s idea to test your power how he did.”

“No. It’s just… wouldn’t their bodies be gone?” I couldn’t shake the smell from that cabin, thick and clinging. Malachi’s mind wasn’t fully there, and I knew it.

Rok’s eyes sharpened. “You’re easier to read than you think. From what I understand, necromancers heal the soul and body together. Think of healers, just more advanced.”

I nodded toward the bruise darkening his jaw, needing to change the subject. “You should put ice on that.”

He studied me for a long moment, then gave a dry laugh. “You don’t trust me and you shouldn’t.”

“If you siphoned a mind reader’s quell,” I asked slowly, “could you see their memories?”

He just stood there, arms crossed, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “The mind reader used his quell on you,” he said quietly. “And you want to know if he changed something.”

My silence answered for me.

If Damien didn’t die that night... that meant I had two lives left to save. And I had touched Klaus…

“Something like that,” I said. “But I would never ask you for that. I have nothing left to give you.”

Rok’s expression didn’t change. “We barter well, Severyn. All you must do is ask. And I’ll give you my price. ”

I scoffed. “No more bartering. You had my shadows for weeks. I could’ve been training them.”

Rok raised an eyebrow, amused. “What will you do when his borders collapse? You’re untrained. Your shadow quells are a mess. And guarding his realm with flames is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“I don’t know,” I snapped. “This quell... it’s different. It’s like it doesn’t belong to me.”

Rok’s expression softened, just slightly, and when he spoke again, his voice had lowered.

“A simple barter, Severyn. One that doesn’t demand war, or a broken marriage stitched together with lies. Delair’s home is in Demetria. The shadows you carry were never meant for you to keep. Give them back to him, and my sister’s land survives.”

He took a breath, gaze steady. “In return, I’ll find that memory for you. Charles will learn about Lorna soon enough—we can’t outrun that. But this… this we can still control.”

“How?” I asked.

Rok extended his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

I stared at his hand, tracing the rough calluses on his palm. “Fine. But I need to know how to give him my shadows.”

The burn inside me shifted, flowing through the cords of his siphon as our hands met. “First, I needed to give you back your flames before my stepfather accused me of stealing it. Second, you find Archer. Demand he take it back. If that doesn’t work, I have my ways.”

“The night I was heired. I need to know the last words Damien said to me.”

Rok grinned. “I’ll try my best, but I can’t promise anything.”

It was the easiest, cleanest barter I’d ever made. Yet it tore at my insides, knowing Rok would do me this favor for his sister’s sake .

He went to leave, but then turned once more, his hand resting on the doorframe. “You’ll have to act better than you did with Charles when Lorna doesn’t wake. Don’t take the blame. Being noble will only get you killed.”

Everything hit at once as the door closed. Malachi had fled. Lorna was poisoned. My mother had an affair with a monster.

And I may have brought my brother back to life.