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Brekt stilled, taking in my beard, my long hair, my gaunt frame and what was lacking. “I don’t know how. Not yet. But I intend to find out. None of the legends can be trusted.”

He was living, walking, breathing proof.

“The Ikhor?” I asked.

“We’ve seen each other, in a sense. It took some time for me to understand I was a man, to recall who I was. But she knows.”

“She knows what exactly? You spoke with her?”

“Yes. She’s as much herself as I—battling what’s inside. Between the magic and the beast … we are both still here.”

I stared at the ground, biting my tongue.

“I’m sorry I was not here sooner. I didn’t mean to leave you waiting.” Brekt put a hand on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t have chosen to come back this late or to have spoken with you after her. You are equally as important.”

I nodded, shaking off his arm. “I know. I know. It’s not that.” I clenched my fists, keeping still to hide my shaking hands. “What was she like?” I finally asked.

Brekt crossed his arms. Like always, he looked like he was about to lecture me. “She was different. But it was her.”

“Different how?” I could even hear the anger in my voice, and I knew I wasn’t hiding it well.

“I think she’s been suffering the Endless Night and come out stronger for it. I think I know who’s been causing some of that suffering.”

“Don’t give me that look.” I shoved that monster down, crossing my arms so I wouldn’t do anything stupid, like hit him for defending her. “She became the fucking Ikhor. She left us and followed the Aethar. What was I supposed to think?”

“You were always the most hot-headed of us,” Brekt grumbled. “I told you to watch over her. Keep her safe.”

“Might I remind you that she is the one with magic . What was I keeping her safe from?”

“From me!” Brekt shouted, then he pulled himself together, his nostrils flaring.

“Nuo did save her from you.” Bastane came to stand at my side. “Even though he didn’t believe it was really her. He did that for you, man. Give him a break. We all crumbled after you died.”

Brekt hid his anger. “Ya, well, I’m not dead.”

Bastane grabbed his face. “We can’t even celebrate for a moment. Just for once, I would like to enjoy myself.”

Kazhi kicked the back of my knees, making me drop to the ground. Her gaze darted between Brekt and I. “Are you done now?”

“Still mothering us, I see,” Brekt said with a hint of amusement.

“Still acting like children.” Kazhi rested a hand on her belt. It was a warning. Her knives were close by. “We are on our way back to the Guardian City to give the Council a talking to. You coming?” She asked Brekt.

He chewed the inside of his cheek. “No.”

“Why not?” Bastane demanded while I got to my feet. “The Guardians need hope. All of Veydes needs hope. Seeing us reunited would give them that.”

“They have the Aspis to give them that. In the few moments I am a man, I’d like to be left alone.”

“Just like old times, I see,” Bastane muttered. “Things could have been different had you not kept this to yourself. You being the Aspis. I wandered for years, dreading we’d never find it.”

“Well, when you unwillingly get a millennia-old legend shoved inside you, you can decide how you live with it,” Brekt growled. “Things could have been different had you not gone to Falizha and told her Liv was the Aspis.”

Bastane’s face flushed with shame. He’d spent months trying to earn my forgiveness. I was interested in how he was going to convince Brekt.

“I was wrong to think Falizha was on our side. I am going to take the Council down with you. I will make sure she pays for what she did. Then, you can punish me any way you like. I have a feeling I will yet pay for the mistakes I made. But right now, you need me, and you know it. Kazhi knows it. Nuo’s been too hot-headed to think straight, but he hasn’t stopped me yet. ”

“Don’t include me in this.” I waved a hand between my brothers. “I’m enjoying myself. Keep going, shadow man.”

Brekt turned skyward, sighing. “I think I was less stressed when I was stuck in that dark place.”

“And how did you become unstuck?” I asked. “Why now?”

Brekt shook his head. “I can’t say. Only when I feel something outside that place, something I am connected to … I latch onto it, and I … I don’t know. Even now, I feel it trying to pull me back in. Or, the Aspis is trying to get back out. It doesn’t want me in control.”

“So what now?” Kazhi asked him. “You hide? Go back to whatever dark place you linger in, while the Aspis does nothing?”

Brekt had the good sense to think about his answer while Kazhi glared. “Yes. Falizha made it known that the Ravins want to use the Aspis for their own gain. If she finds out I’m alive, she won’t stop coming for me.”

“So we go on as usual?” Kazhi’s shoulders slumped. The most defeated I’d seen her in weeks. “Hunt the Ikhor. Hope the Aspis doesn’t kill her. Take down the Council with no real plan.”

“Is that what we were doing?” I asked.

Kazhi threw me a look to shut up.

“The Ikhor can’t win. It must be stopped,” Brekt said in a low voice, and I drew back.

What did that mean?

He was debating something, his jaw clenched tight. He pushed the hair from his face, cursing. “Not to kill. To stop. Liv must survive this. But the evil can’t win.”

“You still think it’s evil?” Kazhi studied Brekt, taking in his subtle movements.

“Some parts of the tales have to be true. Last time I saw her, it looked like it was killing her from the inside. It can’t be good.”

“And will you be able to go against her?” I asked. I couldn’t believe he would hurt her. “If she goes against our people?”

“When I’m the beast, I don’t even recognize it’s her.

I only feel the need to reach the Ikhor and devour.

It doesn’t care who lives or dies. I will do everything in my power to stifle that urge.

But I don’t know how long I can go on for.

” Brekt paced. “How long has it been since I’ve changed? Since I last saw her?”

Bastane dropped down to sit on a decaying stump, resting his elbows on his knees. “Nearly three months since you’ve changed. A few weeks ago, we were in the canyons and saw you for the first time.”

“I vaguely remember it.” Brekt took several breaths. “I haven’t felt Liv since then. I haven’t seen her. I don’t feel the pull.” He shot his worried gaze my way. “I have to find her.”

“Bones is off to find the gods, to end the cycle. She’s going to give the magic back.” Kazhi said, causing us all to pause.

I lifted my hands. “We are trusting what the blue Aethar girl claims now. She could have been lying.”

“When did you hear this?” Brekt asked.

“In the canyons. That’s what they said the plan was,” she said.

Brekt considered this. “And you are heading to the city?”

Each one of us mumbled an affirmation. We didn’t have much of a plan, but that was it.

“Good. Find out what you can. The Aspis will be drawn to Liv. I’ll try to get intel from the other side.”

“We should follow you,” Bastane said finally. “Find the Ikhor and end it. The Council will still be there when it’s over. And we will make peace for the next generation.”

Kazhi scoffed. “And then in a thousand years, it happens again. Bone’s has a better plan.”

Brekt sighed, speaking to Bastane. “I can’t enter that final battle and let the Aspis kill her. But I will stop her if she starts a war with our people. Let me find out what she plans on doing. She and I need to sit down and have a talk. I only have to find her first.”

Kazhi squeezed Brekt’s arm. “I think you’ll find the woman she’s becoming is something a warrior can be proud of.”

We all went silent, hearing Kazhi praise the Ikhor.

Brekt paled, swallowing before he turned away, walking north along the path he’d come from.

Bas and I exchanged a glance and followed, Kazhi trailing behind.

“So what will you do about these assassins?” Brekt asked. “There may be more.” He’d kept mostly quiet as we walked, admiring the horizon while he ambled alongside Kazhi’s horse. He was in no hurry to get anywhere. I wondered if he was soaking it all up, enjoying walking on his own two feet.

“We are no longer untouchable, it seems.” Kazhi was petting her horse, her eyes glazed over, staring at nothing. “The Council isn’t concerned with their image. Something is happening if they are willing to let go of the Guards. We were the symbol of power to our people.”

“What is that symbol now?” I asked, and no one had an answer.

I took a long breath as the three of them waited for me to come up with something. I hated that they put me in this position. “We head back to the Guardian City,” I lifted a shoulder. “The best defence is a full-on attack.”

Bastane drew up short. “Attack the Guardian City?”

Brekt’s dark gaze appraised us as we argued. Did he see how united we were, how our truths were being laid bare?

I shook my head. “Attack the Council.”

“We won’t have back-up,” Kazhi argued. “But we need to know what’s happening and send a message—they can’t take us down, and we aren’t abandoning the people. It’s a message to the citizens and those who align with the Council’s orders.”

“You have any ideas on how we should make our triumphant return?” I asked.

Bastane swore, kicking the dirt when Kazhi smiled. It was never a good sign.

Brekt was there as she told us her plan, adding in his own thoughts. He was always preparing backup plans to make sure his team was safe. I didn’t miss how his plans excluded him.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him as we walked, waiting, knowing it would soon happen again. The smoke, the ash, the fading image of my brother when the legendary beast took him from us once more.

Time was cruel.

It didn’t take long, a few hours, and the beast claimed Brekt. I turned my head, like a coward would, so I wouldn’t have to relive it, and when I finally dared raise my face to the sky, he was far above us, heading south again.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon,” Kazhi smiled, pulling the reins of her horse and setting a faster pace north.