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Shadows under Brekt’s skin moved as he faded in and out of sight, clearly uncomfortable with the questions.

“I apologize for what I do and say when I lose control. I—I am stuck inside this place. It … it’s like a nightmare, but sometimes the nightmare shifts, and I can see the real world, but I can’t tell if it’s an illusion. ”

“If they’re yellow, he’ll kill a fellow,” I said toward Kazhi.

“What?” Brekt asked.

“If they’re black, Brekt is back.” Kazhi rhymed.

Bastane groaned. “Their little song—to determine if you’re dangerous or not.”

Brekt wasn’t catching on.

“Your eyes, bud,” I said, smirking. “If women were scared of your creepy Night-leg orbs before, it’s nothing like the slitted snake eyes you’ve been sporting lately. You’re not invited to the taverns with me. Bad for my image.”

“I should have known that even following the fucking Aspis, you’d still find time for women and drink.”

Bastane snorted while I mocked offence. “How else am I supposed to get over the gruesome death of my fellow Guard?”

“A mind healer?” Bastane suggested.

I barked a laugh. “Mind healers? I’m smarter than anyone you’d stick in front of me. Wouldn’t work.”

“How about training?” Bas said, his mouth forming a flat line. “You used to do that a lot more often.”

“I’m fine with women and drinking. The final battle always claims the lives of the Guards. Let me have my fun.”

The three shared a look, and it pissed me off that they weren’t falling for my flippant remarks.

We remained silent for a moment, unsure of what topic to dive into.

“So, what conversation did I really interrupt?” Brekt asked.

I nodded, taking the cue to get back to it. Brekt was ready to be open. Were the others? “As I was about to say before Beastman returned—we need to go all in. Nothing left behind closed doors. All trust on the table. As it should have been from the beginning.”

Kazhi spat, and I was about to argue my case further when she said, “Agreed.”

Bastane coughed, “Agreed? You? Finally going to admit you’re some dark creation by the god of Night himself?”

“She wishes,” Brekt muttered.

Kazhi fixed her hair, tucking pieces of it behind her ear.

“I am no such thing. But I do have a past I wish not to speak of.” She pointed at me.

“Before you push me, my past has nothing to do with being a Guard or affects anything about what we are heading into. There are pains I don’t wish to speak of. ”

“Then what secrets are you hiding that matter? Who are you, Kaz? Tell us something that unifies us. I want to believe we are in it together until the end.”

Kazhi’s shoulders slumped. I would’ve dared to say she looked hurt. “I am your closest friend—one you can trust until your dying breath. I will never let any of you be hurt. Not by anyone on any side of the battle. My ambitions are the same as yours. I only know other players involved.”

“Other players?” Bastane asked.

Kazhi nodded, regarding each of us. “You should sit. This will take some explaining.”

“I am fine standing,” I said, trying to hold in my impatience.

“I don’t get to use my feet enough,” Brekt grumbled. “I’ll stand, too.”

The wind kicked up, making it hard to hear her when she said, “I have hidden from you that I am a pure-blooded legacy.”

I didn’t hide my irritation. “That’s not a shocking revelation.” She wasn’t taking this seriously. “That explains nothing about you.”

“Our team hasn’t cared about that,” Brekt said. “You never batted an eye that I was one.”

Kazhi frowned at Brekt. “I’ve hidden that you and I could both use magic.”

He shook his head, disagreeing. “I never had magic.”

Bastane backed away from the other two, and Kazhi scowled at him. “Don’t make me regret telling you.”

“So you are a legacy of Night?” I asked.

Kazhi could use magic . Magic users were a myth. Magic was supposed to be used by only the gods.

“I am a pure-blooded legacy of Day.” She waited, perhaps wondering how we would react.

Bastane’s face fell. “Kaz, don’t mess around. There’s not a speck of gold on you.”

“You have been lied to your whole life.” She pushed more hair from her face as the breeze picked up.

“The golden Day-legs aren’t the only clans in the bloodline.

The Guardian lands have been controlled for years, far longer than you know.

I am a pure-blooded legacy and have magic of my own.

And I don’t know how you never pieced it together, Erebrekt. ”

Bastane’s chest rose and fell like he had been training. “That’s a bold statement to make. Day-legs don’t have clans . And magic doesn’t exist outside the gods and the magic the Ikhor stole from them.”

Kazhi gave Bastane a sad look. “It used to exist a lot more. As did the magical bloodlines. Brekt was never told—he didn’t understand that his ability to shift light and shape himself to it was magic.

” She searched Brekt’s face. “You were taught they were a gift, like Nuo’s second set of lungs, but it is magic, like the god of Night, Erabas.

You never understood what you were sensing when I used my own.

I have magic, too. I can use the wind and make sound travel back to me. ”

I clapped my hands together. “No wonder you know everything. I thought you read minds. You’re just a snoop.” Though I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the new information, it made so much sense it could only be the truth.

“A very powerful snoop.” Her expression darkened, and I stopped laughing.

“So this is the secret you’ve kept? That doesn’t seem to help us much.” Bastane looked pale. It would be harder for him than anyone to accept that Kazhi could use magic. “Aside from your own safety, I don’t know why you kept it from us.”

She shrugged. “It would mean you asking questions about where I came from, which I still won’t talk of.

It means I know a lot more than I’ve let on.

I knew Liv could feel magic.” Kazhi raised a hand when I opened my mouth to argue.

“I thought she was a descendant, like me, hiding her identity. I promise I didn’t know what she was.

However, I have met many other purebloods along my journeys and know there are others hidden in the world.

We were hunted and killed for our magic, and eventually, the world was taught that it didn’t exist in the legacies so that we would be hated and feared if discovered. Possibly even labelled as the Ikhor.”

I thought about what she was admitting. It was true. I already feared the power she spoke of, even though I knew who she was. “You’re right. Several months ago, that’s exactly what I would have accused you of.”

“A Day-leg, huh?” Bastane said dazedly. “How’s that possible?”

“The golden ones have been exterminating the undesirables for a long time. Not just Sea-legs and Night-legs. Their own people, too. They believe they’re in the image of Rem, and the rest were unworthy of his name.” Kazhi went to the lounge chair and sat, folding her legs beneath her.

It amazed me—like I was seeing her for the first time. She was always there, following us like a ghost. I trusted my life with her, but I had never felt like I truly knew her.

“Can the golden Day-legs use the power of the wind too?” Bastane shifted uncomfortably. Was he upset that he didn’t know everything about his people? Or had he seen something already with the Day-legs?

“There are three lines. Golden, blue, and white—or the sun, ice and wind clans,” she said, fixed on his reaction.

“My people were Day-legs who harnessed the power of the wind. We often lived in open plains or high on the mountain tops. The wind powered us, and we never toppled from its force. The blues were masters of wielding ice, frost and even the changing of the season. They would control the cold to bring on spring flowers. If any purebloods are left, they can survive extreme cold and manipulate water. But I have not met a pure-blooded Day-leg from the ice clans in a very long time.”

“They were Day-legs Liv was travelling with?” I asked, stunned. The markings on their skin were something I’d never seen on a legacy.

“Yes, they were,” Kazhi confirmed. “The blue ones told Bones what they were, and Bones was quick to call me out as a Day-leg in Danuli, understanding what my features meant.”

“She’s observant,” Brekt said with pride.

“And the golden ones?” Bastane’s voice lowered. “You know I am asking about my own people. Clan. Whatever.”

“The golden bloodlines have always survived well in harsh climates. The heat never bothered them. And they had their own element they controlled. Dangerous. They were always the ones to fear. Your bloodline has a vicious history, Bas.”

“What powers did they have, Kaz?” I asked, afraid I was making connections to what she was going to say.

Her expression told me I was correct. “The pure-blooded Day-legs from your line, Bastane, could wield fire. And if one might be so ambitious, could convince an entire world the Ikhor was alive by setting fires to the earth.”

Neither of my brothers spoke, and I couldn’t find the words.

I’d blamed Liv for it all, yet it was …

“Falizha …” Bastane said for me.

“I have never been close to the Ravins when magic was used, so I can’t say for certain it’s them.” Kazhi was staring skyward.

Was she thinking of the burning fields as I was?

“Falizha was at the burning fields that night. Did you feel magic then?” I asked.

Kazhi dipped her chin. “But Brekt and Liv were there, too. So many times, I have felt close to finding the truth. But I was one against many.” Her black eyes glazed with excitement. “Now we are four, and we all agree the Ravins have committed evil, more so than the famed Ikhor.”

“The fires that were set before Liv became the Ikhor, I hadn’t questioned them.” I stared at the books next to me. So many things were beginning to make sense.

“There are too many things to question,” Kazhi replied. “And I am partly to blame for keeping you in the dark.”

Bastane threw me a look. He was angry, and I suppose part of me was, too.