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I 'm barefoot as I pad my way to the spot on top of the castle walls. I hug my arms close, wishing I'd had the foresight to put on more clothes before stepping out here. It seems like winter decided to offer a preview tonight, with bitter cold wind blowing in from the snow-capped mountains to the west of campus.

But I stubbornly keep climbing the steps to the highest wall. I may not want to admit it, but I know the reason I've left my room isn't for fresh air tonight. It's because I'm hoping I'll find him again.

Raith.

I may have survived the water trial and faced whatever the hell that creature was, but the nightmares are only getting worse. I still see it… him… her… hells if I know—in my dreams, and they're more vivid every single night. Each time I close my eyes, those glowing blue depths are waiting, pulling me under. Memories of dark red clouds of blood that had been Malakai’s allies stain the waters, their deaths feeling somehow like my fault.

I suppress a full-body shudder as I round the corner and freeze, pulse immediately racing.

In the center of the wall, silhouetted against the stars, stands Raith.

He turns his head as soon as I'm in view and gives the slightest nod.

Maybe I hoped to find him here, but it doesn’t stop the instinctive fear he triggers in me. I might as well approach a wolf in the forest. Something about him screams danger, yet I'm still drawn forward, danger be damned.

With one deep, calming breath, I head toward him.

"You're going to freeze," he growls.

"Does that bother you?"

Raith looks annoyed and concerned as he kneels and actually places his big hands on my bare feet. Steam rises from his skin, making the air shimmer and glow faintly orange.

"What are—oh"

I sigh with relief as heat doesn't just pass between our skin, but it also envelops my chilled feet and legs. The stone beneath me even seems to warm as the scent of smoke and campfires fills the air. That wonderful cocoon of heat spreads from my toes and creeps up my body, almost like a lover's caress, warming me to the bone. It feels like being wrapped in the world's most perfect blanket, banishing the chill in an instant.

And part of me wonders if those invisible hands of fire are Raiths—if he can feel the perfect touch sliding up my body, whispering along my curves and most sensitive places.

It's done in seconds, and Raith stands, assessing me with those molten gold eyes. "Better?"

"Much… thank you."

He rests his forearms on the half-height wall and leans out, surveying the darkened landscape beyond.

"I haven't seen you here since the first time," I say after a while. "Does that mean your bad dreams stopped?"

Raith doesn't answer immediately. "No…"

"So you've been avoiding me?"

I study his profile, watching the way the twisted and burned flesh beside his mouth moves slightly as his lips curve down at the edges. "The less you know about me, the better."

I frown. "I don't think that's for you to decide. You act like you want me to think you're my enemy, but then you keep showing up and helping me when it matters. You warned me about Malakai yesterday, and it might have saved me this morning."

Raith suddenly looks up. "During the trial? What did he do?"

"He… attacked me."

His eyes scan my body, leaving no inch unturned as if he's searching for injuries. The intensity of his gaze makes my skin prickle with awareness. With… pleasure. He frowns as his gaze falls to my shoulder. I can’t say how he knows, but he half-raises his fingertip, almost like he wants to touch the place Malakai stabbed me. The place the water dragon mysteriously healed.

"He hurt you. Didn’t he?” There’s rage in the simple words. Barely concealed. I can sense it running red hot within him.

I open my mouth to deny it, but shake my head instead, shrugging. “He got me. But it’s nothing.” I turn away, hugging my arms to myself again as if cold, even though Raith's magic is keeping me perfectly warm. The memories of what happened beneath those dark waters… somehow, I know it’s not over. I know that thing isn’t done with me.

I sense Raith watching me.

"What?" I ask.

"You're not telling me everything. I heard things. One of the third years told me that?—"

"You're friends with third years?"

Raith’s blank expression says it all. Of course he is. Ambitious older students can probably tell he’s destined for great things. They want to become friends now and garner favor to benefit themselves when we’re all part of Empire’s army. Those of us who survive, anyway.

"Tell me what happened in the lake, Nessa."

I glare at him. "No."

His lips twitch, giving the faintest hint of amusement. And gods, it almost hurts to look at the damn man because he's so gorgeous. Even with the scars, or maybe because of them, his face draws my eyes like a work of art I can't stop studying. "I heard Malakai and three of his people went after you. I heard only Malakai survived. And I heard you two were seen floating together on some kind of water magic atop the lake."

"Okay."

"Tell me you're not working with Malakai."

I scowl, leaning forward in disbelief. "Wait, really? That's what you're worried about? For a minute, I thought you were actually concerned about my safety, but I see how this works, now. Serena and Malakai are plotting something and cutting you out of the equation. Now you hear some rumor that I was seen with Malakai and you're ready to assume the worst? Well, fuck you. That's my answer. Fuck. You." My hands curl into fists at my sides, and I can feel Raith's borrowed heat boiling under my skin.

Raith's silence is somehow louder than words, his gaze fixed on me with an intensity that charges the air between us. I sense danger there. What would he do if I had told him I was working with Malakai? Kill me right here? Torture me for information?

I push off the wall, feeling my temper flaring as the fire I borrowed from him swirls inside my body. "Sweet dreams, Raith."

* * *

"That's… actually not bad, Nessa," Primal Sestra notes before gliding away from where I'm sitting in channeling class. With a smirk, I release the sphere of water I've been holding over my palm. The droplets scatter with a satisfying splash.

One benefit of the terrible nightmares is I don't spend much time sleeping. That means I have more time to read through the unbound book, and I'm also getting faster at working through the code. I've even memorized a few specific sound patterns, which lets me read the occasional word without referencing Bastian's key.

Mireen looks over at me and wiggles her eyebrows after Sestra walks away. "Look at you. Passing the water trial and now you're earning praise from Sestra?"

I bite back a smile. "She's only impressed because I was so terrible to start."

Beck leans in from my other side. "You really were. After our first few days, I thought Sestra was going to kill you herself."

Ambrose, who sits beside Beck, leans his head forward, voice low. "When are you going to tell us what happened in the Lake, Nessa? I'm hearing wild rumors, and as your friend, I should be the one spreading wild rumors."

"Later," I say, glancing toward Malakai. Even with three of his soldiers dead, Malakai’s "army" is still intimidating, but I think others are starting to wonder if his group is as untouchable as they thought. Malakai's lowered eyes as he focuses on his channeling tells me he feels it too. The confident swagger he normally carries is dimmed, though so slightly I could be imagining it. "Common room after Military Tactics?"

"We'll be there," Beck says, rubbing his hands together. "This is going to be juicy, isn't it? I heard you punched an instructor in the face and grabbed a handful of echoes from the bowl itself."

Ambrose leans in closer. "I heard she wrestled a water serpent by its horns, then rode it back to shore."

I can't help laughing softly, which earns me a stern look from Sestra. We all sit back in place and resume working on our spells, but my mind is spinning with a thousand thoughts, making it hard to concentrate.

Confluence Day is only three days away. I still have no idea why those instructors were talking about siphons. I don't know if Malakai is planning to get revenge for what happened, or if he's going to avoid me now that he knows what I'm capable of.

And it doesn't even end there.

The more I read of the unbound book, the more it dawns on me that Bastian read all of this too. He knows all of this about me and more. Considering he's supposed to be reporting back to his father in some kind of important council, I have to wonder if he has mentioned me.

From what I'm reading, I know enough to say that would mean deadly consequences for me.

And Raith… I'm still pissed from our encounter in the middle of the night. I know he doesn't owe me anything, but it stings to think he could even imagine I'd be working with Malakai—that I'd be helping to murder people. The accusation burns like acid in my chest, all the more painful because part of me had started to trust him. An even smaller part of me had started to think he cared about me. Worried about me.

Stupid. I see that much now.

The rest of the classes pass in a blur as my thoughts twist and turn over everything that has happened and is yet to come. I'm the first one to the common room in the water tower after Military Tactics because I can't find an appetite tonight.

I take a spot on a large, comfortable couch by a window lined with decorative silver filigree. A magically blue-tinged fire burns in the hearth beside me, warming me even as the night’s chill seeps through the castle walls. By some miracle of magic, the water that always runs down the walls here has started to get warmer, and now it gives off wisps of steam as it runs down the walls, heating the tower slightly.

I itch to read my unbound book as I wait for the others to show, but I know it would be insanity to pull it out here. I only read the book at night when Mireen is asleep or on nights when she's out sharing someone else's bed. Thankfully, she doesn't ever bring her partners to our room.

Older students come in and disappear up the side stairs that lead to the private sections of the common room. I see a few aspirants and legacies also passing through the general common room to their private areas as well. There are only a handful of other first-year water offerings in the room, and they're clustered together on the far side with books spread out, studying for one of many upcoming tests.

It's half an hour before Mireen, Beck, and Ambrose have all joined me. Mireen sits beside me, offering to fix my braid—which was nearly pulled out of my head during sparring this morning. Beck and Ambrose take the single seats opposite our couch, leaning in, eyes and faces intent.

"Okay," Beck says. He glances to his side, seeming to confirm the others in the common room aren't close enough to listen in. "Spill it."

And I do, though I omit a few choice details. I tell them about Malakai's attack and the giant creature. I even tell them how it healed my wound and saved us with a raft of water magic. I don't talk about the powers I used, admit I sort of saved Malakai's life, or tell them the creature had already been visiting me in my nightmares for weeks.

But the story is sensational enough that they don't seem to sense I've left anything out.

Ambrose sits back, a crease forming between his brows as he taps his chin in thought.

Beck lets out a low whistle, giving me a look like he's seeing me for the first time.

Mireen's pace as she braids my hair slows and eventually stops as the story hits the most dangerous parts.

"Gods, Nessa," Mireen says. "I thought all the stories I was hearing were bullshit. People were even talking about it in the dining hall. Someone said you gave Rector Voss the finger as you rode away on a water dragon."

I grin. "I’ve never even seen the Rector, let alone made vulgar gestures at him.”

"So Malakai was just… on the raft with you when you woke up?" Beck asks. "Did he try to come at you again?"

I consider lying, but I think my friends deserve to at least know what we're dealing with when Malakai is concerned. "He… seemed to think I saved him, somehow."

Beck tilts his head. "But you didn't."

"No," I say quickly. "Not exactly, at least." I sigh as their faces darken. "I managed to kind of snare him to the lake floor during the fight. When I saw the creature coming for him, I just couldn't bring myself to keep him trapped. I know he has done terrible things. I know he's a terrible person. But… there wasn't time to think. Some part of me just didn't want to be involved, so I let the spell go. I honestly thought we were both dead anyway, and maybe I didn't want my last act to be helping somebody die a terrible death, I—” my voice cracks and I realize how fast I've been talking. My hands are trembling in my lap and my throat feels raw with guilt. Of all the secrets I'm holding from my friends for their own safety, this isn't one of them. Even as shame threatens to overwhelm me, it feels good to let it out.

Mireen gives my arm a soft squeeze. "Hey. This place brings out the worst in us. I think Malakai deserved whatever he was about to get, but you can't blame yourself for wanting to be a bit of light in all this darkness. And we certainly don't blame you for it. Right?" She looks at Beck and Ambrose, who bulge their eyes and shake their heads quickly.

"No," Beck says. "Don't blame you one bit. So you're not a murderer. Big deal. We still like you."

"I think it's admirable," Ambrose agrees. "Maybe your mercy will make Malakai reconsider the way he's been acting."

"I don't think so," I admit. "The last thing he said was how nothing between us changed.”

"Asshole," Mireen mutters. She looks like she wants to hunt him down and drown him herself, and I love her just a little more for it.

There's a lull in the conversation before Ambrose leans in closer, eyes lit with interest. "The creature you saw... what did it look like, exactly?"

"Kind of like a giant sea serpent mixed with a dragon, maybe? It was dark, though. I only saw bits and pieces. And it was huge, with blue eyes."

"Fuck," Ambrose whispers.

"What?" Beck says.

"It's just that not many elementals could fit a description like that. To be so large and take such a powerful shape… It sounds like one of the ancients, but it also sounds like it has gone rogue."

"You told me about that," I say. "Elementals driven mad by broken tethers or the death of their tethered humans, right?"

He nods. "But I've never heard of one of the ancients tethering a human. Something that powerful going rogue is… dire. And how the hell is it here? How is it in our world swimming around Mirror Lake?"

I think about the dreams I've been having—the sense that I'm being hunted and the predator has been drawing closer with each dream. And then, for the first time in weeks, I think about the storm I called back in Saltcrest three years ago. The storm that I accidentally drew in. The storm that killed my brothers and my father. The memory hits me like a physical blow, making my chest constrict painfully.

Did I survive only to draw in an even bigger storm here? A storm in the form of an ancient rogue elemental? The death of the three I'd seen eaten beneath the waters suddenly rushes in to pile on my back, heavy with the weight of guilt.

"I'm not sure," I say quietly.

The others shift the topic of conversation to Confluence Day, but my mind lingers on the rogue elemental.

An instinct I can't describe tells me I haven't seen it for the last time. There's a kind of connection between us. With a sudden certainty that turns my insides to ice, I know when I'm going to see it next. A shiver runs down my spine as my gut twists with dread.

The beast is going to be waiting for me on Confluence Day, but this time, I’ll be ready for it.