The Invitation

The commander's blade crossed the water without slowing.

Aurelia met it with her spear. Gold scales spread over her arms, then broke beneath the impact. She was thrown against a pillar, and the spear snapped in her hands.

"He is under the Tide Kingdom's protection," she said through blood.

"Withdraw that protection."

"No."

The commander raised his blade again.

Seraphine caught its edge.

Blood ran between her fingers. Her shadow crawled along the white metal, eating its light.

"You heard her," she said.

The blade broke.

I pulled Aurelia out of the commander's path as Seraphine drove him through the shattered window. His soldiers followed, spears striking from every side.

I had never seen the queen fight without restraint.

It was not graceful. It was swift, ugly, and exact. She took wounds to close distances. She broke shields with her bare hands because drawing her sword would have cost a heartbeat she would not spare.

The sea turned dark around her.

Two soldiers entered through the side corridor. I sent foxfire across the floor, forcing them apart, and cut the shaft of the nearest spear. Aurelia, one arm hanging uselessly, struck the other with a broken fragment of hers.

"Behind you," she told me.

I ducked. A blade passed where my throat had been.

I burned its wielder's armor until he dropped the weapon and retreated. I did not chase him.

Outside, the commander screamed once.

Seraphine returned carrying the white core from his armor, the concentrated power granted to him by the higher court. Three wounds opened through her chest. She held the core out before attending to any of them.

"He won't need this."

I took it with a hand that did not shake.

"You should sit down."

Her face changed at that small concern.

"Evander—"

"You're bleeding on the only intact chair."

She almost smiled. Then she coughed and sat on the floor instead.

The remaining soldiers withdrew through the sea. Their dead drifted beyond the palace wards, caught in the slow currents.

I knelt beside Aurelia and helped bind her arm. She gave orders between breaths, sending healers to the guards before accepting one herself.

"Why oppose him?" I asked. "You could have given me up."

"And discovered tomorrow that the king required something else from us."

"So it was political."

She looked at me.

"It was also you. I can have more than one reason."

I nodded. I did not need to deny her courage to remember her deception.

Seraphine watched from beside the broken pillar.

"Are you leaving?" she asked when I rose.

"I'm going to the courtyard."

"I'll come."

"You'll stay seated until the hole through your chest closes."

She obeyed, though her eyes followed every step.

In the courtyard, I refined the commander's core. The power was clean beneath the mark of royal ownership. I burned that mark away before drawing it into myself.

My sixth seal opened.

For the first time, the magic around me seemed to listen instead of merely endure my presence.

The Wayfarer woke.

"The sovereign structure has weakened. Your claim has reached its midpoint."

"A commander died. Is that all it takes?"

"His power was drawn from a greater source. You have broken a channel and reclaimed what it carried."

I looked toward the sky beyond the sea.

There were more channels above us.

A gold bird descended into the courtyard before I could ask another question. It opened into a scroll in Aurelia's hands.

She read it twice, then laughed without amusement.

"The king congratulates us."

Seraphine had managed to stand by then.

"Of course he does."

Alaric declared that the soldiers had acted against his wishes. Their destruction proved our loyalty to lawful order. In recognition of my awakened blood, he invited me to the Hall of Crowns to receive a title and a share of the realm's everlasting protection.

"He wants me within his walls," I said.

Aurelia nodded.

"The world barrier is failing. The old register that supports it has been damaged for centuries. Your soul could repair it."

"Repair it, or repair his throne?"

She looked down at the decree.

"I don't know how much difference remains."

Seraphine took the scroll and held it above a small black flame.

"A trap. You don't need to consider it."

I caught the other end before she could burn it.

"I do."

Her gaze sharpened.

"He couldn't take you here. Now he wants you standing inside his own binding circle."

"If I refuse, he'll call me a threat to the barrier and send another army. If I go, he has to ask for my death in front of the people he claims to protect."

"They'll agree."

"Then I'll know what I'm overthrowing."

Neither woman spoke.

The words surprised me less than they surprised them. For five hundred years, survival had meant hiding. Now the hiding places belonged to people who wanted pieces of me.

I was tired of seeking shelter in someone else's hand.

"I'm going," I said.

Aurelia pressed her uninjured hand against the table.

"I'll place dragon guards beyond the outer gate. If the hall turns against you, they'll hold a path."

Seraphine shook her head.

"The gate will sense my crown."

She drew a breath and folded her shadow inward.

The crown vanished. Her gown became a plain attendant's coat. The power around her dwindled until I could barely feel it.

Blood ran from her mouth.

Aurelia reached toward her, then stopped.

"You've sealed your own core."

Seraphine wiped her lips with her sleeve.

"The gate won't recognize a servant."

She faced me, head bowed with an awkwardness that made the gesture more painful than any polished submission.

"Let me come. I'll carry your cup. I'll stand behind your chair. I won't ask you to speak to me."

I looked at the woman who once would not let me choose where to stand.

"You follow my decisions," I said. "You don't make them for me."

"Yes."

"This isn't forgiveness."

Her eyes lifted.

"I know."

Three days later, I entered the Hall of Crowns with a dragon princess beside me and the Shadow Queen carrying my cloak.

High King Alaric smiled from his throne.

"Evander Vale," he said. "How fortunate that you arrived before the barrier fails. We have much to ask of you."