The rest of the night passed in quiet. Nella had worn herself out after her encounter with Eli, and so she’d slept, leaving Eli to his own devices. Several times he tried to reach out to Dom, but the Tognir king brushed him away each time. Now that he’d gotten what he wanted, he had no more time for Eli. Figured.

Restless and aggravated, he went to the silent training grounds to erase Mom’s face from his mind’s eye. Every time he saw Nella and that dark, dark hair of hers, he couldn’t help but think of Mom. It was unnerving him, and he couldn’t afford to be unnerved. Not when the Guardianship and everything he’d been working for was on the line.

When morning threatened its approach once more, Eli shouldered his spear and headed home. The streets and tunnels were already dead as Eli passed them along his path around the outskirts of the city. He’d stayed out late and pushed himself hard, as his pulsing arms and legs reminded him. His mind ached for sleep.

As he passed under his own archway he fumbled for the glowstone beside the door.

“Here you go.”

Eli jumped. “Nel-” He cut himself off, as Ana’s amber eyes peered back at him in the glowstone’s blue light.

“Nel? What’s that mean?”

Eli stared at her, his words frozen in panic.

“Eli?” Ana reached for him.

“What are you even doing here?” Eli’s frantic pulse began to slow. He pushed her hand away. “You scared me half to death.”

“Sorry.” She gave a half-smile. “I wanted to surprise you. I guess it worked.”

Eli snorted and snatched the glowstone from her. “What do you want?”

“Just to visit, Mr. Grumpy.” She crossed her arms. “Haven’t seen you for a while.”

“Now’s not a good time to chat, okay?”

“But I’ve got so much to tell you! All the nobles are talking about you.”

“What else is new?”

“And I’ve heard rumors that the king’s lost his bride.”

“Really.” Eli yawned. “As fascinating as that is, I’d really like to get to bed.”

Ana glared at him. “You’re lucky I’m even here. If Dad found out where I was…”

He sighed and picked at one of his nails. “Listen, I’m sorry. I’m just exhausted. I worked myself hard today.” He glanced at her and noted her small smile, then patted her hand. “Come see me at training tomorrow. Alright?”

“Alright. Fine.” She gave his hand a lingering squeeze. “Good night.”

Eli swept into an elegant bow, one that never failed to elicit an eye-roll from her. “Goodnight, my dear lady.” He didn’t straighten until she was gone.

Good old Ana, showing up right when he didn’t need her to. His exhaustion washed over him afresh, and he went to his room and collapsed onto his bed. He just hoped she would stay out of things.

“Wake up.” Nella’s voice grated against his sleeping thoughts and pulled him from his rest.

He sat up and blinked. His eyes struggled to adjust to the glowing stone she’d brought into the room with her.

She stood at the end of his divan, glaring at him.

“What do you want?” He rubbed his face and checked the stone near his bed. It glowed orange— it was just before noon. Too early to be awake.

“Teach me to walk better.”

He snorted and turned over, pulling the blanket over his head. “Go back to bed.”

The water shifted as she stumbled forward and tried to yank the blanket off of him. “No. I’m wide awake, and I want to learn to walk.”

“And I want to sleep. It’s a ridiculous hour to be awake.”

Nella yanked again, hard, though her moonlight swirled violet. She was afraid of him, despite her bravado.

Eli grinned. He peeked out from under the blanket’s edge and waited for the opportune moment. When she gave a rather hard tug, he released the blanket. She gave a little cry and went tumbling to the floor, then leapt back to her feet. Her aura glowed a fiery orange.

Eli laughed.

“That was rude,” she said, low and venomous.

Eli leapt out of bed, landed with grace in front of her, and drew himself to his full height. He glared down at her.

She glared back, though her shoulders slumped and her fingers reached back to brush the wall behind her.

“It’s also rude to wake a Tognir,” Eli replied, and snatched the blanket from her. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going back to sleep.”

She watched him as he got back into bed.

“By the way, you have a new name, starting today.”

Her eyebrows arched.

“From now on, you’ll be Nel.”

She frowned. “Nel. Why Nel?”

Eli shrugged. “It has to be three letters. That’s the rule.”

“But why is it the rule?”

“You ask too many questions. Go back to bed.”

“I already told you. I can’t sleep.”

Eli sighed. “Go be awake somewhere else, then.”

“Alright.”

Eli sat up and glared at her. That false, sweet tone meant she was up to something.

She cast a glance back at him, then grinned and disappeared down the hall.

“Nella.”

She didn’t respond.

“Nel, where are you going?”

Still nothing.

Cursing, he leapt out of bed and followed her down the hall. She was standing by the front entryway, peering out into the tunnel hall beyond.

“Get back in here. Now.”

She smiled at him and moved as if to leave.

“Nel, I mean it.”

She laughed. “You sound like an angry father,” she said.

“I’m not playing around. Get in here. I’ll teach you to walk.”

She stepped back inside and moved towards him. “Thank you. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Eli turned down the hallway and refused to respond.

Behind him he could feel Nel’s moonlight glowing with turquoise pride as she followed him, holding on to the wall as she walked.

* * *

“You have to let your feet get attached to the floor.”

She clung to his arm and struggled to push herself forward.

“The weight is different down here. You feel lighter, so you have to push down with your weight. That’s the only way it’ll work.”

She brought herself to her full height and rocked back on her heels, trying to grab the floor with her toes. “It’s not working.”

“It could be that the scales on your feet haven’t fully developed yet. That’ll make it harder, too.” He shook his head as she ended up pushing herself up and away from the floor. “Yet another reason why this could have waited a few days.”

“Eli.” Dom’s voice cut into his mind, sharp and urgent. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What is it?” Eli ignored Nel’s questioning look.

“I can’t get into contact with my Mil. It’s as if she’s far away. Just yesterday I spoke with her, and she’d agreed to come back to me. Now I can’t even feel her. I don’t know what’s happened. Ask her sister if she goes away on certain days, or if she’ll come back. See if she knows anything.”

Eli frowned. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“Eli.” It was a warning.

“I was only required to hold her here. Nothing else. You promised.”

Dom sighed. “The only way I’m going to find Mil is if her sister knows where she is. And the only way to get rid of your obligation to keep the girl is for me to find Mil. Do you understand?”

“What’s going on?” Nel asked.

Eli held out a hand to shush her. “You do it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dom snapped. “I don’t have time.”

“I don’t either-”

“Don’t give me that. I know you’re off duty the next few days. You’ve got all the time in the world.” Dom chuckled at Eli’s silence. “Get to asking. Threaten, coax, woo, do what you must. Just get me answers.”

“Dom, I can’t-”

“Goodbye, Eli.”

“Wait-”

“And that’s ‘Your Majesty’ to you.” Dom broke their mental connection.

Eli glanced at Nel, who was clenching and unclenching her toes against the floor. Idiot king. It was ridiculous to expect him to pry anything from this clam of a Kar-Tog, especially concerning her sister.

Nel released his arm, sat on the divan, and pressed her feet to the floor. “I can feel something there. Almost like a magnet pulling my foot, but it’s not very strong.”

“It’ll get stronger in a few days. So…” Eli trailed off. “Do you and your family ever go on vacations?”

She glanced at him. “Why do you want to know?”

Eli looked away, raising his eyebrows. She was already getting defensive.

“Just curious,” he lied.

She didn’t answer, just stared at her feet.

Eli sighed. He’d have to be more direct.

“Dom can’t find Mil. He wants to know where she is.”

She looked at him again, this time concerned.

“What do you mean, he can’t find her? How does he look for her?”

“The same way I found you.”

Her brow smoothed as realization struck her.

“You mean that mind control thing?” She made a disgusted face. “Well, if he can’t find her, I don’t know where she is. I thought she was at home. Maybe she and Mom left. Maybe they’re at the police station, trying to find me.” She turned a fierce glare on him. “I hope he doesn’t ever find her. I hope they went far away where he can’t ever find her again.”

Eli furrowed his brow. “You realize that means…”

Her expression grew grim. She knew what the consequences would be if Mil bailed on her.

“I’d rather it be me than her,” she said. And from the way her moonlight glowed bright and fierce, despite the dimming of the drug, he knew she meant it.