When Eli arrived at the training grounds the next day, Ana was nowhere to be found. He spent his time half training, half keeping his eyes on the cavern entrance, waiting for her figure to appear in the archway. But by the time he’d finished his exercises, he’d seen no sign of her.

It worried him. He left the grounds and took the long path around the Palace Circle, taking slow steps as he neared the noble’s tunnel. He sent out a tendril of his aura, searching—

Hands grabbed him and yanked him into the entrance to the tunnel.

“Shhh.”

He stared down into Ana’s amber eyes.

Her aura flickered blue. “I’ve only got a second, but I had to tell you. Dad found out about us.”

“Great.” Eli sighed. One more consequence of his dishonor to deal with. “How mad is he?”

“Pretty mad. I’ll still try to come when I can. He wants you to prove your worth again before he lets me ‘associate’ with you.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course all this had to happen after you punched Dom in the face.”

“Yeah.”

She touched his face and smiled. “We’ll make it, though.” The same rosy hue from yesterday colored her aura, though it was subdued by the blue still there.

Eli thought of Nel, of Dom’s promise, and nodded. “Yes, we will.”

Her eyes widened.

“Go.”

She blew him a kiss as she turned and sprinted back down the tunnel.

He traipsed back to his apartment, a grin pasted on his face. He’d been right that his dishonor would get in the way of everything that gave him happiness.

But not for much longer.

* * *

The day following, as Eli watched Nel take slow and steady steps around the front room, a cloaked figure appeared in the doorway. Its rainbow presence pulsed and fluctuated.

Dom. What was he doing here?

Nel paused in her walk to follow Eli’s gaze.

“This is madness!” Dom cried, throwing his hood back. His raven hair flowed behind him as he strode further into the room. “I can’t find her anywhere. It’s been three days. Three. She told me she would come.”

“You’re Dom, aren’t you?”

Dom looked at her with a sneer. “It just so happens I am. And you will call me ‘King Dom.’”

“Whatever.” Nel’s eyes were hard. “Millie described you to me when she came back.”

“Did she, now?” Dom’s demeanor transformed. He approached Nel with eager eyes. “Was it lovingly? Fondly?”

“Quite the opposite, actually.” Nel gave a short curtsy, as much as her newfound balance would allow her. “King Dom.” The hiss in her voice was unmistakable.

Eli widened his eyes, warning her.

Dom’s smile fell.

“She was very frightened,” Nel went on, ignoring both of them. “She said she would never come back.”

“Hmm.” Dom walked in a slow circle around her. “That’s interesting. She told me just three days ago that she would come back and be my bride.”

“It was all to buy time, I suppose.” Nel’s voice betrayed none of her fear—if she even felt any. “If you’d seen her that day, the day I found her barely breathing on the banks, dropped there like some little drowned animal…” She trailed off and looked aside.

Dom had stopped in front of her, his face an inch from hers, daring her to continue.

“I am well aware that she was harmed here, but it was not by me. And I assure you that I will find out who was responsible for treating her so cruelly, and when I do, they will be punished according to the highest extent of the law. You think I didn’t share in your pain, knowing that was how she was expelled from my kingdom?”

“She would have never been hurt like that if you hadn’t lured her down here with your lies.”

Dom grabbed her face with one hand, turning it so that she was forced to look at him. His glowing eyes dimmed as he examined her face.

“You look like her. The same eyes, the same little spots…” He touched the freckles on her face, but then his look hardened and his hand fell away. “But you don’t have her light. You are too dark, too melancholy. Mil is…” He turned away and paced a bit.

“She’s a free spirit.”

“Exactly,” said Dom with a fond sigh. “I must have that light, that freedom, that wilderness—”

“You’ll never have it.”

Dom whirled back and with a few quick strides reached Nel.

She stared him down, unwavering.

“Nel, knock it off,” Eli whispered at her. His warning went unheeded.

“She’s not coming back. She’s gone far away, where you’ll never reach her again. She won’t be afraid anymore—”

Dom shoved her against the wall and wrapped one hand around the front of her throat. She clawed at him and began to kick.

Eli grimaced.

“You will find out where she is, Kar-Tog.” Dom’s voice poured into her mind, acidic, infused with a hostile melody. His green eyes burned into hers.

Nel’s eyes widened. Her moonlight fluttered violet and red.

“If I don’t have her by the next new moon, I will personally make sure you are sacrificed to the Eltana.” Dom produced a knife from his pocket, sliding the flat of the blade under her chin. “Do I make myself understood?”

Nel shivered, but didn’t respond. Her hands were frozen on his arm.

“Nel, tell him something,” Eli hissed at her.

Her eyes flicked to his, then back to Dom’s. Her brows furrowed, and Eli cringed in preparation for her tirade. But instead, she nodded, just once.

Dom dropped her and stowed the knife back in his tunic pocket.

“Very well. It was a pleasure speaking with you, madam.” Dom swept into a low bow, then turned, tugging his hood over his head. He glanced at Eli. “Make sure she’s doing what she’s been told. I want reports each day on her progress.” Dom stormed out.

Eli turned back to Nel, a grim mixture of pity, duty, and fear churning in his stomach.

She got to her feet, avoiding his eyes, and began to walk around the room again. Her silence was forced— thoughts buzzed and blared like alarm bells when Eli pushed within the walls of her mind.

She put up another wall and glared at him.

“Hey. I tried to tell you,” Eli said. “That kid is crazy.”

“And you’re sane?”

Eli shrugged. “I just do what I’m told.”

“And I suppose you’re going to be checking in on me to find out if I know anything about Millie.”

“Looks like it.”

She passed behind him as she continued her walk.

“Don’t you ever…I don’t know…do something you’re not supposed to?”

Eli snorted. “Like what?”

“Like stand up to that bully of a creature you call your king.”

Eli recalled Dom’s bloody nose and tried not to chuckle. “Now, why would I want to do that?”

“I know you don’t like him. I know how much he gets under your skin. I know you’re sucking up to him for something.”

Eli laughed, trying to be nonchalant. How in the world could she know anything about that?

Nel stopped in her walk to look at him, now across the room from him. “We Kar-Togs may not know how to read thoughts, but body language is the next best thing.”

“So, you guessed that there’s something in this whole deal for me.” Eli shrugged. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.”

“What is it? Power? Money? A place at the king’s right hand?”

Eli snorted, thinking of Dad, and of Dom’s tirade against Nel just now. “I’d prefer to be as far away from the king’s right hand as possible.”

“What is it, then?” Nel continued her gait along the wall. “What is so important to you that you’re willing to lay all your pride on the line? What is he holding hostage that you’re trying so desperately to get back?”

Eli didn’t respond. He didn’t have to explain himself to her.

“What if it’s someone? Is he holding someone you love hostage?”

She was seeking common ground. She wanted to find him an ally. He gave a short laugh. She wasn’t going to find that with him.

“We’ll just say something is on the line for me that’ll determine how I spend my life,” he said after a moment. He thought of Ana, of their new bond, and all that he wanted to prove to her, to himself. He could be happy again. He could be honored among his fellows.

He had to get his blues back to have all of that. And he would do whatever it took to get them.

She gave a little nod. “Then I hope you’ll understand that I have something on the line, too. And I’m not going to stop fighting for it.”