ne blink.

It took one blink before Mar was in front of me, the wooden table in shards on the floor, her claws swinging, aiming for my face. I dodged, leaping away, my own fingers hardening until they became steel from the knuckles and up.

Another hit to the head. She missed-barely. So long, her claws were so terribly long, barreling down on me from so many sides at once.

She didn't budge as a knife went into her shoulder-didn't seem to feel it. And those depthless, black eyes remained fixed on me, on every movement I took, on every claw that tore her flesh.

Not a reaction. Not even a breath of pain.

Out-I needed to get out of the corner she locked me in without getting injured. Without requiring help-they understood the signal I gave. Do not intervene yet. She wasn't aware yet of the court around her, wasn't aware a shred about who they were.

I doubted she was aware of anything at all past the whispering darkness in her mind. Doubted if she was alive or if Apocalys had taken full possession of her flesh.

I ducked as she flicked her wrist, scrapping the wall, a strand of silver-white hair being cut with it as my elbows endured the weight of the fall. Weariness still gnawed at my bones but she too was unsteady. Unfocused. I rolled to my side, tearing the carpet as I-

A crashing weight pressed on the top of my chest. Harder. It pressed harder as Mar placed all her weight on that foot-not her weight, but whatever that was swirling inside of her. So damn heavy...My hands closed around her ankle, claws going deep until they protruded from the other side. She placed her other foot, mud and blood cold on my skin, entirely oblivious to the claws that tore up and up and up, to the wounds that rained blood all around us.

I felt something break. Felt a burning rage beneath my skin begging to be out, to burn everything, to melt her bones and the darkness festering in them. But it was what he wanted, what the Dark God waited for.

I pulled my hand out of her flesh and barely motioned with the other to the rest to stay still and ready as a loud thundering filled the world around us. It echoed in my blood along the clash of claws against claws, along the sound of cracking bones as my claws went through her dominant hand. Through every fabric, every bone, every ligament.

Her hand fell to the ground as I pushed myself up, feeling my lungs breaking beneath the weight and the effort. But she-he-halted for that heartbeat.

It was such a mistake.

Another swing and flick of my wrist before I ripped through her knees, feeling the scrap of my claws against her bones, feeling them crack and shatter.

Mar feel to the ground, rolling to the side as blood gushed over my face, my clothes, the carpeted floor. But it was already too late.

No amount of speed could get her up fast enough to block my attack. They went into her neck, each claw as long as a short sword but by far stronger than hers could every be. Deeper, I dug my hand deeper in her, cutting up to her eyes and brain with one hand, the other diving straight into her chest. Into her heart.

It wasn't beating far before I pulled my hands out of her, far before she went through the door. Even her blood didn't contain a lick of warmth.

She'd been dead even before coming up to this room.

Another thunder swallowed the world, barreling like a titan's fists on the ceiling. And the darkness-that bit of Apocalys's essence-curled out of the sentinel's body, thinning until it vanished.

I remained standing for long over the torn body, waiting for any sign, anything to tell this fight wasn't over yet. But nothing, not a flicker. He was still too weak, still incomplete.

I wasn't sure if seconds had passed or hours before I felt Leon's arms gently enclosing around me, sustaining the legs that threatened to buckle down at any moment. My head rested on his arm but I didn't dare close my eyes, didn't dare take a too loud breath.

But my husband didn't wait like I did before he squeezed my shoulders and stepped back, leaving space for the other to stand at my sides. Before he picked his sword and lowered it so many times on Mar's corpse that she was nothing more than parts of bones and flesh and clothes.

I would've winced before, would've probably doubled over and vomited in my place if I had seen this a few months ago. But now...there was nothing. Not a nudge of sensations. Only clean sharpness as the blade sang each time it met bones and steel.

Not a sliver of magic came out. And even the howling winds and darkness outside didn't sound so loud anymore.

It left me wondering why he didn't bother with anyone of my court, if he truly wasn't aware of my mate and brother, of all the powers combined in this room.

It left me wondering if he knew that I would come to his own house, if all of this was nothing more than a trap. The thought didn't sound so absurd after all that I discovered recently.

Sédil's hands squeezed my arm gently, unbothered by the blood and the scent staining her fingers as she slowly rubbed circles going up and down.

"He knows.''

It wasn't really a question, I knew that, but I still nodded in confirmation, wishing I could tell her otherwise.

"Do you think he'll tell him?"

Him-Blake.

"No.'' Pain prickled in my throat as I got the word out. But it was the dull sort of it, the kind that would take a few minutes before vanishing as the might of my powers forged the broken bones back together.

"He doesn't have that much strength yet to communicate,'' I added, observing as Aedis put his sword aside, attention still on Apocalys's puppet ."We would have been dead already otherwise.''

We remained silent afterwards for a long moment before I stepped back and it was enough to make them disperse, to give me room to breathe.

"Go back to your rooms. Stay alert.''

For a moment, all the eyes centered on the decapitated body, on the blood still seeping out of her.

I turned to Yesar and Liam, counting every breath until the loud pounding in my blood yielded enough to let me hear my own thoughts. "Take my rooms for the night, sleep by shifts.''

Their response was nothing more than a shallow nod before they were out of the bedroom, but I caught that fleeting glance at Mayra as Yesar left. Caught the gentle nod given back; Yenes's hours were on countdown now.

The winds were still loud, the storms still untamed, the darkness still brewing. But the weight swirling above our heads receded away, darting far in the world, most likely seeking more souls to devour.

"Is he truly still in there?"

I knew what-who-Mayra meant. I didn't deign stare at Leon's direction as I nodded, our conversation ringing in my ears. Ringing ringing ringing.

The Rocheguard Countess leaned against a wall, stares sliding between the five of us with that unholy sharpness so little knew about. "Which side of him did we know, before all of this?"

Before. That other lifetime, those serene days at the academy, the late nights, the loud hallways, the verdant gardens and warm, spring sun. He'd been there, with all his darkness, a silent disease spreading as it desired.

"I wish I knew the answer.''

I wasn't even sure what the trapped version of him was like.

I locked my hands behind my back, focusing so much on remaining steady it was humiliating. All the control I'd been building over my powers, all the mastering, it snapped, thread by thread. We remained here for far more than initially planned, and Apocalys and Blake and the Aubarios and the trial in the Sombers, all of it was pushing me beyond limits.

It was when I was sure that I wouldn't run out of breath speaking that I gestured at Rhiannon and Luthian who'd remained silent and waiting. "You're still leaving by dawn. Move according to the plan and stay alert.''

I gave no clue as I walked out of the room, but Dier, Sédil and Veidor had understood and followed me, leaving Leon and his younger sister alone for a needed moment. Carter and Mayra didn't remain, leaving for their rooms after my blood-bound brother kissed my brow. I didn't notice how mighty the breath I had held was until I sensed them both in their rooms, their doors locked and sealed.

Luthian stayed, leaning next to the windows overlooking the city. Dark and gloomy with no fires and lights past the thin glow of candles barely visible from so far. A night of terror, a night of death, feared even when it was their god. Even when it was the same darkness they worshipped.

I slid beneath the arm Luthian locked around me, head on the shoulder that I knew I wouldn't be able to reach once we both shifted back to our true heights, him quite taller and I a bit shorter.

He kept on staring out, listening to the winds, watching how the trees swayed, how some doors were ripped out of their hinges, rain going into the houses of those poorer than to afford a house in the fancy part of the capital.

He didn't say a word when I poked him in the chest, but he'd looked down at me, an eyebrow barely arched with amusement. He had gentle lines around his eyes whenever he did so, or smiled-used to, at least, when we were back at the castle.

"You're not hurt that Carter knew about the bond before you, aren't you?"

"No." Not a moment to think, not a moment to breath before answering.

I poked him again. "Not just a tiny, very little bit bothered?"

He let out a breath. "Perhaps just a tiny, little bit bothered."

I leaned deeper into his hold. "He saw it through the powers he has. I wasn't the one who told him."

"I am not judging, even if you were the one who did so.''

I wrapped an arm around him and he didn't flinch at the blood covering me as he tucked my head beneath his chin. "I just don't want you to feel that you're lower than him for not knowing.'' I poked him once again. ''Because you're not.'' Another poke. And another. "If it adds anything, I don't think I've ever poked him before.''

His laugh wasn't loud, but it was deep. Hearty, so much I felt every bit of it as he kissed the top of my head, ruffling my hair.

And so we remained silent and at ease, staring out, poking each other every now and then. He didn't react when I first unbuttoned the top of his shirt, when I drew a finger-length line down the fake scars lining his chest. But he tensed when I drew the other line, and the other, when he understood what language it was. What it meant. Luthian took my hand in his, thumb gently brushing the scar remaining from the oath we took back in Rimelia before kissing it, his breaths warm and gentle.

I kissed his, my head sliding from his shoulder to his chest, mouth brushing where I'd drawn the rune. "Come back safe.''

One of his hands went into my hair, rubbing my scalp in circular motions. "Will you miss me if I don't?"

I punched him. Quite hard. "Bastard."

Luthian's chuckle was as loud as a breath as he held me closer, tighter. He kissed the top of my head again and I didn't find the voice-didn't even know if I should comment that it was the first night he ever showed me that much affection. Not just a hug or an embrace. Not a moment's brush. But something far deeper and truer than all those times, something raw.

It had started with a debt, a promise. But I knew no debts and no gold in the world could buy me this family-all of them.

The door opened without a sound, Leon's scent wafting with every movement, filling the room, pulling every bit of me towards him. My brother and I remained silent as we went back in the bedroom, the arm around my shoulders tight until it dropped. Until Luthian and Leon stood face to face, each seizing the other up.

I slid to the floor next to the bed where Rhia was sitting, both of us sharing a brief stare before focusing back on the tension simmering between them.

My third and spy let out a long breath as she rested her forearm on my shoulder, leaning to whisper, "Here we go again.''

The way Leon swallowed him whole with his eyes, the way he carried himself as he took a step closer-not only a lord's face. Not only a warrior's. It was something both unreadable and unbreakable.

Leon stepped closer.

"For all the trust he has, for all he knows I am capable of, you'd be surprised knowing how much this happened before,'' she murmured to my ears.

Leon spoke, his words low, each letter cold and brutal. "One scratch. If she comes back with anything more than a scratch, you'll be paying for it.''

I titled my head, gazing at that calm, sharp face. 'You're all he has left; he'd burn the world for you to remain safe.'

'I know.' She straightened, absent mindedly resting her hand where her forearm was. 'Even if it meant burning alongside. We had some rough years, we had nights were everything was crashing down and we fought. Together.' She let out another breath and I placed a hand on her knee, gently squeezing. 'It's just that he's always like that, always ready to take it all to keep me safe. I want him to be happy, I...'

'He knows, deep down. He knows it all. He wants you to be happy, too.'

Rhia placed a scared hand over mine, needing that touch and comfort more than I ever thought.

My eyes drifted from the two men in the middle of the room to the unmoving corpse and back to them. They hadn't said another word until it was Luthian who closed the distance between them, who looked him into the eyes with a steadiness that could have soldiers and generals fleeting.

Eye to eye, like never before.

"If she ever sheds a tear, if her smile ever falters because of you''-closer-''I swear to all known powers in this world, I will make you pay for every heartbeat of it.''

The tension. The glaring. The room was a sliver from bursting into flames.

But Leon patted Luthian's shoulder and smiled, a gesture that could mean so many things...but he understood.

"It's a good thing that I'm not planning on breaking my wife's heart then.''

Rhiannon laughed, raw and hearty. "I'll personally make you pay if you do that.''

I raised an eyebrow. And so did Aedis. "I wonder if I should be glad or worried."

"Perhaps both.'' Her arms slid around my neck, her head a heavy weight as she rested it atop mine, gently nudging. "Did I hear you say wife, brother dear?"

Leon pointed at both of them then at the door. "Out. Now."

And so they did, but not before halting by the doorframe, their stares conveying too many things at once. They got kicked out once again before the main door clicked shut and Leon slumped where his sister had been.

I leaned toward him, testing the waters as it had been the first moment alone we had since we talked. He shifted before placing my head on his knee, rubbing my blood-covered hair as we both stared at the dead body.

"Our days are counted.'' I closed my eyes for a heartbeat only, still scared that whatever had possessed Mar would come back again. "It's all coming to an end."

"When we'll be on that battlefield,'' he brushed the hair out of my eyes, struggling a bit with the strand that'd been cut, ''do not limit yourself. When needed, step out of the boundaries you've drawn. Be free.''

"I'm scared.'' I ran a finger from his knee to his thigh. "I'm scared that if I do that, that if I fall too deep, I won't be able to get out.''

"You will-I will be there for you. Even if you go beneath the surface and cannot get out, I will pull you up. I'll be there at your side through it all.''

I wrapped my arms around his leg.

"Show them what you can do because we both know that this is not the bottom, that by war you will have plenty more of surprises. Make them fear and cower. Make the world bow.''

He would be there, even when I would become a mess. Even when the torrent of powers would rip me apart, he would still be there. He'd understood all of this when we'd taken our oaths, and he hadn't backed down. Hadn't been scared of what I could become.

I wouldn't be afraid, either. Of myself, of him and his fire.

"There is this common song,'' he added, "that we used to sing around campfires in that year I'd been a Trooper."

Because he had to, after he finished the Academy, so he could legitimately claim his position as leader of our armies. So he could take that responsibility since such a young age.

"It's not really a song, more so a combination of messy tunes and a part of the first king's speech before war.'' He placed his free hand over one of mines. "Through the darkest night we shall come, sharp like steel, loud like a thousand bone-drums.

We do not fear, we do not yield, high we raise our swords and spears.

Even through death we fight, untamed through blazing fields until back comes the light."

The words, the tune, they stirred something. A few hazy memories back at the norm, a bunch of students singing and humming. Every few days, in many places, so many of them.

It was an anthem for strength. For persistence. For hope.

I pulled myself up, checking the body again before breathing, "I'll take a shower."

I knew Leon picked up Blake's scent still on my back, knew he hated the memories of his fingers and mouth on my skin even when he didn't say it. They bothered me as much.

His hand held mine before I could step past him, and I remained still as he stood, as he held me close.

"Do you want to talk about what happened at the Sombers?"

His forehead rested against mine and I felt every breath, every bit of tingling warmth.

I nodded, well aware of the hand gently trailing from my wrist to my arm, light as a feather. "After I clean myself."

"Alright," he hummed, his nose gently-tentatively-brushing mine. I didn't pull away.

"I do remember something interesting was about to happen before we both fell unconscious.''

I arched an eyebrow. "I don't, unfortunately. Perhaps you could help me.''

He smiled and I could only mirror it as he placed his hands atop of my neck, thumbs circling my cheeks.

I was still smiling as we kissed.