The library wall pulses with warmth and a few fairies still flutter around. Natasha came to let me know the freed fairies were being smuggled in and settling in well. Some found old families, while those who were from other regions—and even worlds—were being cared for by the crown. I tap my fingers against the wall paneling, my mind searching through what I know and driving one point forward.

Fight back.

“Silver,” I begin, then pause.

“How can I help?” he prompts, his warmth and calming presence behind me. He sits his hands on my shoulders and kneads the knots from my muscles.

"Oooh, thanks," I say, moving so he has better access. He hits a sore spot and I accidentally elbow him in the ribs. He grunts.

I glance back, about to apologize, when he chuckles. It's deep and gentle, with a touch of something wry and happy. "Relational hazards with you, I suppose."

I blink and wince. "Sorry," I say.

He kisses the side of my head. "Don't, love. It was an accident."

"What if I someday accidentally stab you? Then what?"

His chuckle grows into full-blown laughter and he leans against the wood paneling of the library.

I spin. All the better to glare at him. This is a genuine issue! My body works on reflex sometimes and I'm not sure I can always stop it in time. And I can't stand the thought of genuinely hurting him.. or... or... my cheeks grow hot and I duck my head, but I no longer have long hair to hide the pink tinge.

Get it together, Aria. He's the prince and you're not even sure about his relational status, he could be betrothed to that perfect princess for all I know! It's not like you're engaged or have even talked about children...

"What's going on in that mind of yours, hmm?" Silver asks, staring at the flush making its way to the tips of my ears and forehead in fascination.

"N-nothing," I say.

He tweaks my nose, his eyes dotted with humor and swirling with a hint of blue. "Ahh, Mau Cor, I won't push you. Yet," he says with a wink, and my dratted blush somehow grows.

He smiles, gentle and slow, and it lights up the hard planes of his face and makes him all the more handsome. His eyes grow slightly darker as he gently tips my head up so he can see my eyes. "Are you alright? Genuinely?" His eyes dart between mine, searching me.

I give him a slight smile, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. He jerks back, then places a hand to the spot with a tiny smile. The tips of his ears grow red, and I can't help but grin as I bite my lip. "I'm not fine--" He releases something like a gurgle of agreement mixed with a sarcastic hiss. I smile. "--but I will be. I can feel it, in here," I place my hand on my heart.

He leans down, kissing my forehead. "Yes, you will," he whispers, as if by words alone willing it to be.

"Arin, thank you. For everything. Are you ok?" I ask, peeking up at him.

He leans his forehead against mine, taking a deep breath. "I'm fine."

I push back, glaring, but his grin and twinkling eyes tips me off. "You calywompus," I hiss, pushing against his chest and accidentally banging my hand against a sheathed blade. "Don't use my words against me!"

He laughs, bringing me back to his chest. "I'm scared, Mau Tigress."

I squeeze my arms where they're around his waist. He leans his chin against my hair, having to bow his back to reach down so low with his head. "Scared to make the wrong decisions. Scared to act. Scared to not act." He releases a pent up breath of air, squeezing me tighter. "You make it seem easy. To act out of love and loyalty and righteousness, but my world is different. I must navigate the needs of an entire country against my own, and I'm unsure what the right choice is."

I swallow, hard. I've never looked at it from his point of view. How he must juggle politics and war and peace and everything in between. Here I am worried about merely taking the fight back to them and protecting the city when he's having to juggle his duties as crown prince and whatever else he does. And I once thought him stuck-up. He's just... human.

"I'm sorry, Arin."

He squeezes me. "What for, love? You've only endeavored to help."

"I'm sorry for not seeing your problems sooner. You have so much on you, yet you help me with a war."

He snorts. "It's not like saving my country is an easy task to do alone."

That's true.

"About that kiss--"

I jerk back as if stung and power walk around the corner, trying to get my mind from that moment in time. Heck, for such a bad moment, it was so good. I can still feel the tingles that spread across my lips and down my spine.

His laughter follows me... and I stop, remembering what I was originally going to ask before he distracted me.

I stop, bow my shoulders, and turn around, marching back around the corner. He crosses his arms, his eyes twinkling with mirth although his face remains bland. I stay arms length away and am ready to bolt... just in case. "Can you get Hans here? Momma and the twins, as well. It’s time to take the fight to La'Maciago.”

Silver grins, eyes lighting with a fierce and dangerous fire. He bows. “As you command, my lady,” he says, dancing away before I can smack him. His eyes laugh at me when he backs out the door and leaps off the balcony. I suck in a breath, but heck, this is Silver we’re talking about. He’ll be fine. But I also can’t help but worry.

So I duck through the door, shivering at the feel of water passing over my skin from the very odd, almost river-like door that leaves you dry on the other side.

I glance down over the balcony to see... nothing. I rub my aching forehead with my palms, trying to figure out whether to be annoyed or smile.

The smile wins out as I shiver back through the door.

Ran pads in, purring as she rubs her cheek against mine. I knew you had it in you, sis. But couldn’t you have brought out the alpha sooner?

Alpha? I ask absently, my hand still on the library wall. So much information. So much knowledge. Right at my fingertips. Literally.

WHY couldn’t it have revealed itself sooner?

It makes me so happy and so discombobulated that it was here all along… and I didn’t know it.

You are the Alpha. Leader. Queen. Always have been. You were merely too insecure to realize it.

I roll my eyes, fighting a smile. Gee, thanks.

She licks my cheek, leaving gooey slobber behind. My pleasure.

The library is vast. It knows the ins and outs of the labyrinth beneath its spire. It knows most of the tunnels buried by dwarves beneath the surface.

It’s time to use every resource at my disposal to bring La’Maciago to heel. This is my people, my world, and my city.

And we’re not letting them take it.

Papa left me with a crystal. And according to the library, it is a memory crystal. It is left behind for loved ones to connect with a soul at rest one last time to impart an important memory.

The starlit garden room is peaceful, Natasha sleeping on my chest while Rose and my Gift reconnect inside my soul. It seems everything knew my Gift was good.

Except me.

Ran wanted to stay… but something is there. Someone she wanted to get back to. Someone almost like Silver and I.

Not a word, she hisses.

I chuckle. I didn’t say anything.

You were thinking it, she grumbles.

I sit against the pagoda railing, leaning my head back and biting my lip. It’s not yet time to give into the emotion, so I put it in a box. A smile tips my lips. Old habits die harder than Bamshee. But I don’t intend to leave it there and fester as I did for years. No, I need to be clear-headed and strong.

I tap the memory, and it bursts, spreading and encompassing my mind.

Cold. It was all I could remember. All I could feel. And yet, there were touches of something else. Something I strove to return to. Something I loved more dearly than any warmth I could ever desire.

A tap on my helm, the ring of metal against metal sending pain through my ears. “You cannot see, yet you can hear. You have guided me, warrior. Unbeknownst to you, your memories have served me well.”

Another tap. "There is something missing. Fifth is so far away, so unknowable, untouchable, and yet you’d touched the strands of Essence through another. Through your daughter.” Footsteps, muffled voice. “Your daughter. So bright and pure. You are yet connected to her. Her power is strong. Stronger than anything I’ve encountered. She can create a pathway to Fifth if she so desired. But I sense she doesn’t. That she will wait until her time. This will not do.”

Rustling of papers. “Do you know how old I am, warrior? I have seen the dawn of new species by the Allfather’s hand. I have seen—first-hand—the extinction of species you can’t even imagine. All for what?” The voice grew weary. “For the glory of some Old God. It’s enough to drive one to insanity and back. Should not the people choose? This is what I desire. With my final act, I will bring all to Fifth, all to paradise, all to what is hoped for yet not seen. Forgive me, but there will be sacrifices along the way. Most of your world’s population will be the first as I take what’s needed to create a permanent pathway between us and Fifth. Then we will rule and all will be equal, no longer needing the permission of some God to walk the pathways of peace.”

The image morphed, turning into an image of something. Something set upright with large wings and a circle in the center surrounded by metal. It almost looked like a silver spider with hieroglyphs and a large black, swirling circle instead of a mouth. A portal. It had been years, many many years since I’d been home. If only it could be any other way.

“She’s right where we want her. Growing into her power with each trial. Learning. Growing. Becoming oh-so-strong.” Disgust at the pride in the man’s voice sent a vague warmth through the coldness of my soul. “You should be proud. You raised a fighter.” A chuckle. “We will take it all from her. I look forward to seeing how she believes in her King then.”

On the other side of the portal. The same man. Same voice. “We will meet you at the place where it all began. And there, you will see it end.”

I suck in a breath, my lungs feeling starved for air. I lean forward, putting my face between my knees and shaking, shivering from a cold chilling me to the bone.

What I saw barely makes sense, but I know they want me. They want my world. Not because of what the witch said, but because he wants to siphon Source from this world and her people to create a pathway to Fifth. All because he’s jealous of The King’s power.

Why can’t people just be happy with what they have and just seek to make the world a better place instead of trying to destroy everything to make their life better?

Momma, Jenny, Hans, Silver, Sir Rowen, the sprite queen and king, and my siblings stare at me.

There’s a map behind me, one the library gave when I asked. It’s a map of the city, the Undercity. The name on the map is Grar-Gum. Apparently, Risia is built on an old dwarven refuge.

“When Darshius was here, I originally heard him first within this library. There’s an entrance from the library to the Underground here—” I point at a Y shaped divot from a main branch of tunnels “—and it seems the library is a haven for magic or somehow it’s a magical signal which helps Darshius reach other worlds. I didn’t really understand it, but the library was listening when he would come here and speak of La’Maciago. They are after the entire royal family, seeking to control the world from the top down, and use Ran to create a portal to Fifth. Their back-up plan was to infiltrate the royal family through one of their own if the assassination attempt failed.” I turn my eyes on them. “We made sure it failed, and now they are reeling. They have made mistakes. We know there’s an army beneath our feet of creatures seeking to overrun the city. We know Darshius’ daughter is at the head of this army.”

“The question is what to do with this information? How do we make them regret it?”

Silver leans forward, steepling his hands, his eyes grinning even if his mouth isn’t. “We take the fight to them.”

“Right. Hans, can you get the Honour Knights on board?”

His smile is proud. “You shall be a wonderful leader, minx. I can do you one better. What about the mage army?”

I gape at him. “You can do that?”

“Of course I can’t. But I know someone who can.” He looks pointedly at Silver.

Silver grimaces, but nods.

“And we need to get the Red Mistress in on the goods. She’s looking to bring blood, and we want to make sure she gets the right blood. Silver, would the assassins follow the Black if the Red Mistress asks?”

His eyes glow with a cunning gleam as his thumb taps against the table. “You know of their dalliance?”

I snort. “Who doesn’t? They haven’t exactly hidden their lingering looks, and those of the Underground in the know, know.”

“When where you in the same room as the Assassin’s Guild leader and the Thieve’s Guild leader?” Hans asks sharply.

I wave his question away, even as Momma gasps and Jack jerks forward, looking at me intently. “It was a while back. No concern now except if they still have enough dalliance for Red to be a pull on his leash?”

Silver lets a smirk through, leaning back with a terrifying gleam in his eye. He would be a terrible enemy. “He’ll follow her to war. Has a few knives to soak of his own.”

“With the fairies, we stand a chance.”

“Hang on a golly good moment. It sounds as if you are planning a war,” Momma says, her eyes wide.

I plop down at the table, rubbing my hand down the grey stone that matches the walls and feeling a hum in response that makes me smile. “War is here, Momma. But now we can take the war to them.”

She leans back, hissing out a breath. “Then count me in,” she says, eyes flashing with emotion. I give her a tiny smile.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else at my back, Momma,” I whisper, blinking quickly.

“How can we help?” Jack asks, voice breathless.

I grin at my little brother, feeling my soul singing. “I have a special task for you and Jill. I need someone who can blend in to watch the streets, get the feel of the people. If La’Maciago were smart, they would try to infiltrate the common people and get them to revolt. The foundation is there. The people are scared. Food is scarce, they sense an undercurrent of something with the extra soldiers patrolling the streets, and they’re fearful of what’s to come and would like some control of it. We need to know if La’Maciago plans anything, and if so, what.”

“Aria—” I glance at Momma. Her face is white with fear. “They are young.”

Jack clenches his teeth, eyes flashing with emotion. He opens his mouth, but judging by his jolt, Jill kicked him under the table before he said something he regretted. He closed his eyes, took three deep breaths, and opened his eyes. He looked at Momma, something in him softening at the pale look of terror in Momma’s eyes.

“I’m not a kid anymore, Momma. I can do this.”

“You’ll always be my baby, sweetheart. And a mother’s heart can only handle so much.”

He reaches across the table, grabbing her shaking fingers with his own. “I know. It’s likely why Aria gave us an inane task of spying to keep us from the war.” He sends me a sly glance, his smirk making his eyes sparkle in mischief as pride grows inside me. He’s too smart for his own good.

I can’t hide my guilty smile.

Momma shakes her head with a smile, squeezing his fingers. “Alright. Just promise you’ll be careful?”

“Always.”