Honeyed light filtered through decaying branches, casting dappled shadows across the crumbling courtyard of what had once been the glorious kingdom of Honeydew. Silver-gray dust spiraled in the air, remnants of a civilization turned to ash by its own princess’ hand along her crooked path.

  Sela’s fingers lid over the gnarled wood. Damn you, Sora, for dredging up all these old memories. For bringing that human into my vincity to open these wounds…

  I forgot where I came from… Somewhere, when I was young, I was a good man’s child. I went the way of wayward winds, listening to the whispers within the shadows behind a million rank and file. I was good once… Pure. Innocent…

  Mother, Father, would you still sing to me…or turn your face away from me? Because…I still hear you at night, asking me to come home… To come home so you can hold me…

  She stood before the hidden entrance to the defensive catacombs, her silver eyes fixated on the intricate patterns etched into stone. The runes hummed with dormant power. These enchantments were woven by her parents centuries ago to defend against what inevitably overtook their land… Never activated due to a certain princess’ sabotage.

  A bitter smile twisted her lips as her fingers hovered over the markings, not quite touching. “Mother’s handiwork,” she whispered, the words falling like shards of glass from her lips. “Always thinking ahead, weren’t you? Crafting defenses against an enemy you never imagined would be your own daughter…but that is just like The Darkness, to attack that which we are blinded toward.”

  Her honey-blonde hair caught the morning light, shimmering with an ethereal glow that seemed at odds with the desolation surrounding her. Her own kingdom, or a piece of it, at least. She looked utterly out of place among the ruins—a splash of color in a world drained of life.

  I’m so over my head, Mother… I’ve been a fool. I thought I could walk the line and turn back just in time…but I fell through that old, forbidden door. And though I knew the stakes, I still made my way into those dark halls… The colors faded, and I drifted away.

  She suppressed a tear from the cuts reopening in her chest. Am I even allowed to ask, have mercy on me? But even if I’m not allowed, I’ll make this call, if just in my mind and soul… I’m lost, Mother… Father, the ground feels so unstable and I can’t make this stop. I’m over my head and lost. And no, there is no way I’m able to pay back this cost. Still… Mercy. I ask for the grace of mercy…

  She clutched her breast, the flaming seed that Sora had planted within her pulsing gently, a warm ember nestled against the cold void of her guilt. It had been steadily purifying The Darkness’ corruption, but the weight of her crimes remained, growing heavier with each cleansed memory.

  Sela’s hand trembled as she finally pressed her palm against the stone. Ancient magic recognized her bloodline, and the runes flared to life with golden light—some of the last vestiges of her original kingdom due to being inactive when she’d spread The Darkness through her kingdom.

  A current of energy coursed through her, carrying with it whispers of her mother’s voice, echoes of her father’s touch.

  “My little honeybee, we love you so much…”

  The phantom voice made her flinch, her wings shifting restlessly beneath their bindings. She yanked her hand away as if burned, breathing hard through clenched teeth, suppressing the heat that rose up her throat and nose.

  “Stop it,” she hissed to herself. “They’re gone. You made sure of that… So how are they supposed to grant you mercy?”

  But the magic had already recognized her intent. The stone facade rippled like disturbed water, revealing a passage that descended into darkness. Sela hesitated, gazing into the void that seemed to mirror the emptiness within her.

  She thought of Sora, of the tournament that had drawn everyone’s attention today. The perfect distraction. A chance to move without watchful eyes tracking her every step, questioning her motives. Even Diane would be occupied with Jin’s spectacle, she learned through her scrying. The dragon had personally made it clear to the witch she’d be selected.

  Sela sniffed back the emotion’s threatening to break the dam. It wasn’t like she was afraid. It wasn’t fear that hurt her but what she was and what she wasn’t.

  Glancing around, she observed this segment of her former kingdom—what little had been able to be salvaged before it was totally consumed, no doubt. A place slowly being pulled into The Darkness.

  Mother, I’m so tired of being broken. I want to be whole. I want to be good. I want to be better… Mercy and grace are so…painful. I want to do better…

  She took that moment to study the land. This hasn’t been here for long, she mused, studying the ancient stonework. The Grand Chancellor claims it’s been here for a century, yet everyone believes it’s always been here. Someone with power beyond the Royals planned this. High Queen Titania? High King Oberon? Or someone else entirely?

  The thought of being manipulated—again—made her jaw clench. She’d been a pawn once before, when The Darkness had twisted her mind and heart. Never again.

  With a deep breath, Sela descended into the catacombs, the darkness wrapping around her like an old friend. The passage was narrow, the air thick with the scent of earth and old magic. Her boot’s footsteps echoed softly, each sound sending ripples through the silence.

  The deeper she went, the stronger the pull of familiar magic became. Not the tainted energy of The Darkness, but something purer—the essence of Honeydew as it had been under her parents’ reign. It tugged at memories she’d locked away, of laughter echoing through sun-dappled gardens, of her mother’s gentle hands braiding flowers into her hair.

  The physical pain of those memories made her stumble, one hand bracing against the wall for support. Her fingertips met cold stone, and instantly, images flooded her mind.

  Her father, tall and regal, teaching her the defensive spells of their kingdom.

  Her mother, eyes shining with pride as young Sela mastered a particularly difficult enchantment.

  Both of them, faces twisted in horror as their beloved daughter, corrupted by shadows, turned their own magic against them. Not horror of what she’d become… Not at her. No, and that was even more painful. It was the horror of what had taken her, as if it wasn’t her…because they still saw what had already fallen to the shadows.

  Sela jerked her hand back, a strangled sound escaping her throat. The purification seed in her chest flared painfully, burning away more of the numbing shadows that had protected her from these very memories.

  “Damn you, Sora, I’d take it all back, if I could choose,” she whispered, though there was no real venom in her voice—only exhaustion. “Couldn’t you have left me in blissful corruption…even if I know this is right? This pull that draws me to where…it’s sunny.”

  The further she went, the more she felt it, like a fire that both purified and seared the truth within her soul. Ever since being shown this small part of her home had been saved, she’d known… She knew without a doubt how it had stood the test of time. And she’d shied away from that…until now.

  The tunnel eventually opened into a vast chamber that took her breath away. The ceiling soared impossibly high, etched with constellations that glowed with soft azure light. Pillars of honey-colored crystal supported the structure, each one humming with protective enchantments. At the center of the chamber stood a pedestal, upon which rested a single, pulsing orb of golden light.

  The Heart of Honeydew.

  Sela approached cautiously, each step stirring up dust that sparkled like diamond powder in the ethereal light. The orb reacted to her presence, its pulsing quickening as she drew near, tingles running through her bones to her fingertips.

  “I never thought I’d free you after isolating you myself,” she murmured, circling the pedestal. “Father always said it was at the core of our land… Meant to shield our people from annihilation. Where was your promise of protection…against me?”

  A bitter laugh escaped her. “Too late for that kind of thought, isn’t it? There’s nothing left to protect… Still, here you shine.”

  Yet she knew what she had to do. Whatever game was being played—whoever had transported this fragment of her kingdom to Avalon Academy—she needed to understand it. And to do that, she needed to follow the threads to their source. To do that, she needed to be sure this land wouldn’t be the source of another tragic incident… And her parents had provided that.

  The defensive magic would help her track the path of manipulation, find who had orchestrated her return to this place of painful memories.

  Sighing, she showed a small smile through a few tears that left her eyes. “Father, Mother… No more tears. No more pain. I’m making all things new again… I promise you.”

  With deliberate movements, she placed both hands on the orb. The connection was immediate and overwhelming—the orb recognized her royal blood, drawing power from her very essence. Magic surged through her body, raw and demanding, forcing her to her knees.

  Images flashed before her eyes—fractured visions of Avalon Academy’s formation, of shadowy figures discussing her kingdom in hushed tones, of hands that moved pieces across an unseen board.

  One vision solidified: Elder Rosewood, speaking in urgent whispers with a figure whose face remained obscured.

  “I don’t understand why you chose that place for her to teach from. The catacombs must remain sealed,” Rosewood insisted, her expression taut with concern. “This is her former kingdom, after all. She understands it better than anyone. We haven’t been able to breach the inner sanctum but it will welcome her. If she discovers what lies beneath it…”

  The vision shattered as a surge of power exploded from the orb, spreading outward in a wave that made the very air tremble. The renewal of Honeydew had been activated, creating an active barrier that would shield this hidden chamber from prying eyes and unwanted intrusions while spreading the amplifying magic of her parents’ love throughout the dead land.

  Sela rose shakily to her feet, her silver eyes now gleaming with determination. The activation had given her what she needed—a direction, a purpose beyond wallowing in her guilt. Someone was hiding something beneath the ruins of her kingdom, something Elder Rosewood feared she might discover.

  “It appears your fears were true, Elder,” she muttered, turning toward a newly revealed passage that descended even deeper into the earth.

  She moved with purpose now, her steps quickening as she followed the narrow corridor. The air grew colder, heavier with ancient magic that felt familiar yet strange. The walls were no longer the honey-colored stone of her kingdom but something…older.

  Sela’s brow knitted together as she saw the pulsing light of budding life, purifying and bright, mixed with the weave Sora had knitted within her own soul. Through her parents’ magic, Sora’s unique direction, and the amplified resonance within her own growing willpower, it spread.

  Yet, the illuminating walls didn’t reveal the ancestry she’d been taught as a little girl. These murals and etching predated anything she knew, potentially, even her royal line itself.

  Honeydew was built on top of another kingdom? Sela’s chest hurt as she went deeper, running a hand along the lines and recognizing something familiar. Something she wouldn’t have understood merely months earlier. No, these murals don’t make sense. This history didn’t happen… The Honeydew line can’t…be this old. Mother and Father didn’t teach me this…

  The passage eventually led to a circular room with seven doorways, each marked with a different rune. At the center stood a teleportation gate unlike any Sela had seen before—not the standard portals used throughout Avalon, but something far more refined, more primal in its construction.

  “Founder magic,” she breathed, recognizing the distinctive energy signature. “Fae Founder magic…underneath my kingdom? Linked to my line?”

  It stirred at her presence, a vague recognition in her blood.

  She approached the gate cautiously, studying the symbols carved into its base. They weren’t the elegant script of High Fae magic but rather jagged marks that seemed burned into the stone itself, as if done hastily but with profound complexity… Her mother’s magic.

  A sound from her blind spot made her whirl around, magic flaring instinctively to her fingertips—

  “I was wondering when you’d find your way here,” said a small Korean girl, leaning casually against one of the doorways. The dragon’s golden eyes gleamed in the dim light, calculating and amused. “You look better. You don’t have that half-dead cast to your eyes.”

  Sela’s magic died in her palm, replaced by cold wariness. “The Founder Dragon… I suppose you would be one of the few who could penetrate this kind of magic without suspicion but I must wonder why you’re here. Shouldn’t you be overseeing your tournament? Playing with your little warriors?”

  Jin smirked, pushing away from the wall with fluid grace while cracking her neck. She made a show about moving between the murals, studying them with partial interest as they grew brighter with the growing magic she’d activated.

  “I’ll be back for the opening speech. The preliminaries are boring anyway. The real show starts tomorrow, when Eyia joins the fray. Or, at least, that’s my plan. We’ll see if she goes along with it.”

  Like a shark, she slowly circled the room, trailing her fingers along the ancient symbols. “Besides, this is far more interesting. You came to this world, to the world… No place for a child. You used the darkness to hide with the ghouls of night in the dying light…”

  “Poetic, but I’m not here for your amusement. Founder or not,” Sela snapped, her wings shifting restlessly beneath their bindings. Everything must look like a game to beings like Mia and you, capable of peering past dimensions and holding vast troves of knowledge that spans omniverses.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Mmm. Here’s the thing,” Jin stated with a yawn, “most of Existence is boring. Sad but true when it doesn’t affect me personally. Multiverses come and go. Souls evolve, are reborn and go along their cycles, progressing through heavens and hells on this endless helix of continuity, yet we Founders remain unchanged. At least…most of us are like that,” she muttered, glancing at her fingernails before her gaze flicked up to her.

  “You must be freaking out. So many questions floating through that brain. You, finally venturing out of your self-imposed prison… You’re your mother’s child. You’re your father’s daughter. It took you a while, but your time has come to be born again.”

  She tapped a clipped fingernail against the portal upon reaching it, a thoughtful note in her voice. “This portal is the reason this piece of land was brought here.” Jin’s smile widened. “It’s a portal to your inheritance. What does that mean? The answers are through here, but first, you must go through one of these doors.”

  Sela felt the weight pressing against her chest. “I’m a very cautious woman and I am not going to assume anything without exploring it myself… Yes, this opens up many questions, but many more possibilities to have half-truths twisted into my ears to achieve someone else’s goals… What do you know about this place?”

  Jin flashed her teeth and gestured expansively at the chamber. “This? Isn’t it obvious? It’s a nexus point. One of many scattered throughout Avalon, hidden from those who lack the vision to see beyond the vast hypnotic false history woven throughout not just Avalon, but Earth, as well. Everything is not what it seems.”

  Her golden eyes fixed on Sela with unexpected intensity. “Hasn’t the Foundation already shown that it has such powers? The question is, what will you do with this knowledge, fallen Queen? Continue to wallow in your misery, or step back into the game to discover what hides in the dark?”

  Sela bristled at the mockery in Jin’s voice. “Once again, you act as if this is a game…but this is my life. Our universe is but a single atom in the grand scheme of multiversal plots you Founders engaged in. Mia is no different. I am not playing any games.”

  “Oh, don’t make it so personal,” Jin drolled, rolling her eyes. “Everyone plays a game, whether they know it or not. I’m dancing to my mother’s tune—curse her miserable soul—and you have your own strings.” Jin approached the teleportation gate, studying it with casual interest. “Some of us simply choose our moves more carefully than others and know how to lash out at those threads.”

  She turned back to Sela, her expression unreadable. “The question is, are you smart enough to find the string attached to you, or are you content living in bliss and mediocrity, like so many souls… Sora is not like that, and she has a certain way of…nudging people into confronting what they most hate to confront. You could say it’s her greatest gift…and her greatest misfortune.”

  Sela recalled what Sora had said about this dragon when she’d asked her to bring her into the conflict with Eric. The fox had warned her that she was more terrified of this Korean girl than the man-eating wolf that was Eric, and now she knew why.

  Power like Jin’s was more than frightening, but it wasn’t just her strength that defined her, but intelligence gifted her by her mother—the First Dragon, a being older than time itself.

  As if to prove that, Jin just went right on with her casual conversation in a hidden chamber below her former kingdom she had no business being in.

  “Diane is searching for something hidden beneath your kingdom. Elder Rosewood is trying to keep it hidden. And caught between them are pawns who don’t even realize they’re on the board or what pieces have already been put into play… What secrets have already been released,” she whispered, eying her from the side.

  “Sora is the catalyst,” Sela said, understanding dawning. “She’s being manipulated. Her inquiries into Ember. That simple action is sparking a collision course with a lot of background figures, I’m starting to see.”

  Jin’s laughter was sharp and cold. “Oh, that’s easy! And like I said, aren’t we all manipulated? Even Mia, for all her cosmic power, dances to tunes she doesn’t fully comprehend. Even her own machinations, moving against herself!”

  She gestured to the gate. “This leads to a place I would say you shouldn’t go alone to. I’d go to the central governing building and confront Elder Rosewood before trying to venture inside. After all, ignoring the game doesn’t mean you're not playing, as you learned from your time as an Unseelie—it just means you’re letting others determine your moves.”

  Sela’s eyes narrowed. “This seems entirely out of character for someone like you. Why are you telling me this? What do you gain? You waited for me to come this far before engaging me, which isn’t random. Why now?”

  The dragon’s smile was enigmatic. “Entertainment, perhaps. Or maybe I simply enjoy watching the board reconfigure when a player suddenly realizes their potential. No, of course I know this will further my own mysterious goals. So, here’s a question,” she posed, stretching her hands high over her head with a mocking grin, “if I don’t give a crap about anything and am a selfish asshole, then what could I possibly want?”

  Sela didn’t have an answer.

  Jin didn’t expect her to give one.

  This was just a way to end their conversation, because, say what she wanted, Sela would have bet her life that there was something Jin cared about. Something she cared about more than her own life. What that was was the real question. Jin was just saying she’d never understand it.

  The dragon turned away, moving toward one of the seven doorways while placing her hands in her pockets. “Elder Rosewood isn’t the only one with secrets in those halls. Are you brave enough to uncover them? Better start before Sora forces you into the game… She has a way of doing that to people,” she growled.

  With that, she disappeared through the mysterious doorway, passing through it as if it were liquid, leaving Sela alone with the humming gate and a mind full of questions.

  For long moments, Sela stood frozen, weighing her options. Return to her ruins, to the safety of familiar guilt and solitude? Or step forward into the shadows, not to hide, but to shed light upon them and follow this thread, wherever it might lead?

  Mom… Her gaze drifted to the murals of three fae-like beings surrounding a honey-haired child, spreading sweet magic across her kingdom. I’m scared now… I wasn’t before, but now… If all of this is a lie… What does that make the truth…and is my heart strong enough to uncover it?

  The purification seed in her chest pulsed gently, as if offering the answer—it’s not if she was strong enough, it was a necessity.

  She thought of Sora, naive and trusting, walking unwittingly into whatever schemes Diane, Elder Rosewood, and many other traps that were weaving around her.

  “Damn her, making me owe her…everything,” she muttered, stepping away and back through the hallway. With a simple activation of the humming torrent of magic radiating from the Heart of Honeydew, she teleported to the gate, which then took her to the academy’s main administration building. “I’m probably going to regret this.”

  The world dissolved around her, reforming into the elegant hallways of Avalon’s central governing building—instructors had more access to teleport destinations than students.

  Sela stepped from the arrival platform, immediately sensing the emptiness of the place. As Jin had said, most would be at the tournament, leaving these halls virtually deserted.

  Perfect for clandestine meetings and secrets best kept in shadow.

  She moved silently through the corridors, her senses alert for any sign of life. The building itself seemed to sing with subdued power, the very walls inscribed with runes of protection and surveillance that left the impression of the High Queen’s hand, which made her skin prickle.

  As she rounded a corner, voices drifted to her ears. She pressed herself against the wall, cloaking her presence with a quick but effective concealment spell.

  “—better to wonder why I was waiting here for you than the questions already floating through your mind?” came the same voice that had put her on this path, smooth and calculating.

  Sela frowned. Jin had gone through one of the doorways in the catacombs beneath her kingdom, so how had she arrived ahead of her? No, she shouldn’t be surprised. She could step through dimensions and go wherever she wanted.

  Stepping out, Sela greeted the smug dragon, now absently reading some ancient book. “I should first meet with Grand Chancellor Elowen Moonshadow. I need to inform her about what I’ve done.”

  Jin’s laughter was soft and mocking as she snapped her book shut and eyed her past her illusions. “The Grand Chancellor isn’t here, of course. She’s not at my tournament either, which is about to start soon, so I need to hurry this up. It also begs the question: where is she? In fact, where has High Queen Titania been? She’s been absent for a while.”

  Before Sela could respond, a chill permeated the air around them. Frost crystallized along the polished floor in elegant, spiraling patterns, spreading outward from a point several feet away. Jin’s eyes narrowed, her posture shifting almost imperceptibly as the temperature continued to drop.

  “Speak of troublesome individuals, and they appear,” Jin muttered, tucking her book under her arm.

  With a shimmer of displaced air, Eyia materialized in the corridor. The Valkyrie’s tall, statuesque form towered over Jin’s diminutive stature, her blonde hair gleaming like gold. The diamond necklace at her throat pulsed with subdued power, reflecting the ambient light in hypnotic patterns.

  “Jin.” Eyia’s voice was cold and precise, like the edge of a blade against ice. Her blue eyes, now glowing with an inner light, swept from the dragon to Sela. “And the former Unseelie. What…an unexpected gathering of bundles of sticks.”

  Jin’s lips curved into a lazy smile. “You’re using phrases you don’t understand again, Eyia. I’ve grown fond of your perfect timing. I was just telling our Queen here about the mysterious absence of the school’s esteemed leader. Not that you care or know much about that.”

  Sela straightened, her royal bearing asserting itself almost instinctively in the face of the Valkyrie’s imposing presence. She had encountered Eyia only a handful of times since coming to Avalon Academy, and each brief meeting had left her with the distinct impression that the warrior was assessing her as a potential threat to be clipped.

  “Valkyrie,” Sela acknowledged, neither friendly nor hostile; this woman was far more dangerous than any typical valkyrie she’d come across. It was as if she were something else entirely and considering Jin’s respect for her, it was all the more likely. “You’re not at the tournament either, I see. Will Sora be missing you?”

  Eyia’s attention shifted fully to Sela, her gaze penetrating. “I will naturally be there to witness my sister’s glory. Do you accuse me of caring so little about her accomplishments? I am merely here to confirm that you will not shrink from our challenge, Jin.”

  Jin shrugged with exaggerated nonchalance. “It’s always so serious with you, Eyia. It’s part of the reason I can feel that blade against my neck these days… I know you’ve considered killing me. It’s in your culture. I respect it,” Jin continued as if that wasn’t a bone-chilling statement. “It’s hard because you know you can’t kill me where we are, but you also can’t let what I did to you stand. It must be rough being an Asgardian, as much as I love you for your insanity.”

  “Indeed, the loving of the friendships is of something I take seriously. It is the breaking of trust in the harm it may deal to my people that infuriates me. You are the most frustratingly compliant and lazy maybe-fake friend I have ever met. I wish to strangle you with my bare hands!”

  Wow… Okay, maybe I should leave…

  Jin threw her head back and quaked with laughter at the blizzard that put the fear of death in Sela that erupted from the warrior; a counter heat radiated from the dragon, creating a mix of colossal proportions. And for a moment—just a moment—it was as if she saw a monster, large enough to swallow the whole planet in one gulp. A dragon looking down upon a holy maiden, clad in rainbow armor.

  Then it was gone, both hyper-condensed auras dispersing.

  “Haha! You are the best, Eyia. No one else checks me like you do, and I love it… We’ve already made our agreement to settle things,” she glanced between them with barely disguised amusement, as if nothing had just happened, despite Sela feeling faint.

  “Anyway, I need to get back. I’m putting Kari against Diane first thing—should make for an entertaining opener that will get Sora’s tail twisted, don’t you think? I’m starting to actually like that fenris wolf pup. In any case, that means the witch will be busy, at least for today, Sela, so make use of that while you can. I can guarantee it.”

  Sela’s silver eyes narrowed as she regained control with a sharp breath. “So you are engineering confrontations deliberately.”

  “I rarely engineer anything deliberately,” Jin replied with a casual wave of her hand as Eyia huffed and gave her the stink eye. “It’s a part of my charm. It’s hard to plan for things when you don’t really care about most things, but…I’ve seen something that has caught my interest. Is it a trap? Yes. For me? Debatable,” she added, shaking her head as if it would be boring if it wasn’t.

  “Your lazy manipulations are neither charming nor subtle,” Eyia flatly stated, clearly expressing past interactions. “You tell me stupid things and call me brick headed and brain of stones when you are the one throwing the pillows!”

  Jin laughed, the sound sharp as breaking glass. “Yup. That’s me, Eyia. A pillow thrower. And says the woman who follows her father’s plans even beyond the grave when they put you in direct conflict with your sister.”

  Sela felt that barb between her own ribs, not needing the full context to see Eyia’s eyes go big and confused frustration burn within them.

  “I nor you understand my father’s plans. He is the wisest of all the gods—he knows what is best for me…”

  “Such as exiling you to a murder island when you were merely four years old, because why? Because his queen didn’t like his infidelity with her rival and the war lady of the gods? Yeah, way to go Dad! I mean, not even my mother would do something like—Eyia…”

  The blonde’s lower lip began to quiver, emotion welling up in her eyes that made Sela’s want to comfort the valkyrie after that brutal tongue lashing. “You…may be very knowledgeable, but you have no understanding of words and their effect. I will not back down to your insults… True or false. They are meant to cause pain…and they do.”

  “Dammit, Eyia,” Jin hissed, her lazy facade cracking as she puffed out a frustrated stream of air and rubbed her face. “You’re supposed to attack me and my mother, not just sit there and take the beating… You know the art of war too well to engage me! This is the best way to fight me… Shit. Fine. I’m sorry. You got it out of me. That was going a bit too far…”

  “Another battle for the arena,” Eyia stated, regaining a form of strength in her glare. “If you are my friend, then I will know it in the dance. I understand we come from different cultures, but that is something we can both share under the right circumstances. Despite your meanness and split tongue…you are my first friend.”

  Sela didn’t know if she should be present at this point as the tension between them crackled like static electricity, an almost tangible force pressing against the walls—something weirdly between trust, doubt, friendship, and enemies. Sela watched them carefully, sensing the weight of history and unspoken grievances behind this exchange.

  Finally, Jin pushed away from the wall and moved to leave, yet she paused just before exiting, “Oh, and Eyia? Since you’re not doing anything useful at the moment, why don’t you accompany our Queen here? Someone should be there when she discovers what they’ve been hiding beneath her kingdom. Might as well be someone who already knows some of the truth.”

  Before either could respond, Jin stuck out her tongue—forked, like a lizard—then disappeared in a flicker of displaced air, leaving behind only the lingering scent of ozone and magic Sela couldn’t decipher.

  Silence stretched between Sela and Eyia, heavy with mutual wariness and unanswered questions. Did…she just dump this emotionally unstable Valkyrie onto me?

  Finally, Sela broke it. “Despite what she says about doing things on a whim and not planning them…she manipulates everyone around her, doesn’t she?”

  Eyia’s gaze remained fixed on the spot where Jin had vanished. “As mad as she makes me, it…is not so simple. Jin sees patterns others miss due to the knowledge she inherited from the Dragon Mother. It makes her dangerous…and incredibly insightful, as cutting as her words can be,” the valkyrie whispered. “Jin is…confusing.”

  “She sure is…”

  The warrior’s blue eyes shifted to Sela, assessing now. “Jin is not wrong. Sora would not want you to be alone where you plan to walk. It also leaves her vulnerable with the seed she placed within you… You activated something in your kingdom. The magical resonance is…distinct… Fae Founder magic.”

  Sela tensed. “I…don’t know about Fae Founders, but yes, I activated the Heart of Honeydew. A defensive core my parents created… One I deactivated to spread The Darkness.”

  She studied the valkyrie’s impassive face. “Jin claims there are nexus points beneath Avalon, one of them under my former kingdom. She seems to think Elder Rosewood knows more about this than she’s sharing… I don’t know what her goal is in telling me this or her part in it. Obviously, she transcends all of these plans and they mean nothing to her…”

  “Not so,” Eyia whispered, her voice measured but a small smile lifting her lips. “As I spoke previously, Jin is a fork-tongued friend. Jin has a heart under her scales that is quite tender, I know… I should not speak so freely, as she does. But there is something she fears… Something she fears and longs for… Though we have our feud, I wish her heart to be relieved from the bitter river she has mired herself inside.”

  Sela couldn’t help but feel those words prick her own heart, seeing a small hope of a bright golden kingdom reborn once again. “So…what do you believe, Valkyrie? Will you join me?”

  Eyia’s expression shed all darkness, showing only light as she smoothed back her blonde locks and smiled down at her. “Jin will not send my sister into the arena while I am not there. As split-tongued as Jin is, she would not give me a quest if she did not believe I would find it a worthy cause… If you require support. I will be your spear, so long as it is in the light of truth and the purifying of one’s heart.”

  Sela tucked in her bottom lip to keep it from trembling, unable to believe how much emotion she’d felt in one day, and from complete strangers as she stared into her pristine, beautiful, and pure blue eyes.

  Damn you, Sora… You’ve saved me. I don’t want this darkness. Mom, Dad… Your light shines through. I can feel it in our land… In the Heart… In your hearts. I…want to be saved. To accept help… Thank you, Sora… Thank you.

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