They sat in silence for a while, just breathing the same air, letting the quiet speak for them.

  “You know the scars will stay now even if you get healed,” Kael said eventually. “You could be on your feet quicker.”

  Lucien shook his head slowly. “I want the pain. I need to remember what it felt like to hurt.” His voice was quiet, but firm. “Don’t worry—before the Fadefall Festival, I’ll have the brothers at the pit close me up. I’ll be ready. My wants come second to everyone’s survival.”

  Kael smiled. Lucien had changed. Grown. Still didn’t understand every emotion driving him or others—but in time, Kael thought, he would. The man was already a force. Given time… he’d become elemental.

  That thought had barely settled when the door burst open.

  Kavari stormed in, her aura flaring like she’d walked straight off a battlefield. Her chest heaved as she hissed, “Kael… we need to move. Now.”

  Kael looked once at Lucien, who sat up straighter despite his injuries. “Don’t worry. I won’t let the Sisters lay a finger on me,” he said, eyes glittering with familiar steel. “Not unless they want another scar to explain.”

  Kael nodded. “Rest. I’ll station some of our own outside your door. You’ll have eyes on you until you're ready to move.”

  Lucien gave a tired but genuine smile. “Only the usual crew, if they want to visit.”

  Then Kavari grabbed Kael’s arm in a grip like iron, wide-eyed and barely restraining a curse as she yanked him toward the door.

  “Thanks for stopping by, Kael,” Lucien called after them, voice warm. “I mean it.”

  Kael glanced back, caught the smile, and nodded once before the door shut behind them.

  Kavari and Kael moved fast through the temple’s winding halls, boots thudding against polished stone.

  “She’s worse than I thought,” Kavari hissed under her breath. “That witch—Kael, you were right. She wants you now. Bad. She connected the dots with the train, she just won’t report it.” Her voice dropped lower, almost a growl. “Not when she sees you as her prophecy ticket.”

  Kael glanced at her. “You sure?”

  “She made comments, Kael. Knows you survived something catastrophic. She’s not turning you in—she’s claiming you.” Her eyes flashed as she stared at him, driving the point home. “We need to get the fuck out before she makes this place a cage.”

  As they turned a corner into the temple’s main hall, they both stopped cold.

  Temple guards were already lowering the iron gate across the main entrance. A warning chime rang out overhead—clear, controlled. Not an alarm, but close.

  “Fuck,” Kavari breathed. “She knows you’re mobile.”

  Kael scanned the corridor—quiet but tightening. Then he spotted her.

  “Alina,” he muttered, grabbing Kavari’s arm and steering her hard left.

  The young Sister walked briskly down the opposite hall, holding a bundle of scrolls. She spotted them and slowed.

  “Hey, Kavari—Kael?” Her eyes widened. “You’re walking?”

  No bandages. No limp. No weakness. Just clarity.

  Kael didn’t slow. He gripped her forearm. “Alina. We need an exit. Side door, back tunnel, service corridor—whatever you’ve got.”

  She blinked, caught off guard. “I… I don’t know. They’re locking down the temple—like it’s Fadefall early. Everyone’s running around prepping for isolation protocols.”

  Kael’s jaw tightened. Kavari stepped in, her voice urgent but calm.

  “Alina, listen. You know me. You know what I do.” She leaned closer. “There was a terrorist attack. If some rogue faction is moving on the city, I need to report to the Adventurers' Guild—now. Kael was caught in the blast. He saw who did it. He has details. This could break the case.”

  Alina hesitated. Torn. Then nodded, slowly. “There’s a side hall near the kitchens. Leads to the supply entrance. It’s narrow, but unguarded.”

  “Show us,” Kael said.

  Alina turned, walking faster now. The shadows in the temple felt heavier with each step.

  Kael leaned toward Kavari. “If she tries to shut that gate behind us—”

  “She won’t. She likes you,” Kavari muttered. “Gods help her if she changes her mind.”

  They moved past the temple kitchens—mercifully empty—and into a narrow corridor lined with storage crates and unused linens. At the far end, a small iron-bound door waited, half-hidden behind hanging herbs. Alina stopped there, turning to face them.

  “I’m not stupid,” she said, voice low but steady. “I know you shouldn’t be walking. And I know the Matriarch wants you for the Lunar Pledge.”

  She paused, then glanced down, shoulders tightening with the weight of what she was about to say.

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  “I’m helping you because I want to—not because I believe every word you said. Some of it’s true. Some of it… isn’t.”

  Her eyes rose to meet Kael’s, and something in her expression shifted—resolve sharpening like a blade.

  “If I leave the temple,” she asked, “will you have me?”

  Kael blinked. “Have you?”

  “In the Ironbound,” she clarified, quietly. “Will you take me in?”

  Kael exhaled, tension cracking just enough for a hint of relief to slip through. “Thank the ancestors.” He nodded. “Yes, Alina. If you're serious, we’ll take you. With Fadefall coming, we need all the help we can get.”

  He stepped forward, lowering his voice. “When you’re ready, go to the Tangled. Ask for Merry. She’ll bring you to Wendy—she handles the healing rotation at the field hospital.”

  Alina nodded, but her voice turned thoughtful. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. But when the Matriarch cut aid to the old and the kids... just to force something she wanted—” her voice faltered. “That felt wrong. And if she’s wrong about that… what else is she wrong about?”

  Kavari gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you, Alina. For everything.”

  Alina smiled, a little crooked, a little shy. “No—thank you. I’ve been here for years, and I’ve never had something to look forward to. Not really.” Her nose wrinkled slightly. “I never liked the whole ‘seduce and divine’ thing—reading thoughts and feelings to push people into the Matriarch’s plans.”

  She looked at Kael, voice softening. “When I saw you in the Tangled… you didn’t have any of that. You weren’t scheming or hiding something.”

  Her eyes shimmered just a bit. “You were just… sad. Really, really sad.”

  Kael didn’t respond—he couldn’t. Not to that.

  Alina straightened, turned, and opened the narrow door. Cool wind spilled into the corridor.

  “There’s a low wall just outside. You can jump it to get past the first perimeter,” she whispered. “The second wall’s taller, but I’ve seen what you two can do.”

  She gave them a little grin. “Go. I’ll cover this side.”

  Kael gave her one last nod. Kavari clasped her hand briefly. Then they slipped out, boots landing silent on the stone as the door shut quietly behind them.

  A hop, a skip, and one large temple wall behind them—Kael and Kavari dropped into the cobbled streets of the Central District.

  The city was a different beast now.

  Pikeys in grim patrol formations and gleaming Imperials worked door to door, questioning shopkeepers and bystanders alike. Noble investigators stood out like peacocks in funeral processions—silks and lacquered armor out of place against the soot-stained buildings. Every corner hummed with unease.

  Kael and Kavari stuck to shadowed alleys, slipping through tight corridors and scaling rooftop ledges, avoiding the checkpoints and prying eyes. Only when the Iron District bridge came into view did they slow their pace.

  “I had the wrong read on Alina,” Kael muttered, his breath fogging faintly in the morning chill.

  Kavari looked sideways at him. “She was always a bit different from other sisters at the guild. She rose fast—bronze rank in months. Everyone wanted her on their team. But she kept dodging contracts. I thought it was just immaturity… nerves, maybe.”

  They dropped down into a quiet passage flanking the outer plaza, avoiding the main gate. The guards at the bridge glanced up as they approached. Recognition sparked—one gave a subtle nod. No questions. No delay.

  Kael noticed the gold gleaming on one’s wrist—where there used to be plain iron. Another wore polished boots that hadn’t seen ash or mud.

  Kael smirked to himself. Corruption. Filthy, dependable corruption. Sometimes, it worked in your favor.

  She continued, voice low. “She didn’t want the Lunar Pledge. Not really. The other sisters were ruthless—taking high-risk missions just to be around power. She was… different. Hesitant. Like she was trying to disappear inside the role instead of owning it.”

  Kavari’s brow furrowed in thought. “Maybe she didn’t want to be seen as a weapon—or a womb.”

  Kael’s jaw tightened. He understood that more than he wanted to admit.

  The bridge stretched out ahead of them—iron-banded, mist clinging to its railings like a warning. The Iron District waited on the far side. Smoke, steel, and home. They dodged a wooden wagon drawn by horses retrofitted with long handles for people to drag by hand, draped in blue blankets, traders or migrants covered in rode dust riding on them, trying to get the cart to market.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s see what’s broken while we were gone.”

  The air was getting colder.

  Wind from the Sea of Sorrows cut through the city, carrying with it the briny scent of kelp, salt, and old storms. Kael paused, his eyes tracing the horizon where jagged shards of glass-stone jutted from the water like the broken teeth of a drowned god. Only those who knew the currents—or had grown up hauling nets from these cursed shores—could hope to navigate them.

  It made the city naturally defensible. Brutally so.

  His thoughts drifted. To the humans and elves who once hid in plains and forests. To the dwarves who burrowed deep beneath the mountains, building their strongholds far from the open sky. Back then, before mana, the world had belonged to the beast kin prides. They raided with impunity, unchecked and relentless.

  What must it have been like, Kael wondered, to survive Fadefall in those days?

  Back when monsters surged toward ley lines like starving beasts scenting blood. When mana pulsed wild and raw through the earth, a force without discipline or harness. Then came the first matrices, the first spells. Civilization clawed its way into existence. Crowns rose. Cities were carved into the land like scars.

  The Prides were pushed south.

  And war—endless, grinding war—became the rhythm of survival. All of it born from fear. From the simple, primal need to feel safe. To have a home that didn’t get razed every year by things that should not exist.

  Beside him, Kavari studied his profile with those deep rainfall eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

  Kael was quiet for a moment, the sea wind tugging at his coat. Then “How in millennia, not much has changed.”

  Kavari snorted, a dry, amused sound as her boots echoed across the bridge’s iron grating. “A lot’s changed.”

  He gave a slight shrug.

  She bumped his shoulder. “I need to stop by the Adventurers’ Guild, grab my gear, get it to the boathouse, check the usual spots for messages. Hopefully the Ash Claws are ready.” She tilted her head, tasting the wind with her tongue like a hunter. “How long until Fadefall?”

  “Not long,” Kael replied, eyes scanning the streets ahead.

  The bridge led them into the heart of the Iron District, and already the press of bodies thickened. Wagons creaked and groaned under the weight of refugees. Migrants flooded across the district boundaries—families clutching bundles, hollow-eyed children wrapped in threadbare cloaks, fathers walking with nothing but tired stares and blistered feet. Everyone was trying to get as far as their last coin could take them.

  Whoever was orchestrating the sabotage of Brassreach’s lifelines was doing an excellent job. The trade routes were strangled. Caravans ambushed. Villages left to fend for themselves with failing barriers and empty granaries. And now, they were all coming here.

  To the last shelter they could find.

  Kael’s jaw tensed. He’d seen this before. During the southern campaigns. During other wars, other places.

  When people stopped fleeing, it was because there was nowhere left to run.

  Then Kael’s voice broke the weight of it.

  “Wait. Did you say get your gear? For the boathouse?”

  She looped an arm through his and leaned in with a grin. “Yes, darling. I’m moving in. Shadow and all that.”

  Kael blinked, then looked up at her.

  Kavari just laughed harder, the sound carrying over the wind like a dare.