What She Heard
Elira had come back through the trees quietly, out of habit more than caution. Her mother was resting. The wards around the house were strong. She'd only wanted a few moments alone—just enough to clear her thoughts.
But as she approached the edge of the Blackguard encampment, voices drifted toward her. Heated. Familiar.
She stopped, hidden behind a thicket of nightbloom bramble.
Rian's voice, sharp with accusation:
"And now what? You're going to fall for her? Is that the plan?"
Silence. Then Kael, lower, almost weary:
"I don't know."
Elira's breath caught.
She stayed still. Listening. Heart pounding.
"She doesn't know," Rian continued. "That you've been watching her since she was a child. Tracking her magic. Hiding her from your own people."
"I didn't hide her for them," Kael said. "I did it because she deserved to grow up free."
"Free?" Rian snapped. "She's about to be tried as a threat to the realm!"
"Because I failed," Kael admitted. "Because the orders finally outpaced what I could cover. You think I'm proud of this? You think I want her in danger?"
A long pause. Then he added, quieter:
"I've never wanted anything to be safe as much as I wanted her to be safe."
Elira's knees weakened. She pressed a hand to the rough bark beside her.
Kael had known.
All these years, the whispers she'd sensed, the strange protections, the moments when someone had intervened just before her magic was discovered—it had been him.
And Rian… Rian had known more than he told her, too. He hadn't warned her. He had watched her walk into the ruins not knowing the full story.
She stepped out of the thicket.
The firelight caught her cloak like a sudden gust of flame.
Both men turned—Kael's face freezing in unreadable shock, Rian's lips parting with a curse.
"Don't stop on my account," she said, voice too calm to be safe. "I'd hate to interrupt your heartfelt debate over how best to protect me without asking me anything at all."
Kael took a step forward. "Elira—"
"No," she said. "You don't get to say my name like that. Not after what I just heard."
Rian reached for her. "I didn't mean—"
"Didn't mean to lie? Or didn't mean for me to find out?"
Silence.
She drew a shaky breath. Her magic was sparking again, not angry this time—but unstable, raw. Like something that had been held back too long.
"I thought I hated you, Kael," she said. "Turns out I didn't know you well enough to even do that properly."
And then she turned, and walked into the woods, power trailing behind her like wildfire on the wind.