Kaelen knelt beside Tiara’s bed, his hands hovering over her bandaged wounds. The dical ward was quiet except for the soft breathing of other patients and the distant murmur of healers working through the night.
"Let help," he said softly.
Tiara’s eyes fluttered open. "Kaelen... you don’t need to..."
"Yes, I do." He placed his palms gently over the worst of her injuries. "You got hurt because of . Because you were trying to help us."
The Aether responded to his call like a warm current flowing through his veins. He could see the damaged tissue beneath his hands, the torn muscles and bruised organs glowing faintly in his enhanced sight. Carefully, he drew life energy from the plants on the windowsill, from the moss growing between the stones, from the very air itself.
Color returned to Tiara’s pale cheeks. Her breathing deepened and steadied. The tension in her face eased as pain faded away.
"There," Kaelen said, pulling his hands back. "That should help."
Tiara sat up slowly, testing her movent. The worst of her injuries had healed, leaving only faint marks where deep cuts had been.
"Your power," she whispered. "It’s getting stronger than I thought."
Joanna stepped closer from where she’d been keeping watch by the door. "You said you almost found sothing in the vaults. Before the assassins ca."
Tiara nodded grimly. "I did. I think I know who’s behind the conspiracy."
The room fell silent except for Echo’s soft breathing from where he lay curled at the foot of the bed.
"Who?" Kaelen asked.
"Corvain," Tiara said. "Magister Corvain of the High Council. He’s been the one opposing you most strongly, hasn’t he? Speaking against your family, questioning your abilities."
Kaelen’s jaw tightened. Corvain had indeed been his harshest critic, calling his Aether magic an "abomination" and demanding investigations into how he’d gained such power.
"It makes sense," Joanna said. "He has the authority to order the siphon installations. He could have arranged the fake monster attacks as cover."
"But he can’t be working alone," Tiara continued, struggling to sit up straighter. "Soone with his position needs allies. Other council mbers, perhaps so of the noble houses. I just don’t know who else is involved."
Kaelen ran his hands through his hair, feeling overwheld. "So who can I trust? If the conspiracy reaches that high into the Council..."
"You need advice from soone outside the normal power structure," Tiara said thoughtfully. "Soone like Idran."
"Idran?" Joanna frowned.
"He’s lived through three generations of politics in this city," Tiara explained. "If anyone knows where the real loyalties lie, it’s him."
Before Kaelen could respond, footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. They all tensed, but the figure who appeared in the doorway wasn’t an assassin or a guard.
It was Serenya. Her silver hair seed to shimr in the lamplight, falling in perfect waves past her shoulders. Her green eyes held depths that spoke of wisdom beyond her twenty years, and her delicate features were arranged in an expression of calm determination. Even in simple traveling clothes, she carried herself with an elegance that made the cramped dical ward seem sohow more refined by her presence.
"Don’t trust Idran," she said without preamble. "He only wants you to survive for his own personal reasons."
Kaelen relaxed slightly at the familiar face, though Echo still watched her with wary interest. "Serenya. How did you find us?"
"I have my ways," she said with a slight smile that made her face luminous. "And before you ask why you should trust instead of Idran...i don’t particularly care if you do. I just don’t like watching people with real potential die for stupid reasons."
Joanna stepped protectively closer to Kaelen. "Why are you helping us, Serenya?"
The young woman shrugged, leaning against the doorfra with casual elegance. "Honestly? I want to tag along and see what you accomplish." Her green eyes fixed on Kaelen with curious intensity. "Which brings to my question: what exactly do you want to accomplish?"
The question hit Kaelen like a blow. For years now, he’d been reacting...to attacks, to revelations, to political maneuvering. But what was his actual goal?
He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, feeling the familiar tingle of Aether responding to his emotions. When he opened them again, his voice was steady and sure.
"I want to protect the people of Luminis and the world from the Blight," he said. "I’m going to stop the leaders from stealing the Aether from the earth. And soday..." He paused, the vision forming clearly in his mind for the first ti. "Soday I’ll be strong enough to convert the wasteland back into a place where people can live again."
The room was completely silent. Tiara stared at him with sothing like awe. Joanna’s mouth had fallen slightly open. Even Echo had lifted his great head to regard his master with what seed like approval.
Serenya straightened, no longer looking casual or amused. "That’s... actually impressive," she said. "Most people your age want revenge or power or recognition. You want to heal the world."
"Is that naive?" Kaelen asked.
"Maybe," Serenya admitted. "But the world could use more naive idealists with the power to back up their dreams."
Outside the dical ward, hidden in the shadows of a stone archway, Lord Valerius pressed his back against the wall. He’d co to check on the forr Archmage’s condition, to see if she might reveal anything useful about the investigation. Instead, he’d heard his son’s declaration.
I want to protect the people of Veridia.
I want to heal the world.
Lord Valerius closed his eyes and felt sothing twist painfully in his chest. When had Kaelen beco so noble? When had the frightened boy he’d banished grown into soone who thought beyond himself, beyond his family, beyond their petty political gas?
What have I done? he thought. What have I thrown away?
Back in the dical ward, the four companions—for that’s what they were now, Kaelen realized—began to plan their next moves.
"If Corvain is behind this, we need proof," Joanna said practically.
"And we need to find this ’Fifth’ that Tiara ntioned," Kaelen added.
"First, we need to figure out who else we can trust," Serenya pointed out. "You can’t take on the High Council with just the four of us."
Tiara nodded weakly. "There are others. Mages who’ve noticed the Blight spreading, nobles who’ve lost family to the fake monster attacks. If we can convince them of the truth..."
"Then we might have a chance," Kaelen finished.
He looked around at these three won—the injured forr Archmage, the determined investigator, the mysterious newcor with silver hair—and felt sothing he hadn’t experienced since his exile: hope.
For the first ti since discovering his powers, he wasn’t just surviving or reacting. He had a purpose, allies, and a plan.
The war for Luninis future was about to begin.
In the shadows outside, Lord Valerius finally pushed himself away from the wall and walked slowly back toward his house. He had thinking to do, and perhaps...though it terrified him to consider it...a choice to make about which side of this coming conflict he would support.
The son he had cast out was becoming a man he might have been proud of.
If it wasn’t already too late.
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