Noel didn’t wait for the carriage to complete the turn.
Before the new route fully settled, before the city finished closing in around them, he shifted his attention toward the presence he always felt nearby. It wasn’t a command or anything urgent, just a clear, quiet intention.
The shadow responded.
At Selene’s feet, where the light inside the carriage failed to fully reach, the darkness eased itself away from the floor. Noir erged without a sound, her form taking shape smoothly as she separated from it. She paused for a brief mont, ears lifted, then moved on.
The second carriage traveled directly behind the first, close enough that the distance between them felt deliberate. Inside were Selene, Elena, and Charlotte, seated together, the atmosphere calr than it had been in days. Noir slipped between the two vehicles with the motion of the road, crossing the narrow space between shadows as if it were second nature.
When she appeared inside the rear carriage, she did so without disturbing anything.
Selene was the first to lift her gaze, sensing the change. Elena noticed a heartbeat later. Charlotte followed shortly after.
Both carriages continued through the streets of Valon, aligned on the sa path now, leaving the academy behind without stopping. The destination had changed, and none of them needed to say it aloud to understand that the castle was where they were heading.
Noir didn’t speak aloud.
Her presence brushed gently against their minds instead, careful and contained, the way she always did when the mont mattered. The connection settled first, a quiet acknowledgent, then her thoughts followed.
’Before we go back to the academy, we’re stopping at the royal castle,’ she said simply. ’Dad asked to let you know.’
Charlotte’s hands tightened around her staff at once. Elena straightened slightly. Selene remained still, listening.
’Nicolas wants to see him,’ Noir continued. ’While we were gone, his condition got worse. He’s been holding on for a long ti... but there isn’t much ti left.’
There was no urgency in her tone. No panic. Just the weight of facts stated as they were.
The carriage kept moving, wheels rolling steadily over stone as the ssage settled in. The air inside grew quieter, heavier in a way that didn’t need words to explain it. Noir stayed where she was, close and steady, giving them space to absorb what she had said.
Charlotte’s reaction was imdiate.
Her hands rose to her mouth as if she could physically hold the words back, eyes widening as the aning settled in. "No..." The sound barely made it past her fingers, thin and shaken.
She looked at Noir, then at the space beyond her, as if the answer might change if she searched hard enough. "It’s... it’s that bad?" Her voice wavered despite the effort to keep it steady. "If his health is failing, then I can help. I can use a Blessing."
The words tumbled out on instinct, urgency cutting through the quiet. "If I focus it properly, if I don’t overreach, I should be able to stabilize him at least. Buy him ti. I can do that."
It wasn’t calculation driving her. It was habit. Responsibility. The weight she carried as a saint pressing forward the mont soone was in danger.
Charlotte’s hands clenched against her chest as she spoke, already reaching for the answer she always gave in monts like this.
’I can help.’
Elena didn’t answer right away.
She watched Charlotte for a mont, really looked at her, at the way her hands trembled slightly against her chest, at how quickly she had reached for the idea of sacrifice without even stopping to breathe. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, but it carried weight.
"Charlotte," she said quietly, leaning forward just enough to close the space between them. "You know that’s not how it works."
Charlotte flinched, eyes flicking toward her.
"You can heal wounds," Elena continued, steady and careful, "you can nd damage, stabilize soone who’s fading. But you can’t give ti back. Not like that. Not to anyone." Her gaze lowered briefly before returning. "We already knew Nicolas didn’t have much left. That hasn’t changed."
Charlotte swallowed hard. "But a Blessing could—"
"It won’t," Elena said gently, cutting in before the hope could take shape. There was no sharpness in it, only certainty. "It won’t extend his lifespan. It won’t rewrite what’s already happening inside him. And pushing yourself trying to force it won’t save him."
She hesitated, then added the part that hurt the most to say. "And you can’t afford to exceed yourself right now. You know that. Every Blessing costs you more than you let on."
The carriage felt smaller suddenly.
Elena reached out, resting her hand over Charlotte’s clasped fingers, protective rather than restraining. "Wanting to help doesn’t an you always can," she said softly. "And this isn’t sothing you should punish yourself over."
Charlotte stayed still for a few seconds after that, eyes fixed on the space between her hands as if she were waiting for sothing to change on its own. Then her shoulders sagged, the fight draining out of her all at once.
"...I know," she said quietly.
The words ca out thin, stripped of protest. She drew her hands closer to herself, fingers curling together until her knuckles whitened. "I know I can’t give soone more ti," she went on, voice trembling despite the effort to keep it steady. "No matter how much I want to. No matter how badly I wish I could."
She let out a shaky breath, frustration cutting through the sadness. "It just... hurts," she admitted. "Standing there and knowing soone is slipping away, and realizing there’s nothing I can do. I hate that feeling."
Her gaze dropped, lashes casting shadows across her cheeks. "I’m supposed to help people," she whispered. "That’s what I’m here for. And when I can’t..." Her voice faltered, the thought left unfinished.
For a mont, she looked very small, curled inward around the weight of it all.
"I feel useless," Charlotte said at last, barely above a whisper.
The carriage continued on, quiet and unhurried, carrying her words with it as she sat there, exposed in a way she rarely allowed herself to be.
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