"You muttered a na." Zade stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he spoke slowly, emphasising each syllable. "Tobias."
Jasper’s head snapped toward her, surprise flickering across his face. The tension around them thickened, as if the air itself held its breath.
Evelina’s mouth went dry, her heart racing in her chest.
She hadn’t ant to say anything, let alone reveal a na that carried so much weight and could hint at her secret.
mories of Tobias flashed in her mind—his laughter, the ti they’ve spent together, the way he had tried to usurp her research work and the discovery of him being here in Arcadia.
"Uh-oh," Relia exclaid with a whisper.
"I—Tobias was... a na Luther ntioned. Soone he’d lost. Soone he blad."
It wasn’t a lie.
But it wasn’t the truth, either.
Zade’s stare didn’t break. "He sounded important."
"He’s not," she said flatly. "Not anymore."
The air shifted.
Jasper didn’t speak, but she could feel his attention shift, just slightly.
They didn’t find much else in the forest.
After Zade’s quiet observation, the mood had shifted.
Evelina could feel it—his curiosity was subtle, not pressing, but it lingered like a presence in the shadows. He didn’t push her again about the na, but the silence that followed wasn’t the kind that brought peace.
They moved in circles beneath the trees, Jasper scanning the underbrush with trained ease, while Evelina led them toward where she thought the footprints might’ve gone deeper—but Tobias had been smart. Too smart.
Even the boot prints had been scrubbed after a few dozen paces. Clever little loops, misleading directions. False paths.
"Nothing new," Jasper said after an hour. "Just the sa trail, leading us back to where we started."
Zade nodded quietly, though his gaze flicked to Evelina now and then. Watching. Not accusing—but perhaps wondering.
"You’re thinking too loud again," Relia murmured, her voice amused.
"You’d be thinking too if you had to dodge a prince and a ghost in the sa day."
"I’d be thinking of wine and a bathtub. You, my dear, are the dramatic one in this arrangent."
Evelina’s lips twitched, but she didn’t smile.
By the ti they returned to the palace, the moon had started to dip behind the high spires, and the guards at the eastern gate were beginning their rotations.
Zade offered to escort her in, but she declined softly. "I think I’ll be fine on my own," she said. "I need to... think."
Zade hesitated for a second longer than he should have, then nodded. "Of course. If you need anything—"
"I know," she said, offering him a small, tired smile.
She parted ways with them in the lantern-lit hallway, her boots whispering against the stone as she made her way to the chambers area.
Inside her chambers, everything was still. Safe.
She sighed and unstrapped her belt, pulling off her cloak and the layers beneath. The soft cotton tunic hit the ground, followed by her trousers, boots, and arm wraps.
Her body ached in places she hadn’t realized.
She unpinned her braid, letting her hair fall, and crossed to the bath chamber where a steaming tub had already been drawn, likely by one of the quiet servants assigned to her wing.
She reached for the small pouch on the side table, which she mostly carried along wherever she went. Inside were a few things, including the dragon pearl Zade had given to her over a month ago to prove his love for her.
As she dropped it absentmindedly onto the nearby towel pile, the pearl gave off a faint hum and glowed—a soft violet pulse, barely noticeable.
Evelina paused.
"Relia," she whispered.
"I see it," Relia said, her tone suddenly alert.
"I didn’t do anything."
The glow faded a heartbeat later, just like that.
Relia humd thoughtfully. "Could’ve been a latent resonance. So objects react to aether, especially if you were still charged from your last vision."
"Or?"
"Or it was reacting to you."
"See you talking like so scientist."
"Well, I learnt from the best."
Evelina sat on the stool beside the tub, running her fingers through the edge of the steam. The pearl lay innocently near her boots now, as if it hadn’t just pulsed with unexplained power.
She dismissed it. At least for now.
Sliding into the bath, Evelina sank deep into the warm water until her shoulders were subrged. The heat eased so of the tension in her limbs, but her thoughts refused to quiet.
Tobias.
Tunnels.
His plans.
His voice.
"You’re not telling him everything," Relia said softly in her mind.
Evelina closed her eyes. "No," she admitted.
"Are you going to?"
"I want to. I feel terrible hiding it from him."
"So why don’t you?"
She hesitated. "Because telling him everything... ans telling him about Tobias. About my past. About where I’m really from. What I really am. And once that’s said—once it’s out—I can’t take it back."
Relia didn’t answer. But she didn’t have to.
When Evelina erged from the bath, wrapped in nothing but a thin towel, the last thing she expected was to find Damian standing in her chambers.
She jolted backwards, nearly slipping. "Gods—!"
He turned, leaning against the window, completely unfazed. "Relax," he said with a crooked smile. "It’s nothing I haven’t seen before."
Evelina flushed crimson and imdiately adjusted the towel higher. "You can’t just appear in people’s rooms!"
"I knocked," he said dryly. "Twice. You didn’t answer."
"You could’ve waited."
"You could’ve told you were planning another forest trip," he countered.
She exhaled, turning slightly away from him as she grabbed a robe from her chair. "I thought you were too busy to co. You had council duties."
"I did." He crossed his arms. "The King sent to parley with a delegation from the North. Took most of the day. When I returned, Jasper told that you had gone scouting again. That Zade was with you."
"I didn’t go alone," she said pointedly. "You said you trust ."
"I do," he said. "But Jasper also said sothing happened out there."
She tensed.
Damian watched her. "He said you froze. Like you were seeing sothing that wasn’t there. Like you were in a trance."
Evelina said nothing at first.
The words twisted behind her lips. She could lie. Could deflect. But part of her didn’t want to anymore.
She turned to face him, still wrapped in the robe, wet hair curling at her shoulders. "I saw sothing."
He stepped forward. "A vision?"
She nodded. "The tunnel. I saw the entrance. It’s real. It’s in the hills—hidden near the old hunter’s trail, behind a crumbled rockslide. He’s there, Damian. Tobias. He’s building sothing."
Damian’s face darkened, stormlight swirling in his eyes.
"You saw all that?"
She nodded again.
"But you didn’t tell the council."
"They’d call mad. Or worse—accuse again of sorcery. I can’t risk it."
He stepped closer, cupping her face gently. "You can always risk it with ."
Evelina’s throat tightened.
"I’m scared," she whispered. "Not of him. Of what cos next. Of what I might have to do to stop him."
"It’s not just you, Evelina." Damian leaned his forehead against hers. "It’s what we have to do to stop him... together."
Damian let his fingers trace the line of her cheek before he spoke, softer now.
"Co on," he said. "I’ve had them prepare dinner for us. Just the two of us. I figured you’d need sothing warm after traipsing around gods-know-where again."
Evelina exhaled a breath that wasn’t quite a laugh. "Can you turn around? I need to change into sothing that doesn’t scream bath towel."
Damian arched a brow, but did as asked, shifting to face the window again with deliberate slowness. "You know, I could help."
She rolled her eyes and moved toward the wardrobe. "Knowing you, I’d end up being the dinner."
Behind her, his voice was smug. "Like hell you wouldn’t like that."
She paused, pulling on her undergarnts with a smirk. "Maybe... but I also need real food. A sausage, two eggs, and cream isn’t enough to satisfy my hunger."
The silence that followed stretched into sothing darker, heavier.
Then she heard his breath hitch, followed by slow footsteps.
Damian appeared behind her again, his fingers slipping into hers. "Are you sure?" he murmured, guiding her hand to the growing bulge in his pants. "Because the sausage is quite big. You might not be able to take it all."
Evelina glanced up at him, half-dressed, hair damp, heart pounding—and utterly unamused.
"I actually can," she said dryly. "And already did. More than twice, rember?"
Damian grinned shalessly. "Just making sure."
She pulled away, reached for her blouse, and shook her head. "Before this becos ssy, let’s go have dinner. Like normal people."
He crossed his arms, watching her with that amused glint in his eyes. "You say that like sex is for abnormal people."
"We shouldn’t be thinking about sex when the kingdom is under siege."
"They can wait," he said without hesitation.
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