The trees thin just past the ridge. Morning light filters through the canopy in sharp angles, gilding the path ahead in pale gold. I push through the last line of undergrowth and step out into the open air.
Lumindellar rises ahead of me.
The city doesn't look different——but I do.
The first time I came here, I was cautious, unsure of what this place wanted from me. Now I'm coming back not as a visitor or a test subject.
I'm coming for answers.
The pendant rests against my skin, quiet now, but warm——steady in a way that tells me it's not guiding me anymore.
It's walking with me.
The road curves upward, lined with trees that shimmer faintly as I pass. Fae architecture blends into the landscape like it grew from the ground itself——stone wrapped in vines, crystalline towers glinting between the trees, rooftops woven from bark and light.
Guards are stationed at the outer entrance, dressed in formal silvers and forest-tones, their spears upright, faces unreadable. One steps forward, recognising me immediately.
"Sarah Strigoi," he says, voice tight with formality. "The Court is expecting you."
Of course they are.
I nod once, saying nothing.
He doesn't ask questions.
He simply steps aside.
The gates open without sound.
I walk through them as sunlight breaks across the treetops behind me, casting my shadow long across the marble path.
No ceremony. No welcome.
Just the steady beat of my footsteps echoing against stone.
And for once, I don't feel like I'm walking into someone else's world.
I feel like I've come back to claim my place in it.
***********
The Court chamber hasn't changed.
Same polished marble floors veined in green and gold. Same curved stone columns wrapped in glowing vines. Same throne-like chairs arranged in two arcing halves——-three on each side, facing the center like a judgement waiting to be passed.
And I'm the one walking into it.
Again.
Only this time, I don't feel like I'm being summoned.
This time, I came here on my own.
Alette sits to the left, calm and composed in her silver-lined robes, her golden hair braided down her back. Nova perches beside her, wings folded tight, her expression unreadable.
On the opposite side, Cass leans back in his chair, eyes glinting with sharp amusement. Beside him, Glendora——-serene as ever, but there's tension in her stillness, like a predator deciding whether or not it's time to strike.
Two Seelie. Two UnSeelie. No one say a word.
I walk to the center and stop, letting the silence stretch. The pendant rests warm against my chest, quiet but solid.
Nova is the first to speak.
"We didn't expect you to be gone so long," she says softly, almost like it's a kindness. "We weren't sure...where you'd gone."
I meet her gaze. "I found what I needed."
Alette tilts her head slightly, thoughtful. "And now you're here. For what, exactly?"
"To finish what I started."
The words settle in the chamber like dust after a storm. No one moves. Even Cass stops twirling the ring on his finger.
It's Glendora who breaks the silence.
"You speak with such certainty," she says, her voice smooth as silk. "Yet we've only seen fragments of who you are. Trials left incomplete. Power left unmeasured."
Nova shifts slightly, the faintest glance in Glendora's direction.
"She's returned of her own will," Nova says. "That should speak for itself."
Cass smiles thinly. "Or it's proof she's still a danger we haven't finished understanding."
I don't flinch.
"You don't have to understand me," I say. "You just need to stop deciding what I am before I've said it for myself."
Alette leans forward, her tone more cautious than confrontational. "You've been through more than we expected. And you've come back…..changed. Are you ready to tell us where you've been?"
I glance briefly at Glendora, then Cass, then back to Alette.
"I will," I say. "But not yet. Not to everyone."
That lands. Hard.
Nova nods once. Almost imperceptibly.
Cass sits back again, clearly amused. "How very...Court of you."
I don't answer him. I don't need to.
Because I can feel it now——the quiet shift in the room.
Not everyone here is on the same side.
And not everyone wants me to leave this chamber stronger than I entered it.
**********
They don't announce a recess.
They don't call it anything at all.
But after a few short breaths and a long, unreadable look from Alette, she rises from her seat. Nova follows without a word, and the two of them cross the chamber with purposeful calm.
Alette gestures for me to follow.
I do.
The side chamber they lead me into is smaller, circular, with glass-panelled windows that cast soft green light across the walls. There's no one else inside. No guards. No scribes. Just the three of us.
The door closes behind us with a quiet click.
For a moment, no one speaks.
Then Alette turns to face me. Her expression is still composed, but her eyes hold something heavier now.
"You should know," she says gently, "That not everyone in that chamber wanted you to return."
Nova leans against the far wall, arms crossed, wings relaxed but watchful. "Especially not so soon."
I don't respond.
They aren't threatening me.
But they are testing me.
Nova watches me carefully. "They think you've aligned yourself with someone. Or something. They're not sure which."
Alette studies me. "But I think you've come back for your own reasons."
"I have," I say.
Alette nods once. "Then be careful how you speak, Sarah. The Court is listening, but not always to the same things."
I take that in. Let it settle.
"What do they think I've aligned myself with?" I ask, though I already have a guess.
Nova answers without hesitation. "Then bond."
That words shouldn't mean anything here——not to them.
But the way Nova says it…..
She knows more than she's letting on.
I keep my voice steady. "You think I came back because of Justin?"
"I think you came back because something inside you is pulling you towards answers," she says. "Whether that includes him or not is up to you."
Alette adds, "There are members of this Court who would see a bond as leverage. Others as a liability."
Neither says what they're thinking.
That a bond like this——-especially unclaimed——-makes me dangerous.
I glance between them. "I don't know who I can trust in that chamber. But I know why I'm here."
Nova's expression softens just slightly. "Then you're already ahead of most who stand in it."
*********
Justin's POV
The wind carries the first shift before I feel it in my chest.
I'm standing on the ridge above the southern woods, where the trees grow close and quiet. The sky's gone pale with cloud-cover, light diffused and gray. Everything below looks still.
But inside me, the bond moves.
Not violently. Not like before.
It settles.
Steady. Rooted.
Like she's no longer lost.
I close my eyes.
She's out.
Not just out of Nox——she's back here, in Lumindellar. And she's not hiding.
The bond doesn't scream.
It doesn't pull.
It anchors.
Like it's no longer searching..
I exhale through my nose, fingers curling into the edge of the railing in front of me. The iron bites into my palm, cold and familiar.
She's heading toward the Courts. I can feel it.
And if she makes it to them——if she looks them in the eye and starts asking the right questions——then everything I've hidden is on borrowed time.
Not just who I am.
But what I've been part of.
What I let happen by saying nothing.
A breeze lifts through the trees. I start out at the horizon, jaw tight.
I want to believe she'll understand why I didn't tell her.
I want to believe I still have time to explain.
But the truth is——-she's already stringer than they expected her to be.
Stronger than even I thought.
And if she connects the last few threads——-
She'll see exactly how close I stood to everything that broke her.
The bond presses faintly against my chest again——warmer now. Gentle.
She's not afraid.
She's walking straight into the truth.
And I don't know if she'll come back from it.
I don't know if I will either.
**********
Natalia's POV
They're keeping their secrets again.
Whispers in the hall. Hushed arguments. Doors that stop opening when I walk past. Looks exchanged that no one explains.
I hear one name——just once, muffled through a wall. That's all it takes.
Sarah.
She's in Lumindellar.
No one tells me when it happened. No one tells me why. But the shift is there——subtle, quiet, intentional. Like everyone around me suddenly forgot how to speak in full sentences.
I sit on the edge of my bed, jaw tight, fingers digging into the blanket without meaning to. I know how this goes. I know what it looks like when they start trying to keep me out of things "for my protection."
It's not protection.
It's control.
My mother used to do it. My father too, in his own way. They'd smile, say everything was fine, then vanish into a conversation I wasn't allowed to hear.
Now they're both gone.
And I'm still being left out.
I stand, pacing once across the room, then back again. My reflection follows me in the window——still, too calm. It doesn't match the pressure building in my chest.
I should be part of this.
But instead, she's the one everyone's watching. Again.
Sarah——-glowing little mystery with all the right questions and none of the consequences.
She got to survive.
I got silence.
And the only person who ever told me the truth is gone.
I glance toward the far wall, where the air feels thinner——-like the space still remembers his presence.
Sometimes I still hear his voice in my dreams. Not words. Just the way he said my name when no one else was listening.
They think if they keep me away, I won't figure it out.
They think if I don't ask questions, I'll stop caring about the answers.
They're wrong.
If she's in Lumindellar, then everything is shifting again. And if no one else will say it out loud, I will.
If Sarah finds out what really happened———she won't be the only one who burns for it.