We were released.
If that was what gave them comfort to call it. Guards escorted us through the halls to our rooms, eyes on us the entire way.
Priests spat at our feet as we passed. Others stared like they were waiting for us to turn into something worth killing.
A woman near the Life shard pulled her child closer. The child’s eyes never left Sahora.
I kept my head up. I did not let go of Sahora’s hand.
We reached the east hall without incident.
The guards stopped at our doors.
“You are welcome to stay in your rooms.”
The door closed behind us.
The latch clicked.
The sound was final.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then my knees buckled.
I caught myself on the table, breath coming too fast, too shallow. My chest burned, the phantom weight of water pressing in as if it had never quite left. I tasted salt. Cold crept up my throat.
Sahora was there instantly. Her hands closed around my arms, firm and grounding. She did not speak. She did not rush. She waited until my breathing slowed enough to follow hers.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
The room was quiet except for that.
“I’m sorry.”
The words came out rough, scraped raw.
She frowned slightly.
“For what?”
“For letting them watch. For letting them turn you into a lesson.”
Her jaw tightened.
“They don’t get to own that moment.” Calm, but something beneath it pulled tight. “That was ours. What happened there? What you did?”
She lifted a hand and pressed it gently against my chest, right over the place where the magic had burned its way out of me.
“You saved me. They can call it whatever they want.”
I swallowed hard.
“They called you useless.”
Something flickered across her face. Not anger. Not fear.
Calculation.
“I noticed.”
That scared me more than if she had shouted.
She stepped back and sat on the edge of the bed, shoulders straight, hands folded neatly in her lap. The charming mask was still there, just thinner now. Like glass stretched too fine.
“They watched me die.” Her voice was quiet. “And then they watched me live.”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“They think that gives them power.”
I sat beside her, close enough that our knees touched.
“It doesn’t.”
“No.” A pause. “But it tells me what kind of people they are.”
She leaned forward and rested her forehead against my shoulder. Just for a moment. Just long enough for the tension to tremble through her frame before she pulled herself back together.
A knock came almost immediately after.
Sharp. Deliberate.
We both stilled.
Castor’s voice carried through the door.
“You should know. They’ve already started arguing about the second trial.”
I closed my eyes.
Sahora stood.
The smile she wore this time was softer than before. Warmer. Perfectly measured.
“Good. I was worried they might get boring.”
She reached for my hand again and squeezed once.
Whatever happens.
We face it together.
Another knock sounded.
“Oliver. May I have a moment?”
“I’ll be right out.”
I stood, leaving Sahora in the room, and stepped into the corridor.
Castor waited near the window at the end of the hall, staring out at the village like he could see the shape of its cruelty from here. When the door closed behind me, he turned and began walking.
“Will you walk with me?”
It was not a request. He was already moving.
“Where are we going?” I fell into step beside him. “We can’t leave the village.”
“We don’t need to.”
He led me outside and into a small grove still within the boundary stones. Trees clustered close, their leaves thick enough to swallow sound.
Castor let out a breath like he had been holding it since we entered Gyra.
“What you did. Resurrecting Sahora…”
He paused, scanning the grove, listening.
“I have done the same.”
My stomach dropped.
“Briar. She died in childbirth. With Kathera.”
“What?” The word came out wrong. “Briar died?”
“Yes.”
He swallowed.
“I brought her back. It cost me my Seer sight.”
The words settled between us like a blade.
Then, quieter, like he hated remembering this part:
“My bond with Briar was recognized by the Fates. But damned by society. Before Kathera’s birth, we stood in a similar place.”
His gaze fixed on me.
“Not only for our Soulfated bond. But for who Briar is. What she can do. What the Fates didn’t show at her birth.”
He stepped closer.
“No matter what hell they put you through, do not let them break your bond. Do not let them break you.”
He lifted his chin.
“I will guard your back. Because we are the same.”
I couldn’t speak for a beat.
Then I found my voice.
“Thank you. I won’t break.”