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The words themselves unsettle me enough, but it’s the cold contempt behind them that stutters my heart. Nyc has expressed her frustration with me before, particularly over my failures to destroy her son Narc’s bones during my first few attempts.

But this…isn’t frustration.

This feels more like a threat from someone who used to be an ally.

My hand presses against my temple, where a dull ache has taken root. What just happened? What did she mean by old alliances? And why would the goddess who’s guided me, however reluctantly at times, now treat me like an enemy?

Calling flames to both hands, I unfurl my wings and jump down.

Retreating to inside the palace seems like the safest option.

Just like hiding under my blanket kept me safe from monsters in my childhood bedchamber.

Right after my feet hit the ground, the door to the patio swings open with a soft creak. Sterling’s silhouette fills the opening.

“What’s wrong?” He stares at the twin flames I’m using to keep the darkness at bay.

I blink, still trying to process what just happened. “Nyc. She was…different. Cold.” My fingers tremble, and I clench them into fists. “She threatened me.”

“What did she say?” He doesn’t reach for me, instead maintaining that careful distance he reserves for times like this. As if the soldier in him needs to assess the situation before acting.

I shake my head and repeat Nyc’s message. “As if she expects me to pick a side in some conflict I don’t even understand. Is she telling me to choose between magic users and those without power? In that case, of course I’ll pick magic. I’m Tirenese. I don’t want us to lose the magic we still have.”

Sterling remains quiet for a long moment.

The silence stretches between us, filled with unspoken concerns.

“Speaking of magic, mine has been…different.” Those capable, strong hands that have held both swords and my body with equal care flex and relax. “Not just difficult to control. More like it’s actively resisting me. Like it’s already been commandeered or pre-claimed by something else.”

This, I understand.

As a dragoncaller, I’ve wrestled control of fire from other users before. Even dragons. Dragonfire flames are heavier and denser than what humans can channel. Wielding them is like trying to divert a river. This rare skill marks me as unusually powerful and dangerous.

Still, the idea that someone or something could do the same to Sterling, whose control over water has always been exceptional? That thought terrifies me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I try to keep the tremor of hurt from my voice, but when his jaw tightens, I know I’ve failed.

Sterling’s shoulders tense in a barely perceptible motion that speaks volumes. “Because I didn’t want to worry you. Because I thought maybe I was imagining things.” He shifts to face me with a glimmer of vulnerability in his eyes. “Because I didn’t want to admit that something could take my magic from me.”

The admission costs him.

For Sterling, control is everything. Control of his emotions, his magic, his kingdom. To have that threatened must shake the very foundation of who he believes himself to be.

Hot, fierce protective instinct flares inside me.

I close the distance between us, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my face into his chest. His steady heartbeat soothes the worries still racing through my mind.

“We’ll figure it out. Track down answers. We’ll question everyone.” I pull back just enough to meet his eyes, allowing my own determination to show. “No one gets to take from you what the gods have given.”

Sterling tips his chin down, his mouth quirking in that half-smile I love so much, the one that transforms his serious face by softening the hard edges. “Now that sounds like my queen.”

His strong arms cocoon me. In this embrace, the threat of Nyc’s warning feels temporarily distant, though not completely forgotten.

Something is happening in our world. Something that affects even the gods and our relationship with elemental magic.

Chapter Nine

I stare at the map until my eyes burn, as if I can somehow force the red wax markers to rearrange themselves into a pattern that makes sense with the power of my mind. Over the last five days, we realized we needed more than just our original map of Tirene. We had to dig through storage to find a map of the entire known world, which I’ve pinned on the wall in front of me.