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“It’s working,” I whisper, moving deeper.

The prison dissolves layer by layer, each one revealing more of Elionn beneath. The crystal formations that wind around his limbs recede, leaving pale skin marked with spiraling bruises where they once grew. His clothing, torn and stained from months of captivity, hangs on a frame made thinner by his ordeal.

“Keep going,” Theron urges, Silver fire gathering around his hands, ready to assist.

The final layer dissolves beneath my splayed fingers, and Elionn falls forward. His body, freed from suspension, yields to the pull of gravity, and I catch him, staggering backward under the sudden weight.

My arms wrap around him, holding him upright as his legs struggle to remember their purpose. Our bond flares at the contact, stronger and deeper than before, changed by everything we’ve endured.

“I’ve got you,” I murmur into silver hair that smells of crystal dust and sweet berries.

His eyes flutter open, unfocused at first, then sharpening with recognition as they find mine. Even weakened by imprisonment, those silver irises burn with inner light.

“Amalia.” His fingers lift to my face. “You returned.”

“I never quit a job before it’s done,” I manage.

He chuckles as he sways in my arms, strength returning in gradual waves as our magic mingles. “Only a job?”

“You still owe me a bag full of gold coins,” I remind him. “Did you think you could run off and hide with it?”

“No. Never from you.”

The world narrows further, and we move toward each other, drawn by forces older than either of us. Our lips meet with desperate certainty. The kiss feels inevitable, instinctive, and soul-driven. His mouth, cool as it covers mine, tastes of crystal dust and Silver magic.

My hands slide up his chest to tangle in hair still silky despite months of imprisonment. His arms tighten around my waist, pulling me closer until no space remains between us.

The Opal fragment in my chest pulses in perfect time with his heartbeat, each rhythm reinforcing the other until I can’t tell where my pulse ends and his begins.

Our magics twine together, Silver and Opal creating a barrier around us that pushes back the court’s chaotic energy.

When we break apart, breathless and trembling, the chamber has transformed. Crystal flowers bloom across the floor, spreading outward from where we stand in concentric circles of impossible beauty. The remaining frames from the mirrors sprout new growth, blank surfaces forming where shattered glass once hung.

Elionn’s forehead presses against mine, his breath warming my skin. “Admit it. You missed me.”

“Not yet,” I counter, though my fingers curl into his tunic, reluctant to release him. “Maybe after we escape.”

His gaze moves past me to where his brother stands, and a conversation of relief and acknowledgment passes between them that needs no words.

A sound from the corridor snaps us back to urgency.

Thalindor’s stance shifts, weapon raised to defend the entrance. “Let us not linger here, Your Majesty. Your Highness.”

Elionn straightens in my arms, and his hands slide to my waist to steady himself. “Kelaros?”

“He betrayed us a second time and absorbed the hollow stag’s heart,” I tell Elionn. “He’s trying to take control of the court as its new king.”

“He won’t be able to.” His fingers touch my sternum where the Opal fragment pulses beneath skin and cloth. “Not while you carry this.”

We look around at the remains of the mirrors. They had all been smashed when we trapped the hollow stag in this room before. All but one. When I search it out, I find that even that one has been destroyed, its broken pieces stomped to dust.

I turn to Thalindor. Thank goodness Theron thought of a Plan B, and we brought our own way out.

But when Thalindor turns the shield on his arm, my relief dies.

The surface is shattered.

Our way home is gone.