It took a few hours to get everyone settled into rooms within the Network base. They’d taken over the entire city of Tenchala. They had extensive tent space set up outside the ruined walls. It was fortunate that no one ever walked through the Sand Plains. They could hide in plain sight.

Cyrene finished a meal and then strode into the large meeting room. A handful of Network people were in the room, but much of the space was taken up with the people Cyrene had brought with her. Sarielle was sulking outside since she had no way to get into the meeting space. It was one of the few rooms that still had an intact roof.

Speaking stopped when she entered the room. The few that she didn’t know openly stared at her. It was as if they already knew who she was.

Her eyes traveled the table as she walked toward the head of the room. When her eyes landed on a beautiful redhead, Cyrene stopped entirely. The redhead jumped up and started running. Cyrene collided with her.

“Rhea!”

“Cyrene!”

“I can’t believe you’re here. What are you doing here?”

“I know; I know. It’s a long story.”

“I have a few of those.”

Rhea laughed. “Look at the sword on your back. Of course you do.”

“That’s Shadowbreaker. She has her own story.”

“She must with a name like that.”

“I thought you didn’t want to get involved in any of this,” Cyrene said, holding Rhea’s hands. She just wanted to hug her and never let go.

Cyrene had always been worried about her. Worried about leaving her behind even though that was her own choice. And still, she was here.

“When you revealed your magic, it was a little too late for me. I was imprisoned, but I escaped and started working for the Network. That’s the short of it.”

Cyrene’s eyes skipped to the tall, handsome gentleman who Rhea kept looking at. “I bet the long of it has to do with your new boyfriend?”

Rhea smacked her arm. “Shush, you. That’s Fenix. He’s a Byern spy.”

“Of course he is.” Cyrene laughed. “Creator, I missed you.”

They hugged each other tight. Cyrene could have wept with the joy of this moment.

“I was so afraid to be a part of this. But, now that I am, I can’t imagine doing anything else. Cyrene, things have changed a lot since you left. And not for the better. Your timing couldn’t have been more perfect.”

Cyrene frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Why don’t we discuss that at the table?” Gwynora asked.

Rhea squeezed her hand. “We’ll finish catching up more later.”

Cyrene nodded and then moved to stand beside Gwynora. She didn’t take a seat. She didn’t know where her seat was. On some level, she wanted to sit wherever and leave the hard problems to others. She wanted Gwynora to run this rebellion. But, on the other hand, she knew seats had a level of importance. She knew that, in the end, she was running this show whether she wanted to or not. Not the Network, which she’d happily leave to Gwynora. Cyrene knew that she needed Gwynora, but everything they were doing rested on Cyrene’s shoulders. It was a weight she didn’t wish on her greatest enemy.

Gwynora must have sensed the same thing, for she stood as well and shared the space at the head of the table without a word. Neither of them seated. Both of them formidable.

Cyrene was thankful for the truce they’d adopted when she left Edgewood. Gwyn had told her that, while the repairs had been made to her ship, she’d thought long and hard about how she wanted to spend the next couple of months. The answer was…not on the water. She’d rather spend it fixing what her father had started—the Network. And she’d used her own powerful air magic to push them back across the ocean in a matter of weeks. She’d been set up in Tenchala ever since.

And she looked the part of a leader who had come into her own when she addressed the table. “Many of you have been gone for some time and don’t know the events that have transpired in your absence. The Network is deeply embedded in every court in Emporia. Our spies report to us, and we’re then able to influence or at least see what’s coming. Unfortunately, the last couple of months have been disastrous.” Gwynora sighed. “I’ll just be explicit here. King Edric of Byern is dead.”

Cyrene gasped. “What?”

“The reports are mixed, but I have it on good authority that his brother killed him, took the throne, and has gone mad. King Kael killed King Creighton of Aurum and claimed the throne for himself, declaring it the Byern Empire.”

Orden swore and shot to his feet. Cyrene knew there was no lost love between Orden and Creighton, but it was still his home.

Cyrene, on the other hand, felt as if she was going to faint. Kael was king, as she’d seen in her fear test. Just as she’d seen in her first bound ceremony when she became an Affiliate. It sickened her, what he’d done to get to where he was. She could have been right on that road with him if she hadn’t gotten out.

“What about his sister?” Cyrene asked. “Is Jesalyn still alive?”

Gwynora glanced to Rhea’s man, who nodded once. “As far as I know, Jesalyn lives.”

“Thank you, Fenix.”

Cyrene sighed. “That’s good. We need to send someone in to get her out. If Kael kills her, then he’ll gain more power. The closer the relationship, the stronger the blood magic.”

“Fenix?” Gwynora asked.

He shrugged. “We could try. She’s tightly guarded, but I have a person on the inside. She could help. I’ll reach out.”

“Good.” Gwynora turned back to the rest of the table. “Byern is planning to use Aurum as a launching pad to invade Eleysia, who is still without an official queen.”

Cyrene looked to Dean for a reaction, but he only looked mildly interested. As if he didn’t remember Eleysia at all. Though he knew that Halcyon had said he was from there.

“How do they not have a queen? Brigette is alive,” Cyrene said. She’d gotten that letter that told her that much.

Gwynora raised an eyebrow. “Yes. But they called a vote of no confidence, and she had to enter a Queen’s War to reclaim her throne.”

“What a waste of time when Kael is about to invade.”

“I agree, but you try to tell them that.”

Cyrene shook her head. Politics.

“Should we send someone in to warn Brigette?” Gwynora asked.

“What, like her brother, the prince of Eleysia?” the man to Gwynora’s left asked.

Everyone turned their heads to look at Dean. He leaned back in his chair and said nothing. Dean didn’t even remember Eleysia. Let alone Brigette. Normally, he’d be the person for this job, but she couldn’t send him in like this now.

“Brigette is already aware that Byern has its sights set on Eleysia. It’s been brewing for a long time,” Cyrene said. “I think we need to consolidate power here.”

Gwynora nodded at her and continued speaking, “Guild movement is on the rise in Kell, Mastira, and Harthrow. We’ve had reports of strange activity in the Haeven Mountains. A village mysteriously went missing on the border. Also, the pirates are fleeing Ika Roa en masse. We have no reliable reports as to why they’re leaving the island.”

“So, everything is disrupted,” Vera said, “and we’re in the middle of a war.”

“With a murdering psychopath,” Matilde added.

“Pretty much,” Gwynora said.

“What’s our next move?” the man next to Gwynora asked.

“We’re going to gather more information—”

“No,” Cyrene said. “We need to stop Kael. We need to keep him from gaining any more power.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“The time for information has passed. The time for action is now,” Cyrene said boldly. “We’ll leave at once to stop this war before it gets worse.”

Cyrene stayed with the group late into the evening to discuss strategies for movement to reach Aurum and bring down Kael. No one could agree on anything, except that they needed to move now. But the Network had been underground for so long; they weren’t ready to give up that anonymity. Cyrene was ready to fly off without anyone’s help and stop Kael herself. If not for Avoca seeing that all written on her face. They’d have another meeting tomorrow while they readied supplies for the trip.

As soon as the meeting was over, she burst out of the room. She needed to get her head on straight. She headed straight toward the desert plains and the rapidly dropping temperatures.

She felt someone on her heels and nearly screamed. The last thing she wanted right now was to talk this all out more. This had to work. It was essential that they held the element of surprise. But she needed a brain break.

She whirled around, ready to vent that all on whoever had followed her but stopped when she saw Dean’s face. His carefully blank eyes. That face.

“Hey,” she muttered.

“I know that you don’t want to talk to anyone right now. But I need to tell you that I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” Her eyes widened. “What do you mean, you’re leaving? I thought you said that you were staying with me until the end.”

“And I am. I’m coming back before you head out to get Kael. But I have this pulse within me, guiding me. It’s the only thing that I’ve had the whole time I have been gone. It is beckoning me, and Halcyon agrees that we should go.”

“This is your mission.”

“I have to face this.” He tapped his heart. “Then, I will return.”

“Right. Yes, of course you have to go.” She turned away from him, looking out at the expanse of rolling hills. “Go.”

Dean slid his hand into hers. “I’ll come back for you.”

“I know.”

“I’ll always find you,” he whispered against the shell of her ear.

She shivered and not just from the touch. From the words. Those were Dean’s words. Words he didn’t remember saying to her but had still stuck nonetheless.

He tilted her chin and dropped his lips onto hers. She threaded her fingers through his blond hair, pulling him tighter. She wanted this moment to last an eternity. For him not to leave. For her not to have to go to war. For all of this to be a dream that she’d wake up from and be back in Eleysia, wrapped in his arms.

But that wasn’t reality. His palace didn’t even exist anymore. Kael had burned the entire island to the ground. And she had to stop him from wreaking any more havoc on the world.

“I love you,” Dean muttered against her lips.

The words stuck in her throat. Held there as she tried to pry her lips apart to say the words again. But they weren’t there. She had spent too long believing this wasn’t even her Dean. She hadn’t forgiven the other him. She didn’t know if he would forgive himself. Her heart nearly burst as the reality of their situation put more pressure on her.

He pulled back and brushed a hand against her cheek. “It’s okay. Save the world. We’ll figure the rest out afterward.”

“Be safe.”

“I’d tell you the same, but I know that you won’t listen.”

“Safety isn’t really in the job description.”

He kissed her lips one more time, a long, lingering kiss that stole her breath. Then, he strode to find Halcyon and fulfill his mission once and for all. She touched her hand to her lips, wondering if they’d be the same people if they made it to the other side of this. If his love could suffer the truth of who she really was…and the legacy she was bound to.

“Are you still pouting?” Cyrene asked when she finally found Sarielle lying on the top of a sand hill.

A dragon does not pout. I fume. She blew a plume of smoke.

“You’re hilarious,” Cyrene said sarcastically.

I have a strong sense of humor.

Cyrene sank down next to Sarielle and leaned her head against the dragon’s warm side. She cast her gaze to the stars and the nearly full moon overhead. She’d faced a sea nymph who gave her one wish. Any wish. And here she was, throwing her wishes to the stars, hoping that they’d listen. Or at least the Creator, if she was still out there. Her sister was causing quite a disturbance. Things needed to be dealt with. Cyrene would have to be the one to do it.

Your thoughts are troubled. Do you fear the coming war? I have craved it for longer than I can remember.

“I have never been in a war. Everyone expects me to lead them into battle, and all I want to do is ride out with you tonight and stop this before it starts.”

Then, let us ride.

“I’ve worked for years to get to this point. I could have stopped it long ago, but I never really wanted to kill,” Cyrene told her. “I have to face an enemy I don’t want to kill.”

You should never want to kill. Seeking death is a good way to find it. Sarielle meaningfully blinked a golden eye. But one death for the lives of thousands? One life to stop the world from falling into chaos? One death that will bring back balance? That seems to be a justified death.

“It does when you put it like that.” Except Cyrene couldn’t seem to bring herself to truly agree. She was conflicted. “I’m bound to Kael. I can feel him, even now. I can sense the direction he’s in. I could probably reach out to him right now if I wanted.”

That is troublesome. As he could do the same to you. How did this come about?

“It’s a curse passed down generations. And, when I think of the man he could have been and the life he could have chosen, I’m sad for him. I don’t want to kill him, Sarielle.”

If it is you or him, my rider, then you will do it.

Cyrene nodded, her stomach turning. “I will. I’ll do it where Serafina couldn’t.”

Who is this Serafina?

Cyrene released a heavy sigh. She had so much to confide in Sarielle. Hopefully, she’d have a good, long life to tell her everything. But, for now, she told her what was necessary. As soon as Cyrene began to speak, a wave of relief washed over her. She hadn’t realized until then how bottled up she had been about Serafina’s betrayal. Laying it all out to a captive audience revealed all that had been lurking beneath.

“My destiny has led me to this moment. I’m the foretold Heir of the Light, set to battle the Heir of the Darkness. I’m walking right into this moment that I’ve been preparing for, for so long, and now, it feels…false. Like Serafina is only trying to right the wrongs that she caused. And maybe this destiny business is all a lie, like everything else.”

Sarielle was silent for several minutes. Only the sound of the wind blowing the sand hills and the bugs chirping their evening song interrupted their silence.

So what if this isn’t your destiny?

“What do you mean?”

If it’s not your destiny and you’re not ordained for this upcoming battle, then, against all odds, you are an incredibly talented Doma. You are bound to a Leif, a human, and a dragon. You have arrived at this moment regardless, and you will go into this battle whether it is your destiny or not because you know in your heart that it’s the right thing to do. That’s the mark of a hero. You’ve made yourself a hero.

Cyrene had never really thought of that before. Maybe destiny had chosen her. Or maybe she’d created her own path. Either way, she would be marching into Aurum. She was standing on the side of right.

I wouldn’t let Serafina’s guilt cloud your judgment. Many of the dragons I befriended were of a similar age to your ancestor. Their memories are endless. Their faults just as long. Her failure doesn’t define you.

“Thank you,” Cyrene said. “I still feel…heavy about the decision, about what I’ve learned. But you’re right. She’s had a lot longer to think about this than I have. Whether she used me or not…in the end, it doesn’t really matter. I’m not backing down.”

I think she might finally rest easy, knowing that you are doing so. Perhaps we should stretch these powers of yours.

“You want to?”

You didn’t practice with Ameerath and Akeera for nothing.

“They told you that?”

Sarielle snorted, and a burst of flame appeared above her head, momentarily illuminating the night sky. Long before you were ready to work with me. It was only with my agreement that they began to train you.

Cyrene shook her head. Of course. “Then, let’s try.”

Together.

“Together.”