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Endellion laughed outright. “I really couldn’t. Many things change with time.” She shrugged and threw a pointed look at Illamiata. “For instance, yes to your earlier question. You know it, so I can talk about it. What a difference a few moments makes, hmm? The Sisters sing through their gift to you, Lunara the Moonweaver, one of their own. You must remember—only poor choices shaped the others, and you are not the same.”

“The madness of the Keepers,” Lunara whispered. “I won’t…?”

Endellion shook her head, smiling. “You have never been the same. They were all…placeholders, while Illamiata waited for her true master.”

So direct. A real answer that cured a deeply rooted, inner terror.

Utter exhaustion settled over Lunara. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand you, Endellion.”

“You really won’t. Not until I no longer have to understand myself.”

Stars above. For all it didn’t make any sense, Endellion sounded so damned sad when she said it.

“Don’t worry about me,” Endellion said. “Someday, I will have all I’ve ever dreamed of. Shall I offer you one future truth to test the words I’ve said, as always?”

Lunara nodded, breaths going shallow. Endellion’s last truth had not been the most encouraging.

“I’m afraid this one might not be better, though there’s quite a bit more hope attached.” She reached over and tucked some of Lunara’s hair behind her ear. “The Demon waits in the woods. He’s back but will crumble like the fragile child he is inside upon seeing you. As I said—what is dawn, if not daybreak? Be gentle with him and follow the urgings of your heart and mind. All will be well, though it won’t feel it.”

Tears welled and Lunara released a shaky exhale. “I understand.”

She didn’t want to, and the smallest part of her wished for those truths to be false in the end. If they were, there’d was a chance of finding Nyri and Baldrir. Of saving them and bringing them home where they belonged.

“I’m sorry, moth. It’s not for you.”

Lunara leaned over with a sigh and rested her head on Endellion’s shoulder, too tired for any more riddles. “Can we watch them again?”

“Of course we can. You need to relax and find your way home. Besides,” Endellion giggled, “Stellan teasing Almaura about being his Bonewhisperer is one of my favorite jokes. Never gets old.”

That time, they watched it all the way through, until Stellan dragged them from the fountain. Until they hardly breathed for their laughter, dripping their way across the park instead of drying themselves off. Lunara almost felt their hands in her own as she watched them swing that younger version of her on every other step. As they cackled at the sour faces of anyone who stared and disappeared around a corner.

“Again, Endellion.” Lunara blinked, her lids heavy. “Please.”

Brand followed Araxis through a thicket of luminous flora, a haze of magic pushing back against him as they dove deeper into the wild woods. His ears popped when they passed through a shield of some kind, the forest springing to a new kind of life beyond the barrier.

It was ominous before. Now, it was wondrous. Lively and homey, even in its darkness.

“Lunara needs to stay in Nachthelliae for at least a few days,” Araxis said. “She delivered the power to the land, but every vessel needs to be refilled once it’s been emptied. She is no different. This is the best I can do to achieve that and give you some privacy.”

He pointed to a small cottage down the winding path ahead. Just as Luna described—round, teal door with a gigantic colored glass window beside it, both shaded by a mushroomed roof of dark shingles that sat upon carved, blackstone pillars.

Its owner was asleep in his arms, exactly where she belonged. Stars above, it was like holding her that first time, when she collapsed during Hedda’s idea of training in the early days. Luna was a good deal more put together at the moment, but the unconscious weight of her, the pinched brow and purple smudges under her closed eyes, was the same

The thought made him defensive all over again, knowing how violated she was going to feel when she realized yet another person discovered her secret haven. That Araxis knew where it was at all.

“Don’t worry about the others. They have somewhere to stay for the night and Cordelia is keeping an eye on them. After Lyriat was made aware of some things, he gave his unofficial consent.”

Brand sincerely didn’t give a shite about that right now.

“Have you always known she was hiding here?” he asked.

“No. I was as shocked as everyone else to find out she survived. I thought…” Araxis’s steps faltered, his voice going quiet. “It doesn’t matter. The answer is no.”

“How did you come to find this place, then?”

Now he was being defensive for himself, irked that so many of his family members had already been here, while this was his first time seeing it. And she wasn’t even awake to welcome—or not welcome—the intrusion, so he was barging his way in like all the others.

“Cordelia. She gave me instructions when I told her the plan.” Araxis turned on him, holding his hands up. “I know what it all looks like, but it was the only way, Brand. You have my word there isn’t another creature who knows of her home here. Not from me.”