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Stars above, it was so tempting to sit down and let the oblivion of sleep take her for a few hours.

Just a little longer. Keep going.

Lunara took a deep breath. “And unlike the others before him, Brand has…something else in there. An entity, or energy, or”—She threw her hands up—“I don’t know, but I felt its presence. Its otherness. I think that’s what we saw and heard this morning.”

Lyriat’s mossy gaze narrowed on her. “What are you not saying?”

Weeping moons, he’s almost as uncanny as Fern.

“I’ve heard that voice before,” she admitted, slumping. “It spoke to me in the chasm.”

“Right before we fell,” Magnus whispered. “Aye, you said as much, didn’t you—that someone was there. I remember now.”

“Yes. And earlier, just like that day, it tried to stop me from getting to Brand.”

“Yet, this is also the first time he hasn’t acted as if he were dying when you touched him in the aftermath. He said your name. Something you’re doing is working.”

Lyriat’s faith in her felt woefully misplaced.

“Is it, or have I just been lucky thus far?” she countered.

He didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, a heavy stillness descending as each of them were lost to their own thoughts. Lunara swore she could feel the world turning beneath her aching feet as time slipped by, too fast, too slow, the weight of it all making her dizzy.

Magnus was the first to break the spell. “Right. This only solidifies my stance. There’s no way we can bring him with us, Lyriat. Especially after our⁠—”

“I have to fucking send him!” Lyriat’s bellow shook the walls, his power buffeting outwards. “Pull your head out of your arse and listen to me, damn you. If he stays here, I will be all that stands between him and everyone else, and I don’t have the power to hold him alone for more than a few moments. Not without killing him. I can’t endanger my people for the sake of a single creature, even if he is my best friend. Are you hearing me? I’m not strong enough, Magnus. After this morning…” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I know now, if nothing else, that I’m not bloody strong enough.”

“But Brand can’t rage anymore,” Lunara said, shaken by his outburst and admission. “He doesn’t have the use of his power at all.”

Another loaded silence, the cacophony of nothing grating on her nerves until Magnus swore under his breath. “Before you got there, Brand was somehow breaking through the stone holding him. Repeatedly. And there was naught but murder in his eyes while Lyriat weakened. Fuck.”

Sweet baby Sisters in a cradle.

Lunara choked down her worry and spared a fleeting second to lament her choice not to take all of Fern’s blood gift. A deep breath to calm the swirl in her gut. Another to combat the miserable pound of her battered heart.

That’s it. It’s fine. You’re fine.

Nothing was fine. She was starting to think the worst—that there was a possibility Brand was already lost to her forever. If the mighty Demon King Lyriat couldn’t tame Brand in his own damned realm, if Lunara couldn’t heal him…

This might be a good time for more ignoring. Figure it out later.

Yes. Perfect. Later was good. Right after they ventured to Thodelebor with both Brand and the beast.

“He’s really not coming back on his own, is he, witchling?”

That was the final straw. Lunara gave in and sank onto the nearest bench, her eyes welling. “No. I don’t think he is.”

“Aye, alright. Alright.” Magnus scrubbed both hands over his face, then fixed his gaze on Lyriat—a loaded look if ever there was one. “We need a solid fucking strategy for keeping him calm.”

Lyriat sighed and turned to her. “Are you still insistent on Brand not knowing you’re the Keeper?”

“Um…”

He has to find out sooner or later.

Yes. That was true. But Lunara hoped the two of them might be on somewhat better footing before she revealed herself. Again.

She’d never forget the look on his face when she told him of Malachyr the Mistwarden and his infamous murder of her parents—just another in a long line of twisted Keepers. His reaction on hearing the name had been raw and unfiltered. A glimpse into his true feelings about those who’d lost their minds to the Tear Stone.