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“Not yet.” I scrub a hand over my face and shove it through my hair. “I’m sure I’d find something in Fontoss.”
She blinks curious eyes, tilting her head to study me. “You’re going to Fontoss to search?”
“Of course not.” I wave away the suggestion. “Much too risky. But if there are answers to be found, that’s where I’d find them.”
“And if there aren’t answers to be found?”
“Then the Shadow Realm is dying.”
And I am dying with it.
The color drains from Kaia’s face, her fingers worrying the edge of the map closest to her.
“There has to be another explanation,” she says, voice tight. “Something you’re not seeing.”
I sweep my arm over the table, gesturing to the precarious stacks of books I’ve been scouring for days.
“Do enlighten me.”
“The incantations, the rituals used to create the realm and the veil, the binding spells used to seal the living out and the dead in.” She picks up the book closest to her and flips through it. “They were permanent.”
“Apparently they weren’t.”
Kaia is silent for a long moment, staring at the book in her palm with unfocused eyes. “And what of Elora in all this?”
At the mere mention of Elora’s name, the slow, steady thump of her heartbeat in my chest becomes more prominent. It’s much easier to ignore when I’m distracted.
“What of her?”
“You can’t keep her up there forever, Thieran.”
Sighing, I push back from the table and cross to the floor-to-ceiling window between bookcases. Smooth stone gives way to jagged rock and then waist-high grass stretching as far as the eye can see. It sways in a gentle breeze.
“I know you don’t approve of how I’m handling this, but—”
“Oh, good,” she says. “I was afraid I was being too subtle.”
I bark out a wry laugh. “You can’t honestly say you haven’t noticed things feel different since her arrival. That whatever is happening to the realm has slowed, if not stopped, in the days since I plucked her from the riverbank.”
I hear her draw in a slow, deep breath. “You’re right,” she agrees, albeit reluctantly. “Things have felt much different—stronger—than they have in years. So what are you planning to do? Keep her here forever?”
Again I’m forced to notice Elora’s heart beating in time with my own, and I do my best to shove the sensation away. At present, I have no other choice. I’d much rather be rid of her, but if my choices are to sacrifice the Shadow Realm or harbor a mortal I want nothing to do with, I’ll choose the latter every time.
“If that’s what it takes.”
“You could at least let her out of the tower.”
“But not out of the realm?” I turn to stare at Kaia, brow raised. “You’re advocating keeping her prisoner?”
Kaia averts her eyes. “I know as well as you do what the world was like before the Shadow Realm was created, before you ruled the dead behind the veil.” Wrapping her arms around herself, she squeezes. “There are many things I would do to keep that from happening again.”
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to save the Shadow Realm—and myself with it. Even if it means giving a mortal woman her own rooms in my palace. If I have to keep her here until I either find out what’s causing the weakening and stop it or find another solution, I suppose the least I can do is give her a bit more freedom.
“Why don’t you spend more than thirty seconds in her presence?” Kaia says before I can speak. “Then you might see things as I do. Talk to her, Thieran.” A stack of books materializes in her hands, and she holds them out to me. “Bring these as a peace offering.”
I read the titles on the spines and raise a brow. “Novels?”
“You’ve got her caged in there like an animal. She’s bored.”
