Seraiah awoke with a pain in her neck. She blinked blearily at the table in front of her as she rubbed a hand against the tight muscles. Pools of wax and the open journal lay before her. She must have fallen asleep here last night.

After the candle had gone out, she’d sat there in the dark, her thoughts racing. She hadn’t been able to force herself to get up and go to bed when there was so much to think about—to consider.

Seraiah stopped rubbing her neck and flipped the journal closed. Even now, it all felt like a dream. Discovering there was a way to call the visions at will, but also that they had a dangerous side effect.

I’m going to go mad, she thought. If I keep trying to help people, I’m going to go mad.

But what if Atherly was mistaken?

Kai and Kestrel had known him when they were children. She could ask them about him. They might know if he was truly mad or if there were rumors about him.

On second thought, she couldn’t have them asking questions about why she wanted to know. They might figure out the potential for madness that came with using her visions and would want her to stop. They’d want to protect her and would try to sway her decision. No, for now she must keep it to herself until she made up her mind about what she wanted to do. Only she could be allowed to decide if she was willing to sacrifice herself for others.

An image of Sterling’s shadowed eyes flashed through her head.

What if it was already too late for her? Sterling had accused her of being paranoid, and it felt like she was seeing things that weren’t truly there when the shadows in Sterling’s eyes disappeared between one blink and the next. Could it be the madness was already taking hold of her?

Footsteps in the hall startled her from her thoughts. The others were already moving about for the day, which meant she needed to get moving as well. She had more searching to do in the castle.

Seraiah stood from the desk and stretched, her back and shoulders protesting after a night spent sleeping in a chair. Her gaze went to the journal again.

Who knows, perhaps there was a cure for the madness. Atherly may not have mentioned one in the entries she had read, but that didn’t mean one didn’t exist. If the Summer King had given her a potion to summon a vision, then maybe. . . maybe . . .

Seraiah crossed to the washstand and splashed water on her face. The iciness felt like needles against her skin and cleared the remaining haze of sleep. Now was not the time to be thinking about paying a visit to the Summer King. Her help was needed here in the human world.

Seraiah rubbed at her neck again, this time tracing the dark mark that ran down the side. It had been itching lately and seemed to be growing bigger again. What had started as a small spot the size of a fingerprint now stretched down to caress her collarbone.

She sighed and dropped her hand. There were only so many things she could worry about at once and right now her main concern was finding the missing people using her visions. Everything else would have to wait.

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Kai found Seraiah leaning against the low stone wall encircling the training area at the castle. He’d tried to catch her before she left the inn, but she’d somehow slipped past him. She must have skipped breakfast and come straight here.

“Morning,” he said, joining her at the fence. On the other side, Kestrel and Sterling sparred with wooden practice swords. “Did you sleep well?”

To Seraiah’s credit, she didn’t jump, so she must have heard his approach.

“Fine. Same as always,” she said, not moving her gaze from the ring.

The dark smudges marring the pale skin under her eyes told him she must have spent many hours awake. From what little she’d shared, she hadn’t made any progress with calling a vision, and that didn’t appear to have changed.

“Yourself?” she added belatedly, sounding distracted.

“Same as you. Did you know you have candle wax in your hair?”

That finally got her to look away from the fighting pair. “What?” She touched the end of her braid, her cheeks turning a faint pink.

“Here.” Kai plucked the bit from a strand near her forehead. “You shouldn’t keep candles on your pillow. It’s a fire hazard.” He tucked the loose strands behind her ear, letting his fingers linger. He should have been wearing gloves to protect against the cold, but he’d left them back in his room.

At a cry from the ring, Seraiah pulled away with a mumbled thank you, and he let his hand fall back to his side.

“Good job,” Kestrel said to Sterling as she shoved her wooden blade away. “Now, let’s see you do it again.”

The thwack of wood against wood filled the air a moment later.

“Sterling seems to be doing well in her training with Kestrel,” Kai said.

Seraiah snorted. “She’s certainly much better than I ever was. She’ll pass my skills soon if she hasn’t already.” There was a wistful note in her voice. “I should go.” She turned toward the stone building behind them. “I have more searching to do.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Or you could stay,” he said, moving into her path before she take more than a step, “and you could practice. If you’re concerned about your skills getting rusty—”

She folded her arms and tilted her chin up to look at him. “I am not. Besides, Kestrel is busy with Sterling now, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from her, given how much Sterling seems to enjoy it. There’s little enough to make her happy these days.”

He heard her unspoken words. There was little enough to make any of them happy. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d seen her smile.

“I wasn’t suggesting practicing with Kestrel,” he told her. “She isn’t the only one here who knows how to handle a blade. Or have you forgotten?” He deliberately let his eyes drop to the dagger he’d gifted her and later stolen from her when she’d let her guard down. He’d noticed she never went anywhere without it, despite the fact that they were alone in the city.

Seraiah took a step back from him, hand falling to the hilt of the weapon as though she were afraid he would try to take it again. “Aren’t you busy with other things? I wouldn’t think you had the time.”

“I always have time for you.”

Color spread across Seraiah’s face again.

Kai had nothing but time these days. Beyond working with Sterling on her magic, he was essentially useless here. Sure, he looked for clues of what had happened to the missing people, but it wasn’t as though he’d ever found anything. He had a few vague theories at best.

He was stuck, and frankly, he could use the distraction.

“What do you say? One bout. Winner doesn’t have to cook dinner.”

They all took turns with meals, and no one liked the chore.

Seraiah raised one brow. “I think it would be a mercy for us all if I let you win.”

He pressed a hand to his chest. “You wound me. I am an excellent cook.”

He wasn’t, but at least he’d never started anything on fire. The same could not be said of Sterling, and she hadn’t even used magic. He still didn’t quite understand how she’d managed to do it with only a pot of boiling water.

Seraiah smirked. It wasn’t quite the smile he was hoping for, but it was close enough.

“Even if I said yes, there isn’t space. We’d have to clear more snow, and I don’t have the time nor the desire to spend . . . ”

Kai flicked his fingers at the snow around them. In the blink of an eye, he’d pushed it back to expose the frozen ground beneath in a perfect circle. It would have been easier to return it all to water, but then they’d have a muddy mess to deal with.

Seraiah stared at the ground and then at him. “Could you get rid of all of it?”

“Unfortunately, no. I’m not at my full strength, so this is my limit,” he admitted. “I also didn’t get rid of the snow. I only moved it. Perhaps someone with more power could do better.” He looked to where Sterling was fighting Kestrel.

“She’s truly that strong?” Seraiah asked softly.

“Potentially. If we could find a way to unlock it.”

Seraiah nodded as if to herself and then said, “One bout, and then I need to go to the library.”

Kai grinned and went to retrieve another set of practice swords.

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The wooden sword Kai had handed her felt large and unwieldy in her hands. Seraiah took a few practice swings and immediately felt it in her arm. It had been weeks since her training with Kestrel, and she felt every one of them.

This is a waste of time, she thought as she watched Kai with his own practice sword. It wasn’t like she could win against him. All she would do was embarrass herself and end up with aches and pains for days.

She frowned down at the sword. It wasn’t too late to back out and return to her plan of searching the library.

“Ready?” Kai called. “Don’t tell me you’re already giving up.”

On the other side of the wall, Kestrel and Sterling still moved around one another, not paying any attention to the two of them.

Seraiah hefted the wooden sword, resting the flat of it on her shoulder. “Never,” she said. “You know I don’t quit.”

A grin broke out over Kai’s face. “That’s what I love about you.”

She nearly choked. He surely hadn’t meant it like that. “Yes, well, can’t wait to see what you come up with for dinner tonight.”

Kai blocked her first move easily, dancing back out of reach. He was taller and stronger than her. His reach was farther, but she was faster—or she would be if she were using her dagger and not this stupid piece of wood.

They circled each other, came together and pushed apart again. The second time she got close to landing a hit, she realized he was going easy on her. She shouldn’t have been able to get near him, and she knew she had left herself open several times, but he never took the chance.

Seraiah returned to the edge of the ring of snow, letting the point of her sword rest on the ground.

“Is that how it’s going to be?” she called to him. Her arm was burning.

“What do you mean?” He was watching her but made no move toward her.

She pushed sweaty strands of hair off her forehead. She’d tossed her cloak over the low wall before they’d started, but she still felt much too hot.

“You know what I mean. I should have lost several times over already.”

“Maybe I’m warming up. You don’t want it to be over, do you?”

Seraiah scowled. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Do it right or not at all.”

He gave an exaggerated sigh. “All right. If you insist.”

She lifted her sword, and they circled again. It only took a second for the weapon to go flying from her hand.

Before Kai could tap her with his sword, she darted out of reach.

“Now what are you going to do?” he asked her. He stood between her and her sword. There was no way she could retrieve it. She was fast, but she wasn’t that fast.

Kai favored his left side. She remembered the silver scar she had seen there at the bottom of his ribs. A weak spot.

She pretended to run for her weapon, but at the last second changed directions, ramming her shoulder into his side. It was almost like hitting a wall, but it worked. She caught him by surprise, and thanks to her momentum, they went down in a tangle of limbs.

Seraiah’s fingers went for her thigh. She may not have the practice sword anymore, but she did have her dagger. She pulled it free. He’d never said she couldn’t use it.

She’d intended to hold it to his throat, but she never made it that far.

Apparently, Kai wasn’t nearly as stunned as he’d pretended to be, because in the blink of an eye, he flipped them, pinning her wrists on either side of her head. He made no move to take her dagger, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she could move, anyway. He held her in place with his weight.

“Were you planning to stab me?” he asked.

She didn’t answer, only stared defiantly up at him. She’d been so sure she had it.

Kai grinned and leaned closer, the tips of his silver hair brushing her cheek. “I think this means I win. I’m sure dinner will be delicious.”

The ground beneath her was cold, but every place where she pressed against him felt like it was on fire. It might have been her imagination, but she thought he was getting closer.

Someone cleared their throat, and Kai jerked away.

Seraiah had forgotten all about Sterling and Kestrel.

“And what’s going on here?” Kestrel asked.

“A bet,” Kai answered at the same time Seraiah said, “Practicing my sword skills.”

“Uh-huh, and where exactly is this sword?”

Kai made a sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh as he helped her stand. Sterling watched them with one raised brow and a knowing look.

Seraiah, for her part, wanted to melt into the ground. She slipped her dagger back into its sheath. “It’s late,” she said without looking at anyone. “I should be getting to the library now.”

Then she fled.