Dark storm clouds pressed against the recently repaired windows of the office as Emily stood alone, looking down at the city below. It had been over a week since they had come, refusing to shift despite the strong wind that persisted. Only the evening before had she finally been allowed to leave the infirmary, despite waking three days earlier.

Between them, Thomas and Arthur had filled her in on everything that had happened, although she had hardly seen the former since then. She had sat alone each night, waiting for Lewis to return, to no avail. She had wanted to be angry at him for not waiting with her, but before she could manage that, she had somewhere deep down accepted his decision. Now, she just waited for him to return. In the last couple of days, she had been growing more and more anxious. He should be back by now, shouldn't he?

'Emily, there you are,' Thomas said, appearing in the doorway. She continued to stare out at the city, watching him approach in the reflection of the glass. 'I was looking for you.'

'Have you had any news?' she asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.

'Tristan has returned. One of our scouts sent word to us from Oria.'

'What about Lewis? The others?'

'There's been no sign of any of them, Edmund as well, for that matter,' Thomas said. He reached out a hand, placing it on her shoulder gently. 'I know it's not what you wanted to hear.

'He's not gone. He'll find his way back; he always does,' she said with as much defiance as she could muster.

'There are whispers going around that they arrived in Oria and then went back to the leylines from there. No one has seen or heard from them since. That was getting on for two weeks ago.'

'He isn't gone; I know it,' she repeated, placing a protective hand on her abdomen. 'This baby will have their father back; they have to.'

'I certainly hope, by some miracle, that he will find his way back too,' Thomas said. 'I know it doesn't bear thinking about, but at some point, we do need to discuss the possibility that he might not be able to return for some time.'

'I thought he left you in charge in his absence?'

'He did, but we still need to discuss the succession of the crown,' Thomas said. He hesitated for a moment. 'Should the worst come to the worst.'

'You think that Lewis is dead, then?'

'Until we have proof, one way or another, we should be prepared, just in case.'

'I told you; he isn't dead. I would know,' Emily said firmly, finally turning away from the window to look at Thomas.

'Very well,' Thomas said, taking a step back. 'In any event, it would do well to convene a council to discuss the situation. If Tristan does indeed walk this earth again, then we need to decide how we will prepare for that.'

'Alright,' she sighed. 'Who do you need to gather? Let's get this over with as quickly as possible.'

'I hoped you might have some ideas. I know something of the politics, but I don't know the people here anywhere near as well as you do. We need people we can trust—people who Lewis trusted.’

'Besides ourselves and Arthur, there isn't really anyone left. They all already went with him into the leylines,' she replied. 'I guess we could get Lillian, the older one; she might be useful. I know he trusts Robyn, but she used to work at the bakery with him, so I don't know what she could bring to a war council. Clara, I guess?'

Thomas sighed, scratching his chin. 'Would he have trusted the precursors who showed up here with Edward?'

'I don't know. He trusted Olivia, but she went back with the Cimant people after the coronation. We could try and reach out to her to help; she'll know some of the precursors at least,' Emily said.

'I'll see if we can get a scout out to reach her. It's a start at least,' he said. 'I'll call the other captains of the guard as well. How much we tell them right now, I'm not sure, but I think it would be best to make sure the patrols of the city are extra vigilant until we know if or when Tristan plans to make a move on the city.'

Emily nodded. 'Do we want to do this tonight or in the morning?'

She could feel him judging her condition and weighing up her recovery so far. 'We'll meet here for breakfast. That should give me enough time to gather everyone who is at the castle and get a scout on the road to find Olivia.'

'Alright, I'll speak to Lillian, Robyn and Arthur before I go to bed,' she said. 'Do you really think there's a war coming?'

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

'I hope we can avoid it, of course, but I fear we might not be able to forever,' Thomas said as he began to make his way towards the door, Emily a couple of paces behind him. 'If Tristan is half as dangerous as they say he used to be, then the longer we can avoid all-out war, the better.'

'I wouldn't even know where to start.'

Thomas raised his eyebrows. 'Don't worry, this is far beyond my expertise as well.'

Emily grimaced as she watched him go. She knew that Lewis had no experience with this sort of thing either, but somehow, he always seemed to have a way to say something that would calm and reassure her. It was something she had noticed ever since they had first escaped the city when they met. She wished she could just see him and speak to him right now. Running a hand through her hair tiredly, she watched Thomas disappear around the corner and out of sight.

She hesitated; she knew she should go and find Lillian, Robyn and Arthur, but a part of her just wanted to sit down for a while and rest. Since she had woken in the infirmary, it had felt like one thing after another. Her life had felt a bit like that ever since the night Sebastian died. With a sigh, she turned back to the office; surely a few minutes of peace and quiet couldn't hurt.

It was so quiet for a change, she thought as she took Lewis' chair behind the desk, the one she had spent years seeing Sebastian sit in for hours at a time. It was far more comfortable than it looked. Now she understood how both of them had managed to sit there for hours at a time, working or, in Sebastian's case, occasionally dozing off when he was working late. She glanced down at some of the paperwork that sat neatly stacked to one side, signed and notarized by Thomas in Lewis' absence. None of it meant anything to her.

Emily leaned back in the chair, allowing herself to sink back into the plush velvet, and closed her eyes. Where was Lewis now, she wondered. Despite Thomas insisting that it would be a good idea to make plans in case the worst had happened, she knew he was out there, somewhere. She could feel the darkness that came with sleep closing in on her, as much as she tried to fight it.

In the shadows behind her eyelids, she saw movement—the rapidly fading light of a sunset shining through a narrow slit. There were figures moving ahead of them, three of them cast as silhouettes by the receding sun. She had seen this before—the same narrow, horizontal slit of light—only for the briefest moments. It had been over so quickly that she hadn't thought much of it—perhaps an aftereffect of the poison left inside her.

Emily tried to focus, allowing her mind to explore the space and try to understand it. Her skin felt cold; she was enveloped in something that was freezing, despite the feeling that beyond it she should be warm. 'Where am I?' she whispered. There was no response, only a gentle breeze across her eyes and the bridge of her nose.

She tried to listen to get more details about the three figures walking ahead of her. No matter how far she moved, they continued to maintain the same distance ahead of her. Whenever she'd had visions before, they had always come as a series of different moments jammed together in quick succession, but this was different. 'We're here,' a man said, his voice drifting back to her.

The angle changed so that the sun was no longer shining directly into her eyes, and for the first time, she was able to pick out details of what was around her. They stood in the shadow of a towering sandstone building with a huge wooden door ahead of them. 'What are we going to do with him? Wouldn't it be better to do what we need to now and save lugging this sarcophagus around all the time?' It took the voice a moment to register with her as her blood ran cold, and that was before she had even processed what George had said.

He was standing off to one side, and the other two men were waiting patiently by the door for someone to answer it. Other than a couple of partially healed cuts on his face, he looked the same as ever. 'Patience is a virtue, one I feel that you lack for all your enthusiasm. Yes, I could do it here and throw Lewis' body into the sandstorms, never to be found again, but it takes time, and we have resources we need to acquire if we are to rebuild our home. You are certain that they are held here within the emperor's palace, Kannan?'

'Of course, I'm sure,' the man said. He cut a frustrated figure, one hand scratching at his temple through the short black hair, his dark skin glistening with sweat, dust, and dirt clinging to it. 'After one of the jewels was stolen, Emperor El-Farha wouldn't let the other two out of his sight.'

'What do you mean, one of them was stolen?' The taller man asked. If not for the age difference and his dark hair having white tips, he could have been George's twin.

'Someone broke into the Vault of Oria and took it,' Kannan said nonchalantly.

'Why am I only finding out about this now?'

'You asked me where the emperor kept the Dewdrop Jewels now. He keeps the two he has here since the other one was stolen,' Kannan said. 'Specificity is very crucial sometimes; you know that, Tristan.'

Emily exhaled sharply. She began to panic; here she was, standing in their presence, seemingly without their knowledge. How long could that last, though? She tried to pull back, away from what she was seeing, but she felt a hand grasp hers just as the door opened to reveal a man she recognised as Emperor El-Farha.

His mouth moved, but his voice now seemed so distant, barely even there at all. She could see Tristan and Kannan talking as well, but she no longer heard their words. 'Please, stay. I'm trapped; they're taking me with them to reclaim their home,' Lewis' voice whispered.

'Lewis? You're here?' She whispered back.

'They're all gone; we couldn't stop them. Russell betrayed us. He's Kannan; he worked for Tristan at a prison where they held precursors once.'

'I'll find you; we'll find you and get you out, I promise,' she said. She wished she could see him, but all she could see was what was happening beyond the narrow slit of light in the darkness.

'He's so dangerous,' Lewis breathed. 'The sword, he destroyed it without even thinking.'

'It's okay; we'll find you, and then we'll worry about stopping Tristan,' she said, trying to reassure herself as much as Lewis.

'Be careful, please. You need to look after the baby.'

'I will; we'll all be back together soon, I promise,' she said, fighting back tears. 'I love you; we're coming to get you. I promise.'

'I love you too,' he said as the grip on her hand relinquished and his voice seemed to drift into the distance, the light from the slit in the darkness fading away.

Blinking back tears, Emily found herself alone in the office, slumped in the chair. Outside, the dark storm clouds remained, pressed against the glass, but there was light somewhere beyond them. It must be morning, she thought, massaging her neck as she pushed herself up with one hand, the other wiping away the tears on her cheeks. He was alive; she knew it. She had to find Thomas and the others.