Enri stayed in the infirmary for a week straight. For a week straight, I stayed by her side day and night. For almost a week straight, Zann fussed and complained about it.

“Sitting here isn’t going to help her.” Zann was more the version of him that I knew: kingly, a little fatherly, and tired. It pissed me off.

“I don’t care.” I crossed my legs and leaned back in my chair. My book was still open in my hand and if I had to close it, I was going to lose it. “She stayed by me when I was down. I’m going to do the same for her.”

“Enri still did her job.”

“And what, exactly, is my job?” I slid my eyes away from the ceiling until they landed on him. He stiffened, determined not to show how startled he was.

A lot of people were doing that. When I looked at them, they would get startled, like I moved to attack them. I looked at myself in the mirror after to see if there was something different about me. There wasn’t. I still had the same wide nose, brown eyes, and thick eyebrows. Physically, there was nothing different.

But I had changed. It wasn’t just that I could wield all the elements without thinking about it, though that was useful. I could feel every vibration through the ground and subtle changes in the air. I always knew where people were relative to me and could even feel their heartbeats. But that wasn’t normal for mages, and I knew it. In my bones down to the marrow I was different, even if I couldn’t pinpoint what had changed.

Zann cleared his throat. “Your job now is to be my personal guard and learn the ins and outs of the war thus far while Enri is getting better. You aren’t much of a guard if you aren’t with me.”

“Hard to learn a job while my mentor is unconscious.” I looked back at my book. There weren’t a lot of fiction books to choose from, so I picked a book of myths and fables.

He looked disgruntled, but there would be very little he could argue with me about and win. He lost his leverage when he killed Sayla.

“Listen, after Enri wakes up and is on the mend, I’ll be a good little worker bee. Until then, leave me alone.”

He seemed to debate it for a moment in his head before nodding.

The only time I left Enri was to visit Arabri.

He was sweeping the pavilion when I arrived, and he smiled as he saw me. “Madam Kaiya.”

I placed my hand to my heart. “Head Priest. Can I have some of your time?”

He studied my face for a moment before beckoning someone to take his broom. “You’ve changed, dear.”

I shrugged. “That happens when you lose your other half.”

He nodded, turning to the temple. “Come with me. We’ll sit and talk a while.”

He led me into the temple and past the altar, towards a door I wouldn’t have been able to spot if I weren’t a mage. The room was small and plainly decorated. It had a few couches and chairs, a bar, and enough pillows and blankets for every person who could find a seat.

He sat on a worn armchair and gestured for me to take the couch adjacent. “Now, what can I help you with?”

“I’m not sure you know, but I’m not from Ornus. Enri summoned me here from Earth. I’ve been here for less than a year, so I have no reason to feel so connected to the temple, but I do. I feel like I’ve been here before. Not in this temple, but a temple. Just like this one. Even the robes you’re wearing seem familiar, though I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He frowned, looking like he’d just tasted something gross. “Have you even felt like this before? With anything else?”

I sat back and crossed my arms, thinking back. Nothing had felt so strong as when I came to the temple, but there had been a few other times.

“When I met Zann. And Enri. When I saw them, I felt like I’d met them before, but I’d had that feeling about people on Earth and it never meant anything. Except Enrique, but you don’t know him.” He popped up in my dreams far too often for it to be normal.

Arabri looked puzzled as he looked at me again. “You’re not from here and yet you’re sure you know people and places you couldn’t have possibly seen. Do you know who about the First Gods?”

I nodded. “Heksi is the god of magic. Ankth made him to soothe her loneliness. And Ankth is the creator of all things. The goddess of life and death.”

“Yes, but she’s also the goddess of rebirth. We live, we die, and we become again. Such is the cycle we are in. As a priest of Heksi, I have a little power that flows from him to me. With a bit of effort, I may be able to sense if there was any magic used to stagnate your cycles.” He held out his hand. “If I may.”

I placed my hand in his, and even though he seemed old and frail, I could feel power running through him. It wasn’t the magic I felt from Enri when she would cast spells or the magic I felt from my teachers. This felt denser than anything I’d felt before. It was disorienting, but I held it together as he closed his eyes and began to mutter something.

A shock passed through us and Arabri jerked his hand away like he’d been electrocuted. He looked baffled, then scared. “Who are you?”

“Kaiya,” I said, slowly. “Just Kaiya.”

He shook his head. “You are more than you realize. Far more than I am equipped to handle. You may continue to visit this temple, but know you will get no more help than any other patron. Seek a priest of Ankth if you wish to have more answers. Heksi has none for you.”

Since I had watched Sayla die, I had felt so little. It seemed that my emotions had dulled so much and I couldn’t even be bothered to be concerned about it. It was just another side effect of grief that made sense. But as he said that it felt like a stab to my chest. The pain of a god I didn’t know or worship rejecting me. No, it felt bigger than just rejection. It felt like my soul was being torn.

I had so many questions, but I wasn’t going to pester Arabri for answers he either didn’t have or didn’t want to give. I pushed the feeling away as I stood and bowed. “Thank you for listening to me. I’ll take my leave.”

I continued to stew, leaving to the library to look up more on Ankth, but the selection was mostly fables and religious studies I couldn’t wrap my head around.

When Enri did wake up, she looked weak still, but it gave me something else to think about. I gave her some water and the doctors and nurses fluttered around, making sure she had everything she needed. A cook came in shortly after to deliver her some soup. She set it down, clearly intending to feed Enri herself, but backed off after getting a glance at me.

As the flurry of activity faded and we were left alone again, I helped her sit up. Unlike everyone else, she seemed to just want to stare at me. She tried to feed herself, but her hands shook too much.

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It wasn’t until she was done eating that she spoke.

“You’re beautiful.”

I smiled. “That’s not the vibe others were giving me.”

“It’s startling, of course, but there’s no denying it.” She reached to touch my face, then pulled back as if she was going to smear a fresh painting.

“I think you’ve been in a coma too long.”

She shook her head. “Your magic is much…” She trailed off, struggling for the right word. “Sharper, I suppose, than magic normally is. Strong mages and sorcerers can be hard to look at when you can feel their signature, let alone see it. When you first saw my signature, it was too much for you. Anyone without proper control of magic wouldn’t be able to look at you right now. It feels like I’m staring at the glint of a blade I know is going to kill me.”

“Well,” I said, taking her hand. She jolted at my touch, but grasped tight. “I suppose that explains the reactions from everyone else.”

“How was Zann?”

“Better than Denma. He looked like he was going to shit his pants.”

Enri laughed, and it turned into a cough. She turned away as it got worse. As she leaned back against the metal frame, I helped her drink some water. “This is going to take a while.”

“What is?”

“Getting better.” She paused, as if trying to figure something out. “Everything went right, but the longer it took, the more it was going to wear me out. I don’t know if you could tell how long it lasted.” I shook my head. It was all pain to me, and it felt like an eternity. “It took eight hours for the ritual to complete. I knew there was a chance it could last that long, but I was hoping it wouldn’t.”

If I hadn’t gone catatonic for a month, it probably wouldn’t have. Guilt bubbled and settled in my chest. It was my constant companion and a little more only felt right.

“Where’s Zann?”

“I don’t know. He stopped visiting after I told him I would play guard when you woke up.”

She raised a brow. “Really? And he just let you stay without putting up a fight?”

“He has nothing to hang over my head. My friends are in his personal guard, you’re bedridden for the foreseeable future, and my sister is dead. Not much else to be done.”

She frowned and looked at our hands. “I’m sorry, Kaiya. I had forgotten the control I’d given him in his war room. I warded a few rooms through the castle a decade ago to let him stop people in place when he said that phrase. I should have seen it coming.”

“If you hadn’t done that, he would have found another way. He wanted me broken, and that’s what he did. Whether you were accidentally complicit or not, it was still an accident and I’m not concerned with that.” Zann’s malicious and cruel intent was the only thing I gave a shit about.

She squeezed my hand. “Still. I want to make it right, though I’m still working out how.”

“You can start by resting. I’m not qualified to look after you in any meaningful way, so I’ll leave that to the staff, but if you need anything, just let me know.”

“I suppose you did scare off everyone else.” She smiled again. “If you’re ready, you can go to him now. No rush, of course. I always enjoy your company.”

I wanted to talk to her about what Arabri said, but she had enough on her plate. “Will you be okay for now? I don’t have to worry about you croaking, will I?”

She laughed again, this time spared from a coughing fit. “No, Kaiya. It may take a while, but I’ll be on my feet again. I wouldn’t die on you without repaying you first.”

I rolled my eyes and stood. “Doctor.” A squeak sounded from behind the door as the round-faced man I used to joke with after every training session came forward, eyes cast to the ground. “I’m going to leave. Take care of her.”

“O-Of course, Madam Kaiya.” He bowed, staying bent over until I left the room. It was going to take getting used to, but I suppose that it wouldn’t be much different. I’d ignored the bowing and now I had to ignore the title.

Zann was easy to find. He was generally in a few places at any given time: his war room, his bedroom, the town, or his throne room.

Today, he was in the war room. My teachers, Vanli, Sanyr, and the personal guard stood around the table. They had cleaned the blood up and put the table back in its original position. I stood at the door while he spoke.

He pointed to the map on the table as he spoke. “So far, we’ve won battles here, here, here, and here. We’ve lost here and here and come to a draw here and here.” He was pointing mostly to the border between Yvanta and Ariseph, but for the draws, he went south to the Minbu border. “Minbu and Ariseph have been allies for decades, closer than the other eight domains, so it’s no surprise they’ve finally joined the effort. That said, if we can get Feral to actually fight for us, then Rarilo will join in turn.”

“Is that why you’ve been sending missives to Fera? Aside from, you know, getting a team together to murder my sister?”

He glared, but looked away quickly. “Are you simply going to lurk in the doorway or come in?”

“I’m not going to step foot in this room again.”

“I—”

“Command it all you like, you’re still not my king and you never have been. Pick a different room and I’ll join you. Until then, I stay out here.”

Someone took a breath, as if to say something, but as I swung my gaze around the room, I could feel all of them stop breathing for a moment. I wanted a closer look at that map, but I knew I couldn’t handle walking in there.

He waved his hand. “Stay there, then. And to answer your question, that is the reason I’ve been sending missives. I’ve been hoping to get her to join me. It’s slow going, but I believe we’re making progress.”

I found that hard to believe, but kept my mouth shut as he continued. “Minbu has been antagonizing us since we were founded, but that’s nothing new. We’re used to the skirmishes, but they’ve declared war on us in defense of Ariseph. Our goal now is to make a decisive, winning blow on both ends. If this continues, it could turn into something much worse than it is now.

“Now that we have Kaiya as a fully realized mage, we simply have to choose which point of contact we’ll make first.”

“We can do it simultaneously.” Vanli stared down at the map, her scar shining in the light. It looked better than the last time I saw it. “Kaiya on her own is a one-man army. If we concentrate our forces on Ariseph, she can take Minbu. If Queen Forana comes through in time, she’ll be able to help us on the Ariseph front and Rarilo can help on the Minbu front. Feran soldiers are only second to us and Rarians are trained with Feran techniques.”

The chances of Forana agreeing to help Zann in his stupid war were very slim. Aside from having more compassion in her pinkie than Zann had in his whole body, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to drag her country into a war they didn’t care about.

What Zann was likely doing was dragging things out until he could safely return Enri to Fera, assassinate the queen, and prop Enri up. Then, using the binding vow, make Enri lead the army to his aid. It would work, too, if Enri hadn’t broken the vow.

That was the real reason Enri had expended so much energy. Aside from the ritual being a drain on her life, it was the perfect cover to break the vow. It required a lot of energy and time to get everything done, and with Zann knowing nothing about sorcery, it was easy to sneak it in.

It was dangerous, of course, but Enri decided well before I knew of it to do both at once.

Zann nodded, stroking his beard. “That is good. And if the Rarians decide not to fight, we can ask for Feral soldiers to be split. One side to reinforce Kaiya and the other to reinforce our troops.”

“And where would you prefer us to go, Your Majesty?” Iljana was studying the map, though his eyes would flicker towards me occasionally. “I believe it might be best for us to stay and defend home territory.”

“I agree,” Ikae said. “If we were to be stationed elsewhere, it would leave us almost defenseless.”

Vanli refrained from rolling her eyes. Barely. “I would appreciate if you didn’t disparage my troops.”

“I’m not disparaging,” Ikae said. His tone was sincere, but I could never truly believe it. He did nothing while my sister was kidnapped and murdered. He must have known. The four of them were in Zann’s inner circle. “I’m only saying that alone, each of us has the power of twenty of your troops combined. It would be more strategic to leave us here than leave sixty troops.”

“Fair enough. If you four were to be left here, it would have to be in places that catered to your element. Evada notwithstanding.”

“Send me wherever, general,” Evada said. She was leaned back in her chair, staff laying across her lap, tipping it on the back two legs. “I’ll make them run away with their tail between their legs.”

Zann sat back and crossed his arm. “I trust that all of you will play your parts when the time comes.” He looked around the room until his eyes landed on me. He struggled to maintain eye contact. “All of you.”