He recoiled beneath the fabric of his cloak, away from the emerging sheen of the moon. As she refused his shame, the figure could not bear for her to behold his ugliness instead.

“I’ll never know redemption if history repeats my mistakes,” he murmured, hiding within the hood. “Coveting what was not meant to be mine. Taking what should never be stolen.”

Her hand glided into a concealed pocket in her skirts. Retrieving a pouch, she cradled it carefully as she replied, “You couldn’t have been the first to stumble upon your revelations about my kind, and I doubt you will be the last, as evidenced by the cross-caste slayings.” Her face tilted to the side, though he no longer stood there. “Why target the children? Why the unascended, instead of the full-blooded parent?”

Her inquiry rescued him from recounting his transgressions; from recalling the moment he’d become new and unnatural, more beast than man. The figure paused, pushing past the stain on his soul. In answering, he leveraged his disgraceful studies from so long ago against his firsthand experience of the hunger.

“I’m unsure, Mistress,” he offered plainly. “Possibly a mutation in the young, or some prematurity, even…”

The veining across the backs of her hands became more pronounced as she gripped the pouch tightly. “Who else would know to seek such an irregularity?”

The figure’s serrated teeth raked the interior of his mouth as he ground them together, cataloging his list of contacts from his previous life. Outdated and subject to the limitations of his former station, there was no way to be certain.

“Very few parties,” the figure admitted. “Least of all a rich yancy from Agoston.”

Without comment, she rested the pouch on the ledge. Vials chimed inside the knotted sack when it hit the rock. Begrudgingly, the figure came forward to take them. The glasses jangled as he slipped the pouch under his cloak.

“The rules are changing, Mistress,” he reminded her, redirecting her thoughts toward the future. “With Korbin’s death, Boreal could be at even greater risk within the Ethnicam. Things will be different now that you are operating as the succeeded sil’Haidren.”

“The rules haven’t changed—the board has.” Alora laced her elegant fingers. “Overnight, the political landscape has evolved in ways we could never have foreseen. Where Luscia walks as Haidren, I cannot go before her.”

“Has she become aware of her condition?”

“Niit.” Alora shook her head firmly. The strands escaping her braid swept past her cheek. “Nor will she. The fate of the realm rests on Luscia’s shoulders. She can never learn how fragile they really are.”

He noted the minor tremors in her expression as she rubbed at her wrist. The years had done little to suppress his instinct to reach out and comfort her. Denying the impulse, the figure instead lifted his gloved hand and stroked the slick feathers down Amaranth’s back.

“I will not lead you away from your conscience this time,” he assured Alora. “Not again.”

Alora twisted toward the figure. Her eyes, alight with desperation, sought the man he used to be. “One day the High One will forgive us both.” She smiled weakly. “But until that day, we are still here, given the chance to redeem our mistakes. So that is what we will do.” Alora stepped closer and joined him, caressing the hawk. “That is what we will do, my dearest.”

Though she said it to Amaranth, Alora called her the same words once reserved for him. And for a fleeting second, she glanced past the bird.

“Se’lah Aurynth.”

Within the expanse of a stolen moment, the figure forgot his name, for his name had only ever held meaning when it passed her lips. Finishing her proverb, he felt a spark beneath his tongue.

“Rul’Aniell.”

Glossary of Terms

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      Orynthia

–Universal–

al’Haidren: /al-Hay-dren/ The next representative in line to sit on the royal heir’s Quadren, typically the closest blood relative from the generation behind the current Haidren

Breakaway: Term for a member of the Outer Houses who chooses to live in Unitarian lands, typically in Bastiion Proper

Cross-caste: Split lineage; an individual of two separate Houses

Ethnicam: The term used when referring to the assembly or association of all four Orynthian Houses

Forgotten Wars: Name given to the unknown events that led to the Old-World’s destruction

Hagarh: /HAY-gar/ Wetlands opposite the Miraji Forest inhabited by nomadic peoples

Haidren: /HAY-dren/ A legal, judicial, and social representative of his or her corresponding House, seated on the current ruler’s Quadren

House: The collection of a people and their preserved, self-governed territory within Orynthian borders, though still beholden to the throne

Interim Haidren: The next familial relation to the Haidren, though sometimes elected by the House; put in place when the rightful Haidren is deceased or incapacitated

Orynthia: /OR-in-thee-Uh/ Central kingdom comprised of four Houses and governed by the royal line of Thoarne and the Ethnicam

Outer Houses: Self-governed Houses on the outskirts of the Unitarian lands

Quadren: The committee of advisors encircling each Orynthian ruler, consisting of one Haidren from each House

The Wastes: A barren, uninhabitable wasteland on the eastern side of the Yachel Channel

War-taint: Residual, toxic poisoning as a result of the Forgotten Wars

War-tainted: An individual, animal, or land harboring the symptoms of war-taint

Witchiron: Najjani weaponry; slang

      House of Bastiion

–Lowlands & Plains–

Auras: /AUHR-rahs/ Gold coin of Bastiion origin; adopted by all Houses

Bastiion: /BAHS-tee-ON/ Crown city of Orynthia

Byrnnzite: /BERN-zite/ An organic composite of petrified ash, wood, and Old-World metallics

Crupas: /CROO-pahs/ Copper coin of Bastiion origin; adopted by all Houses

Drifting Bazaar: Merchant market of floating stalls along the bank of the Thoarne Bay

Dromas: /DROH-mahs/ Silver coin of Bastiion origin; adopted by all Houses

Inner Proper: Walled and fortified inner city of Bastiion encompassing the palace, Marketown, upper- and lower-class districts

Marketown: Mass market within the streets of Bastiion’s inner Proper