“So, where do you think Cyrene will go from here?” Eren asked Rhea.

He was hunched over a map in the study attached to the war room in Krisana. He had taken it over, despite the complaints from Captain Merrick, King Edric’s personal Royal Captain of the Guard, that the King’s guards would find more use for it.

Rhea was under the impression that Captain Merrick had no interest in Cyrene’s rescue even though, more than a month later, it was still King Edric’s top priority. Captain Merrick was a man who, first and foremost, looked after his job. That job just didn’t always coincide with what anyone wanted, the King included. Rhea was starting to despise any time she had to be around the man.

“Oh, it’s hard to know where the kidnapper will take her,” Rhea said. She had been staring at Eren’s profile while he worked, and she needed to focus. “Perhaps the capital. They have the largest seaport on this side of Emporia. He could take her anywhere from there.”

“Yes, but so many pieces don’t add up. Why not get a ship out of the Albion port? It’s not as big as Aurum but not insubstantial either. Why take Cyrene across Aurum? Where is the kidnapper headed?”

“I doubt he thought he would be pursued.” She cast her eyes over his sharp cheekbones and up to his focused eyes. When he met her gaze, she glanced away. Her cheeks flamed at his attention.

“He must not have. I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude for the rescue of one Affiliate, but with all the First Class deaths lately…”

He cringed, as he surely must have thought about Zorian, his brother and another member of the High Order. He had died earlier this year on his way to Cyrene’s Presenting, and Eren had taken it hard. Rhea was certain it was part of the reason he had agreed to search for Cyrene.

“We have to keep searching after all the loss.”

“It’s a necessity,” she said, gently placing her hand over his.

His eyes shot up to hers.

She quickly retrieved her hand. “So long as they don’t get a ship out of Aurum.”

“She would be impossible to track,” he agreed. After a pause, he reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I won’t let that happen to her.”

She shifted in her seat and wished away the warmth touching her cheeks. “Or Maelia?”

His face fell, and he stepped away. Creator, why do I keep doing this? She could have just let it be. Every time she thought she saw affection between them, she would wedge the block in.

“Yes, Maelia, too, of course.”

“So, Aurum then,” she added softly.

“Rhea, I—”

The door crashed inward, and Rhea jumped up. Eren reached for his sword and threw himself in front of her. In walked King Edric. Rhea immediately felt foolish for being so terrified and dropped into a respectable curtsy. Eren bowed low next to her.

“Rise,” he said curtly.

When she glanced up at the King, she noticed that he was a bundle of tension. His shoulders were high, his face set in a stern scowl, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Captain Merrick walked in after him.

“I’ve news that the kidnappers recaptured High Order Ahlvie and left the city with Cyrene in tow. They were pursued, but the guards lost them after they took a ferryboat from the docks on the Huyek River,” the King growled.

Rhea put her hand to her mouth. They had gotten away. She tried not to look relieved in front of the King and Eren, who knew her so well.

“What of Maelia?” Eren asked.

“Safe,” the King said. “Prince Kael managed to do one thing right in all of this.”

He unclenched and clenched his fists. He was at the boiling point, ready to explode at any moment. She would not want to be the one on that end of the tether.

Eren visibly relaxed at the news. He had been worried. Guilt ate at her.

“My idiot brother has decided to go on to the capital to try to sniff out the kidnapper. He believes that is their destination and paid no heed to how it would appear to ride into the capital city with a battalion of the Royal Guard. Even though our sister is there, she cannot stop war if it comes to her doorstep. She was always a weak child, and I suspect nothing less. The fact that she could stave King Iolair off from retaliation for our forces in their country for this long is a welcome surprise.”

“What would you have me work on, Your Majesty?” Eren asked dutifully.

Captain Merrick stepped forward. “His Majesty feels as if this mission is coming to a close for you.” His sharp eyes took one glance at Rhea, and then he added, “For you both.”

“A close?” Eren asked in surprise. “They haven’t even reached Aurum. We still have hope,” he pleaded with the King, a man he considered his friend.

Rhea could already see the King was lost. He felt something for Cyrene. Her absence and the chase of trying to rescue her had turned to an obsession. Everyone always loved Cyrene, but this…to make the King fall victim to her, both amazed and terrified her.

King Edric turned from Eren, as if to walk out, but then added at the door, “Listen to Captain Merrick. He is a good man. He has your new assignments.”

“Edric,” Eren protested.

“What more would you have your King do?” Captain Merrick asked, stepping in his path. “Byern is vulnerable with a sizable number of our guards on foreign soil. The possibility of war is imminent. Sending any more to retrieve the Affiliate while Crown Prince Kael, second in line for the Dremylon throne, is in the country would be sending him to his death.”

King Edric rested his hand on the doorframe before he spoke again, “If Kael cannot bring her back from Aurum with the guards already in the field, I will consider it a lost cause. A number to add to the death toll.”

And, with that, he walked out, leaving them alone with Captain Merrick, who looked much too satisfied for such an ominous exit.

“High Order Eren, you will return from procession to the capital city to resume your work henceforth.”

Eren didn’t flinch, but Rhea could see his irritation in the set of his jaw. “Thank you, Captain.”

Rhea wanted to reach out and comfort Eren. He was to leave to go back to Byern, and she might never see him again. She should have known that it was too good to be true to be in his company all this time. He was First Class, returning to Byern, and she was a Second, forever to remain in Albion where Master Barca’s home was. It had always been an impossibility.

“Rhea Gramm,” Captain Merrick said, drawing her attention.

“Yes, sir,” she said timidly.

“Master Barca has agreed to accompany the court back to Byern for the Eos holiday festivities. You are to travel with him and report to court on his progress.”

Rhea’s eyes bulged. “Master Barca is…moving?”

“He was persuaded to take up a new residence during the holiday season and while we have a military threat at our backs.”

She assumed persuaded meant that they were physically removing him from his house because she never saw the man leaving otherwise. He was a recluse, brilliantly mad, and a bit superstitious.

“Do you know what progress he has made with militarizing his Bursts?” Captain Merrick asked suspiciously.

The damn Bursts. Master Barca spent more time on his fireworks for his own amusement than on using them to build a military device, but she wasn’t about to tell the Captain that. If he wanted it military ready, then he was going to need someone other than a genius scientist to engineer it.

“It’s going quite well. Almost ready to be fully tested,” she lied.

“Good. See that it is,” he said. Then, he turned on his heel and walked out of the war room.

“I guess I’m going back to Byern,” Rhea said, turning to Eren.

Despite everything that had happened, the smile on his face seemed to right everything in the world. She was to go home. Eren would be there as well. She prayed to the Creator for Cyrene’s safety and secretly for Maelia not to return.