All day, on the last leg of their cross-country journey, Aurum stood out like a beacon on the horizon. The giant stone castle stood atop a hill, overlooking the red, cream, and brown buildings of the seaside city. Five large lanes cut into the city and went down to the central port, which was filled, day and night, with hundreds of ships of various shapes and sizes from all around the world.

Halfway through the day, Orden and Ceis’f returned from scouting and informed the rest of the party that the road seemed to be clear of Royal Guard. Cyrene was glad for that, but she didn’t think it put them out of harm’s way. If Kael hadn’t made it to Aurum yet, there was still time for him to get there.

By mutual assent, they split the group up when they entered and then reconvened at The Lively Dagger, an inn that Orden swore had higher repute than the name suggested. Orden disappeared first, and after an hour, Cyrene set out with Ceis’f. She wished that she could have been paired with Ahlvie or Avoca, but she and Ahlvie couldn’t be seen together, and law dictated that she had to be with a man.

A cool breeze was blowing in from the Lakonia Ocean, shepherding in the first cold weather of the season. In Byern, snow would already be blanketing the mountains, and in a few weeks, it would be down in the city. It would be another month before the temperature dropped that low in Aurum.

Cyrene tried not to stare too obviously at the beautiful new city she was in. She felt more at home in a burgeoning metropolis than in the country, but this was so very different than her home. In fact, she was surprised to discover that the city itself was larger than the Byern capital. Byern was sequestered between the Taken Mountains and the Keylani River, which halted outward growth. Aurum had no such limitations and had grown up and out around the marina and the castle.

The streets were packed with people and bustling with trade merchants. She caught a glimpse of three different men in traditional Eleysian garb as well as a pair scantily clad in Biencan silks, a Carharan fur trader, and even a Tiekan man in a tight-fit hat that flopped off one side of his head.

Finally, Ceis’f turned down a street and stood face-to-face with The Lively Dagger, a run-down inn that looked every bit as awful as Cyrene had imagined. She wasn’t sure how Orden had thought that this was a reputable location.

“Perhaps we should find another inn. One a bit more refined,” Cyrene suggested.

“Is that an order…my lady?” Ceis’f asked with a bite to his tone.

“No.” Cyrene sighed. “We’ll stay here.”

Cyrene entered the inn with Ceis’f on her heels. It was mostly empty, save for a few foul-looking men at one table and a handful of busty serving girls. A large woman in an oversize dress with puffy sleeves and an apron over top strode right up to them. Her brown hair was pulled loosely off of her sweaty red face. She gave Cyrene a once-over, seemed to deem her unworthy, and then turned to Ceis’f, as if Cyrene wasn’t standing right in front of him.

“Can I help you, good sir?” she asked. She dabbed at her forehead with a handkerchief and gave him a toothy smile.

“Yes. We’re here for a room,” Ceis’f said.

Somehow, every word out of his mouth sounded like he was trying to snap her head off. She looked affronted by it, and Ceis’f didn’t even seem to notice.

“Madam LaRoux, at your service,” she said, suspiciously eyeing the pair.

“I’m Haenah, and this is Roran,” Cyrene told her when Ceis’f didn’t speak up. “We’re just here for a couple of weeks before the cold sets in.”

It was the set answer that Orden had instructed them to give. He had said that the madam of the inn would understand.

Madam LaRoux gave them a knowing smile with a wicked glint in her eye. “Perfect timing then. We have a lot of travelers coming in for the festival season. Come this way, and I’ll show you to your rooms.”

They were whisked up to the second floor and to the last room on the left. Madam LaRoux knocked twice, paused, and then a third time before opening the door and ushering them inside. Once they were inside, she shut the door in a hurry, turned to face the room, and planted her hands on her hips.

“Master Dain!” she said in a scolding tone. “You did not tell me that you were harboring fugitives. You mean to keep this girl in my inn?”

“Laurel, Laurel, Laurel,” Orden said. He stood up from a hard wooden chair where he had been gazing out the window, smoking his pipe. “This girl is not a fugitive. She is a guest.”

“I have been around long enough to know when you are weaving a story, and I’ll not fall for it. We’ve worked together for too long. She has to go.”

“Laurel, you know how the Affiliate program is in Byern,” Orden said encouragingly.

Cyrene bristled at the comment.

“I know. I know you said that, but I didn’t think you meant…her,” Madam LaRoux said, glancing anxiously at Cyrene.

“We won’t be staying too long, and we’ll keep your establishment out of trouble. I assure you, Laurel,” Orden said. “She is fleeing injustice, and you would be doing us all a great service by helping.”

Madam LaRoux sighed heavily and then nodded. “All right, all right. You’ll owe me though, Dain.”

“I am in your debt.”

She seemed to accept this before leaving just as quickly as she’d come.

“Injustice?” Cyrene asked at the same time as Ceis’f asked, “You trust her?”

Orden folded his arms. “I trust her wholeheartedly. I’ve been working with her for over fifteen years, and she would never tell anyone that you are here. As for the injustice,” he said, turning his eyes on Cyrene, “surely, you know that the conditions in Byern are not highly favored in the rest of the world.”

“Not highly favored?” Ceis’f asked in disgust. “They’re despicable.”

“I don’t understand why there are such problems with how Byern runs its affairs,” she said stiffly. “Aurum women cannot even walk around the city by themselves without getting manhandled and arrested.”

“You see what you were raised to see,” Orden said. “Affiliates and High Order are sent to other countries as ambassadors—not to learn about foreign cultures, but to force an unwanted Class system on other rulers. Eleysia has banned all trade with Byern and refuses access to Affiliates and High Order who wish to come to their lands seeking change.

“And, while we’re on the matter, Aurum is far from degrading to women. Men and women work together, especially here in the capital. The wives make nearly all of the decisions for the household and hold significant power. Madam LaRoux is a supreme example, but I’ve been told that even Queen Jesalyn is effectively ruling over her husband, King Creighton Iolair. Just because it is different than what you know does not make it wrong.”

“I…I didn’t know about all of that,” Cyrene said. Uncertainty hit her head-on for the first time.

She remembered the conversation she, Maelia, and Ahlvie had had with Captain De la Mora when attempting to escape Albion. He had refused them passage onto his ship.

“I have no room for First Class passengers seeking to infiltrate my beloved country.”

Is this what he had meant? Had other Affiliates and High Order been trying to infiltrate Eleysia and enact change?

“But how exactly was I supposed to know all of this? No one told me about the problems with Eleysia. The only problem I realized was that Eleysian vessels wouldn’t take me on their ship, so I walked halfway across the world to try to get there. As for Aurum, I was apprehended in Strat and almost arrested in public for falling. You two were the ones who said how dangerous it was for women to be out, alone, in public. I’m not sure what other assumption I was to draw from that.”

“Well, now, you know,” Orden said. He shifted past her and to the door. “Ceis’f, we’re in the room next door.”

Orden yanked open the door and strode out of the room with Ceis’f on his heels.

“What is going on here?” Avoca asked, striding purposely down the hall in front of Madam LaRoux.

Orden just kept walking without a word.

“Nothing,” Cyrene said finally.

Avoca’s lips thinned out as she stared at Cyrene with all-knowing blue eyes.

“Then, let’s settle into our rooms.” Avoca entered the room she would be sharing with Cyrene and dropped her bags on the floor next to her small bed. “You were arguing with Orden, weren’t you?”

“You could say that.”

“You push him too much,” Avoca said.

Cyrene shrugged. “Some people need to be pushed.”

“Men need to be handled differently. Ceis’f needs a tight leash, and Orden needs a long one, but they both require a leash.”

“And Ahlvie?” Cyrene asked.

Avoca smiled softly, and then it disappeared. “He is a man of his own choosing. I believe he will follow you to the ends of the earth if you but ask him.”

“You think too highly of him. You’ve never seen him dicing in a tavern with your life on the line.”

“He is loyal. That is a good quality in a man. You should hold on to him.”

Cyrene nodded. “Well, I don’t intend to let him go.”

“Let who go?” Ahlvie asked, peeking his head in the door. “Did you say my name?” He winked at Cyrene and then walked inside without an invitation.

“Ahlvie! Knock next time. We could have been undressing,” Cyrene chided.

“Is this supposed to convince me to knock?”

Cyrene rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Insufferable.”

“Alas, you aren’t undressing, so I assumed it was safe for me to enter.”

“Just shut the door,” Cyrene commanded.

Ceis’f slunk in behind him and leaned against the wardrobe in the corner. Ahlvie walked right over and plopped down on Cyrene’s bed. She didn’t know how he always seemed so completely carefree. Orden entered a few minutes later, and they set out a plan for the next couple of days.

Ahlvie was set to wander the pubs to seek out any information he could find that would help them. Ceis’f and Avoca were employed to go to the docks to look for a boat setting sail to Eleysia, while Orden was going to check in with the contacts he had in the city.

“And where does that leave me?” Cyrene asked the quiet room.

Orden gave her a stern look, but it was Ahlvie who spoke up, “We want you to stay safe. You’re the reason we’re here. We can’t lose you. With guards still on our tail, I’d feel better if I knew you were here while we were out.” Clearly, they had already discussed this without her.

His pleading look did her in, and eventually, she agreed, “Fine. I’ll be right here. Waiting.”

Ahlvie kissed the top of her head on his way out and whispered, “Thanks,” into her hair.

Sometimes, he reminded her too much of her brother, Reeve. Not that Reeve would have ever approved of this plan.

Cyrene grabbed Avoca by the arm before she left. “If you’re in any sort of trouble, please reach for your power, so I know.”

Avoca nodded her head, relenting. “I will give a hard tug like this,” she said.

A sharp jolt snapped through Cyrene, and she nearly sank to her knees. She had not been prepared for that.

“You will not confuse that for everyday use, I think.”

“No,” Cyrene agreed.

“Good.” Avoca placed her fingers on her lips and then raised her hand to Cyrene in a sign of deference she had not seen since leaving Eldora.

Cyrene returned the gesture, and then Avoca was gone.

Cyrene peered around the empty room with a heavy sigh. Now, she must do the hardest part of her entire mission.

Wait.

Four days.

Cyrene spent four days holed up inside that room before someone returned with good news.

The door burst open unexpectedly, and Cyrene jumped out of the chair she had been attempting to meditate in.

She glared at Ahlvie as he sauntered in, and she threw a pillow at his head. “Will you knock? I was in the middle of something!”

He caught the pillow midair. “Good to see you, too.”

“Well, have you found anything?”

“A rather attractive redhead.”

Cyrene groaned. “You’re disgusting. I don’t want to know about any of that.”

“The little redhead’s father is a wine vendor for the Royal Court, and she let it slip that he has been asked to procure a striking number of barrels of wine for a ball for a royal visitor next Saturday. Now, who do we know that might elicit such a celebration?” Ahlvie asked.

Cyrene sank back into her seat. “Kael.”

“That’s what I assumed, and where Kael is, so is Maelia. We need to get into that castle before we get on a boat.”

They had been waiting for Kael to show up in Aurum since they arrived. Based on the conversation she had overheard in Strat, they knew that Kael would be coming into the city, but this was the first real piece of news they had.

Avoca and Ceis’f had come back the first day with grim news about Eleysian boating. Due to the festival season, which was a monthlong affair leading up to the Eos holiday, travel had stilted between Aurum and Eleysia. A boat carrying travelers had left two days before they had arrived, and several Eleysian fishing boats had decided to stay for the entire season. They hadn’t seen or heard of anyone going to Eleysia, other than a mysterious large ship flying Eleysian flags that had apparently been in port for over a month. No one who they’d asked claimed to know whom it belonged to or when it intended to depart.

When the others returned that night, Ahlvie and Cyrene filled them in on what he had found out, and they set about trying to find a way to get into the ball.

“We’re going to need to hire a boat to take us out of the harbor. Even if it won’t take us all the way to Eleysia because of the festival season, it won’t be safe for us to be in Aurum after we break Maelia out,” Cyrene said.

“We’ll look into vessels leaving for other destinations,” Avoca said. “See if we can manage something that won’t be noticed.”

With their assignments divvied up, the crew returned to their rooms to pass out after another long day. Avoca never seemed to tire, and after changing, she was ready to begin Cyrene’s training once more. It was the only part of the day that Cyrene looked forward to even though she’d had no success locating her magic.

They spent the next two hours dutifully reaching a state of calm and then trying to sense one of the four elements. It didn’t matter that Cyrene had worked all day doing the same thing. Avoca demanded more from her. She always came full of new theories to break Cyrene’s block that she had thought of when she was out working with Ceis’f during the day.

Today, Avoca thought that since they were Bound, Cyrene might have an affinity for earth, like herself. For a solid hour Cyrene reached inward, touched the knot in her chest, and tried to focus it on earth matter. Avoca had even brought a pot of dirt into the room so that Cyrene could feel closer to it. It didn’t help.

“You know, I was thinking,” Avoca said after another failed attempt, “maybe you are more like Ceis’f.”

Cyrene snorted. “I highly doubt that. And, dear Creator, do not let him hear you say that.”

“I just mean, what if our magic complements one another? Ceis’f is better with air and fire. Perhaps you are, too.”

And so their training went on endlessly. Cyrene was no better with air or fire, but Avoca kept coming up with other possibilities that would lead them to more dead ends.

Cyrene had never been good at remaining calm and doing nothing. Now, those were her only tasks until they got out of this Creator-forsaken city. Her anger started bubbling up, which usually brought their sessions to a screeching halt.

“There’s nothing there!” Cyrene cried. “I’m sitting around all day, meditating and trying to find these elusive pulses that you claim exist, but I can’t even come close to sensing any of them! Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

In truth, Cyrene didn’t like being bad at anything. She had always been an exemplary student, and having something that was completely beyond her control was more irritating than disappointing a tutor.

Avoca just pursed her lips at Cyrene’s outburst.

“Okay. I’m sure you know what you’re doing, but maybe I just can’t do it,” Cyrene offered.

“I don’t believe that.” Avoca stood and began pacing the room. “I admit, I’d be surprised if you could sense anything in this city if you weren’t able to do it out in the woods. I can barely sense the earth in this place. It’s been so trampled and forgotten that the pulse is just a distant hum. Even this earth is…lost.” She toed the pot of dirt.

“If even you can’t find it, then how am I supposed to?” Cyrene asked in frustration. “You’ve set an impossible task for me.”

“I’ve not been in a city in nearly fifty years, Cyrene,” Avoca said. “It is easy to forget in that time.”

“Fifty years?” Cyrene asked, her eyes bulging.

“Yes. Leifs have exceptionally long lives, and at our hundredth birthday, we are given a year abroad with an elder. Most do not even take that year, but I did.”

“So…you’re a hundred and fifty?” Cyrene gasped.

“A hundred and forty-nine,” Avoca corrected.

“Where did you go? What did you see when you left?”

Avoca sighed. “That is neither here nor there. A story for another time. I have no more patience for training tonight. Soon enough, we will be out of this city and in a place more conducive for training.”

“Maybe I should go into the woods tomorrow then.”

Avoca gave her a sharp look and shook her head. “No. We’re very close to getting you out of here.”

Cyrene grumbled under her breath, but Avoca just ignored her and crawled into bed. She was an incredibly light sleeper and seemed able to pass out as soon as she closed her eyes. Cyrene heavily lay back in bed, and for the next two hours, she wished she’d had that talent of Avoca’s as well.