Today’s training still wore hard in my muscles, and I lay across my makeshift bed and prayed for sleep.

In the distance, I could still hear the music from the festival. I imagined Lea dressed in a new gown, dancing with the demon she was now promised to. Was she as miserable as I was?

Or was she starting to get used to life in the castle again?

Once upon a time, she had been very happy there, dreaming of her future with Jackson. I could close my eyes and still remember the way her smile would light up an entire room. Even the seasons where six suns were out and shining could not compare to the smile on Lea’s face when she was genuinely happy.

I hadn’t seen that smile in so long, but I could still see it in my mind. That smile had kept me sane during my century of imprisonment.

But she never smiled like that anymore, and deep down, I knew I was to blame for her sadness.

Footsteps sounded on the steps, and everyone in our small cell sat up from where we were resting. It was late. The guards didn’t usually come back to check on us at this hour, so we were all on edge, waiting for the next hammer to drop.

After the training earlier, we were all exhausted. Whoever walked through that door, I prayed they weren’t bringing bad news.

To my surprise, though, it wasn’t Reynar or any of the regular guards. Instead, Ezrah appeared, his eyes locking with mine the moment he stepped into the cell block.

I stood quickly, walking to the door of the cell I shared with my teammates.

Ezrah made a show of jangling his keys and unlocking the door.

“Aerden, I need to see you outside,” he said.

My heart raced. If he’d taken the risk to come all the way down here this late at night, something must have happened. On the outside, I kept my head down and pretended to be a subservient prisoner. I knew that role well, and I was good at it, but inside, I was in a panic.

It seemed to take forever to walk past the other cells and up the stone steps to the arena’s holding area.

“What’s happened?” I asked as soon as I knew my voice wouldn’t be heard by the others. “Is Lea okay?”

“Just follow me,” he said sharply. “And keep your voice down.”

I wanted to take him by the throat and force him to tell me what was going on. The training and the aches, I could handle. I could even handle the constant sting of the whip. But I couldn’t handle waiting to hear if she was okay.

It took all my willpower to simply do as he’d asked and follow him quietly through the holding area toward the main entrance to the arena’s battlefield.

It was mostly dark outside, all the training lights from earlier having been extinguished and the light of the two moons lost in shadows. I opened my mouth to ask why he’d brought me here, but the moment my eyes landed on the woman standing in a patch of moonlight at the center of the battlefield, I lost my voice.

Please, don’t let me be dreaming.

The delicate skirts of her dress skimmed the dusty floor as she turned, and our eyes met across the darkness.

I nearly fell to my knees at the sight of her, and for a moment, we both stood still, hardly able to believe this was real.

She broke out into a run, one hand holding up the skirts of her long dress. I ran toward her, and when we met in the center of the battlefield, she fell into my arms.

Everything else vanished in the truth of her embrace. For this moment, there was no pain. No battle. No chains. There was only the feel of her body against mine.

I’d been so afraid I wouldn’t see her before the beginning of the games, when we’d have nothing but a distant gaze to connect us to each other. But she was here, her head pressed against my shoulder and her arms tight around my waist.

I lowered my head and brushed my lips against her perfect braids, wishing I could hold her forever, but knowing we might both be killed if we were seen together.

When she finally pulled away, she grabbed my hands.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes sweeping up and down my body. When she noticed the fresh lash-marks across my chest, pain and anger shone in her eyes. She ran a delicate fingertip across one of the wounds, and I shivered at her touch. “Oh, Aerden, what have they done to you?”

“I’ve been through worse,” I said, laughing, but she lifted her eyes to mine and there were tears hovering at the edge of her lashes.

I ran my thumb across her cheekbone to catch the first tear as it fell, and she leaned into me, closing her eyes.

“Don’t cry, Lea,” I said softly. “We’re survivors, you and me.”

The light of the silver moon fell across her face, and her beauty in that moment was a gift I would never forget. When she opened her eyes again and looked at me, I knew that this was the woman she was always meant to be. The outward appearance of a true princess, but the eyes and heart of a warrior.

I was grateful her time in the castle had not changed that.

“How did you get here?” I asked. “Please, tell me you didn’t put yourself in danger coming to see me like this.”

“I had to see you,” she said.

“Has something happened?” I asked. “Are you safe?”

“I’m safe for now, but things are shifting, Aerden.” She looked away for a moment. “Tonight, I met a demon named Kael. I don’t know who he is or where he came from, but somehow, he’s managed to gain incredible power here in the city. These games were his idea, Aerden. And…”

Her voice trailed off, and my heart tightened in my chest.

“I already know,” I said.

Her eyes snapped to mine. “You do?” she asked, almost breathless.

“Prisoners talk,” I said, attempting to laugh it off, but coming up short. “Is he nice, at least?”

She shook her head. “He threatened me,” she said. “Not directly, but I felt it. He told me he was going to find a way to break me.”

“He obviously doesn’t know you,” I said. I swallowed back the anger that was boiling inside me. If he dared to hurt her, I would kill him myself. Twice.

She smiled, but I could see that he had shaken her. “I need to figure out where he came from,” she said. “And how he got onto the council after only being here for a few years.”

“Be careful,” I warned. “If he’s serious about these threats, he’ll be looking for any opportunity to hurt you.”

“Let him try,” she said.

“You should get out of here, Lea,” I said. “Have Ezrah talk to Andros and arrange something during the games, when everyone is distracted.”

“I’m not leaving here without you,” she said. “Besides, I can’t go until I figure out what’s really going on with my father. Aerden, he’s different. You saw him the day we were brought before him. He’s sick, but I think it’s more than that. It’s like he’s cursed or something. Also, something your mother said to me tonight scared me more than anything.”

“You spoke to my mother?” I asked. “Don’t trust anything she says.”

Lea shook her head. “I don’t know. I think we’ve misunderstood her actions,” she said. “She told me that the council isn’t really making the decisions around here anymore. That’s why she couldn’t get you out of the dungeons when you returned.”

I looked away, not sure I could believe that.

“If the council isn’t making the decisions, then who is?”

She raised an eyebrow. “What if it’s Kael?” she asked. “Or someone we don’t even know about? I’m telling you something terrible is going on here, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s connected to the Order somehow.”

A sick feeling knotted in my stomach. If the Order somehow had control of this city, she had to get out of here. We both did.

“I’m going to find out what’s going on,” she said. She bit her lower lip, as if she were considering whether or not to say what she was thinking. “Your mother told me about the key, Aerden. Why did you give it to me when you knew it was supposed to keep you safe?”

I avoided her eyes. “You are the future queen,” he said. “You were marrying my brother. Your safety was more important than my own.”

It was the truth, but not all of it. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the rest.

“She told me she bought it from a shaman in the borderlands,” she said. “The shaman told her it was a key used by hunters to pull demons through to the human world.”

“But it’s a diamond key,” I said.

“Exactly. That proves there are diamond gates somewhere, Aerden,” she said. “I think there is more to learn here in this city than we ever dreamed. I want to get to the truth of it before we figure out how the hell to get back home.”

I shook my head, something bothering me about my mother’s story.

“Listen,” I said. “If you’re going to start looking into this, there’s something else you might want to find out about my mother. Do you remember the old scholar who used to run the schools? Trention?”

“I remember him. Why?” she asked.

“He’s here in the dungeons with me,” I said. “We’ve been talking a lot, and he told me that he discovered a book inside the castle’s library that contained a map of the Shadow World he’d never seen before.”

“What’s so important about a map?” she asked.

“On the map, there was a third kingdom, Lea. To the east across the Sea of Glass,” I said. “A kingdom bigger than the north and south combined.”

She laughed. “That’s impossible, Aerden. You think we wouldn’t know about another kingdom like that? You know the Sea of Glass as well as I do. Once you get far enough out, there’s nothing but a wall of darkness at the end of the world. There’s no way through it, and there’s certainly nothing beyond it.”

“Trention said the pages of this book were made of diamond dust,” I said. “That has to mean something, right?”

She looked away, trying to make sense of it.

“But there’s something else,” I said. “He tried to take that book to the council and show it to the king, but my mother intercepted him before the meeting. She promised to show it to the council for him, but the next day, he was arrested and thrown into the dungeons. As far as he knows, she never showed that book to anyone. Why would she want to hide that book, Lea? A book made from diamonds?”

“Do you trust this demon? Trention?”

“With my life,” I said.

“Then I’m going to find the answers, Aerden. I won’t rest until I figure out what’s going on in this city.”

“What are you planning to do?” I asked. “If anyone finds out what you’re doing...Even coming here to talk to me could put your life in danger, Lea. If they believe you’re still loyal to me—”

“I’ll always be loyal to you, Aerden,” she said, gripping my hand tighter and filling my heart with a strange mix of joy and terror. “You’re one of the most important people in my world. Nothing can change that. If I could have, I’d have gotten you out of this mess by now.”

“You’ve already sacrificed enough for me. I can take care of myself,” I said. “How are they treating you overall?”

“It’s better than life in the dungeons,” she said. “Those were not exactly fun times, let me tell you.”

She tried to keep her voice light, but my chest tightened at the thought of her alone in those dark dungeons with no one to talk to.

“I shouldn’t complain, though,” she said. “I mean, just look at you.”

She ruffled my hair and stuck her tongue out.

My cheeks warmed. “Awful, huh?”

“Nah, you just look rugged and tough,” she said, smiling. But soon, the smile faded from her face, and she shook her head. “Aerden, why are you doing this? These games?”

“It’s just something I need to do,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t try to talk me out of it the way my mother had.

Her eyes searched mine, and I knew if anyone in any world could understand why, it would be Lea.

“You’re still that little shadowling near the cliffs, trying to prove himself,” she said. “But the truth is, you are the greatest warrior I’ve ever known.”

“Then I’ll have no problem winning.”

She smiled, and though it was not the sun-bright smiles of our childhood, for now, it was enough.

“Well, from the looks of you, you could use some help with your training.”

I suppressed a smile. “Oh, and you think you could teach me something in that dress?” I asked, eyebrow raised.

“I could kick your ass in this dress,” she said, laughing. “If I had time, I’d prove it to you.”

“I await the day,” I said.

Our smiles faded, and the true gravity of the moment fell on both of us. Our time was running out.

“Someday soon,” she said, holding my gaze for a long time.

I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms again and tell her the truth about my feelings. I had waited too long. Lost too many chances already.

But how could I tell her here? Now? When I was still a slave?

“What’s going to happen to us, Aerden?” she asked, leaning closer. “There are times when I feel like it’s all slipping out of our hands. You’re fighting in the games. Harper’s gone and no one seems to know where she is or if she’s even alive. Jackson’s out of his mind looking for her and still trying to keep the Southern Kingdom safe. Brighton Manor is gone. As much as I thought I hated it at the time, I miss our life there.”

“Harper is alive, Lea. I can feel her, even though she’s distant. And Jackson is strong. We’ll all be together again, someday,” I said. “We have to believe that, Lea. We’ve always known that defeating the Order wasn’t going to be easy, but at least now we know it’s possible. We can’t give up. Not now.”

“I just wish…”

She paused, looking away. Finally, she sighed and shook her head. I wondered what it was that she was struggling so hard to say.

“I should go,” she said, taking my hand in hers. “Promise me you’ll win, Aerden. I can’t lose you. Not after everything.”

“I promise I will do everything in my power to win,” I said. “And when I do, we’ll find a way out of here together.”

A shadow of a smile crossed her lips. “I like the sound of that,” she said.

She threw her arms around me, and I held her close for as long as I could.

“When you walk onto this battlefield in a few days, look for me in the prima cavea,” she said, motioning toward the front row in the center of the arena that held two large thrones and a section of tall chairs meant for the council and their families. “When you need strength, look into my eyes, and I will give you mine.”

I ran my hand along her face, wishing I could tell her that she had always been my greatest strength and my deepest weakness.

“You should go,” I said, breaking my own heart with the words.

She turned and started back toward the north exit.

“Oh,” she said, turning when she’d only gotten a few steps away. She met my eyes and smiled. “I have a present for you, but it’s a surprise. Keep your eyes open for it, okay?”

I nodded and smiled back at her. “I will,” I said. “Goodnight, Lea.”

“Goodnight, Aerden,” she said, gathering her skirts in her hands and running across the last strips of moonlight before disappearing through the archway.