Page 191 of Elemental Becoming
We have at least one spy among us. An attack of this scale could not have been carried out without help from within our own walls. The more I think on it, the more convinced I become that the traitor is someone close to us. Someone with our trust, our confidence, perhaps even our friendship. That realization chills me more than the attack itself. Yet it offers a sliver of comfort as well. The closer the traitor stands to us, the fewer places they have left to hide.
—VALEN’S JOURNAL
AMARA
For a while, we simply lie there, our uneven breathing the only sound in the room. His arm drapes over my waist, pulling me closer, anchoring me against him. His fingers trace my tattoos slowly, absently. I let my own fingers wander across the faint scars along his bicep, small remnants of old battles.
Silence settles between us, soft and heavy. Our hearts beat steadily beneath it.
Finally, he murmurs, “I want to stay like this. Just holding you.”
Emotion tightens painfully in my chest. Gratitude. Love. The deep, aching certainty that I belong here with him.
“I’d like that too,” I whisper, curling closer against him.
Maybe it’s selfish, but I need this right now. I need him.
His arms tighten around me as he presses a soft kiss to the top of my head. I settle against him, letting the quiet wrap around us for a few precious moments longer. Part of me wants to stay here forever, tucked safely inside this warmth, pretending the world beyond these walls no longer exists.
But the dread from tonight still gnaws at me. I’m about to ruin a perfect moment, but I need to know.
I lift my head from his shoulder. “Thane . . . how did they breach the wards?”
He exhales deeply, the sound heavy with exhaustion and frustration.
“They’ve been weakening for years,” he says quietly. “Not just here. Across the entire realm.”
His fingers flex once against my hip before settling there again.
“Valen told me about your lessons together. You already know the truth of it. The wards were strengthened by dragons.Their presence. Their magics. They held the darkness back. Without them . . . ” He shakes his head once. “Everything is starting to unravel.”
I nod, the significance of it settling over me all over again.
Everyone knew the wards had been weakening for decades. The rumors. The failing barriers. The fear creeping steadily through the realm. But knowing about the decline and understanding the true cost of it are very different things.
“No dragons have hatched in thirty years,” I whisper. “I heard the rumors growing up, but I never realized it had gotten to the point they could get this deep into the realm—especially Volcaris.”
“Without new dragons, the wards have been slowly unraveling,” he says, his voice laced with frustration. “The Shadow Forces have been taking advantage of it for years. Tonight, they performed some kind of dark ritual. Valen and the other mages found traces of shadow magics in the main courtyard. It was enough to weaken the castle’s defenses.”
A knot tightens in my stomach. “And they just walked right in.”
He nods, his jaw flexing, eyes dark with restrained fury. “Yes. But there’s more. Someone inside the castle, someone with access to the protective runes, tampered with them. By the time we realized the wards had been sabotaged, the Shadow Forces were already inside.”
His eyes close briefly, and his breathing remains even but the anger beneath it is unmistakable.
“We think whoever did it was coerced,” he says quietly. “Or worse.”
A bitter taste rises in my mouth.
“So the wards were weakened from both sides,” I murmur. “Sabotage from within. And the dragons’ absence beyond the walls.”
His expression darkens, something tightening in his eyes. “We suspect members of a spy network.” “They call themselves the Shadowed Hand. They’ve aligned with Selene. The Shadeheart.”
A shudder moves through me at the mention of her name. “So the infiltration goes deeper than we thought.”
“It does,” he confirms quietly.
Tension coils through his body beneath my touch, heavy with anger and guilt alike.
