Page 305 of Elemental Becoming

I arch a brow. “Does it?”

He winks. “Not even a little.”

We pass staff and members of the court as we walk, their eyes flicking toward us before they offer nods of acknowledgment. Some bow their heads while others murmur quiet greetings.Thane acknowledges every single one by name.

Every. Single. One.

I watch, fascinated, as he greets each person with effortless familiarity: a stable hand, a court scribe, even a kitchen attendant balancing a tray.

I try to imagine remembering this many people. I couldn’t even do that in our village, and we were a fraction of this size. Yet somehow he remembers everyone.

And they see him, too.

After walking in comfortable silence for a while, the sound of our footsteps echoing against the stone, I finally give voice to the thought that has been circling through my mind since Thane gave me the ring.

“Things are about to change, aren’t they? This war . . . it’s only going to get harder.”

Thane’s grip on my arm tightens slightly, almost imperceptibly. For a moment, he doesn’t answer. Then he exhales, his voice lower, more measured.

“Yes.”

I glance up at him. There’s no hesitation in his answer, no false reassurance. Only honesty.

“We’ve held the line so far,” he continues, gaze fixed ahead. “But everything is shifting. What’s coming . . . I don’t think it will be like before.”

His words land heavily, but they aren’t a surprise. But hearing him say it out loud makes it more real.

“I can feel it,” I say, my voice quieter now. “In my bones. In my magics. Something is stirring.”

My fingers curl around his arm.

“I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the Unmaking. Maybe it’s the Shadeheart. Maybe it’s the Shadowed Hand.”

Maybe it’s something that we can’t even see coming.

“I don’t know what or when,” I admit. “But something iscoming.”

Before I realize it, we’re standing in front of Valen’s door. The conversation pulled me so deeply into my thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed we’d stopped walking.

Thane and I are facing each other now. For a moment, neither of us moves. The world outside these walls is shifting, darkening, and we both know it.

And we are running out of time.

Thane takes my face in his hands, his touch like home. His thumbs brush gently along my jaw, and before I can say anything, he leans down and presses a soft, lingering kiss to my lips.

Then another kiss follows, pressed to the tip of my nose.

Then one more to my forehead.

A quiet reassurance.

I feel it through the bond. The brush of his presence against mine, gentle and unwavering, wrapping around my thoughts like fire warding off the cold.

I’m here. I’m with you. I’m yours.

My eyes flutter closed for a moment, letting it sink in. Letting him chase away the weight of my worries, even if only for now.

Then he smiles against my brow, the warmth of it settling just as deeply as his touch.