Zaethan took in the crowd, stomping, vying for the next blow. The next spill. That’s why they celebrated Wekesa…he delivered what they demanded without second thought. In a blue-striped blaze, he carved a path for his teammates through the Yowekaons, dispersing their red-flecked barricade. Wekesa was relentless. Inexhaustible. Hungry.

“I have been sparring,” Zaethan assured his scout.

“But who with, Alpha Zà?”

While he’d not agreed to accompany Kumo to an old stomping ground because his rival was playing, it was certainly why Zaethan had decided to stay.

He really needed the distraction.

“With the one who makes me better,” Zaethan huskily replied.

“Truth grants no pardons, Your Majesty, not even to a so-called cross-caste ambassador.” Hinrük leaned closer and captured Zaethan’s glare. Ice rimmed the other man's eyes. “Your kind will come to regret the day you corrupted our shores, Lord Haidren.”

Declan gripped Zaethan’s shoulder and spewed past him, “Was that a threat or a prophecy, Elder?” 

“Is it prophecy if it’s already coming true?” The talï glittered beneath his self-satisfied stare. 

Many of the men laughed behind him. One even made a poor attempt at covering his mouth. Zaethan’s angry gaze locked on his knuckles. 

They were scabbed. 

The Boreali healed fast—that had happened recently. Too recently. 

“I’m going to kill you,” Zaethan promised the zealot through his teeth.  

“Shores of Aurynth.” Phalen kneaded his forehead as the gravity of everything finally set in. “If you are the final heir of Thoarne,” he said to Dmitri, “then marrying the princess of Razôuel—”

“Is vital.” Their king held Phalen’s gaze overtop his coat of fur. “After extracting your aunt from that monster, this is the realm’s deciding factor: No heir, no Orynthia.”

“So… why am I hearing this? I’m not haidren—I’m not even of age,” her brother asked, fidgeting in his chair like a boy who’d suddenly grown too big for it.

Dmitri’s stiff joints popped when he leaned forward. The blankets swallowed the table edge whole. “Because once deprived of your sister, we’ll need you to keep me alive.”