Chapter 28
We take our seats in the common room. Steam curls from the cups waiting on the table, the sharp herbal scent catching at the back of my throat. Elaris’s gaze lingers on Arden with a knowing weight before she finally speaks.
“Welcome, Arden Navarre.”
He inclines his head, calm as ever. “Elaris.”
Every head whips toward him. “You know her?” Remli demands, voice low, dangerous.
Arden shrugs, the picture of unbothered. “Define know.” Remli’s hands clench on the arm of her chair, the faint shimmer of a claw threatening just beneath her skin. “You know what I’m asking,” she growls through clenched teeth.
Arden leans back, lips curving in mock admiration. “But you are utterly ravishing when you’re furious, Remli Ravelle. Please—glare at me like this for the rest of my days.”
Her growl deepens, almost a snarl. “Which will be soon if you don’t answer the gods damned question.” He presses a hand to his chest as if her threat is a benediction. “I don’t know her personally. But everyone on this island knows who Elaris is. Hence why I asked to clarify the word know.”
Remli looks ready to launch across the pouf and tear him apart. Elaris sips her tea as if this is nothing more than breakfast chatter.
Selene frowns, leaning forward. “But do you know him?” she asks Elaris, careful, probing. Elaris stirs her tea slowly and deliberately. “What I do—or do not—know is not your concern, Wayfinder. A truth for a truth, as you well know.”
Silence falls, thick as smoke. All eyes shift to Arden. We’ve all been flayed open in this room. It’s only fair. Arden laughs, rich and dismissive. “I hope you’re not expecting any confessions from me. We could sit here all night. I’ve got nothing.”
Elaris narrows her eyes, lips pursed, but she does not answer.
Remli looks absolutely murderous, fury vibrating through her whole body as she slams her teacup on the table.
“The rest of us have laid ourselves bare, trekked across this cursed island because we were told you mattered—and you can’t give us a shred of honesty? Selfish prick.”
“Careful, Wildcat,” Elaris warns, her voice low and steady. “There is much he hides. But should he face it…” The words hang in the air like a storm about to break.
Arden’s grin slips. He turns to Elaris, and for the first time, the effortless charm is gone. The air itself sharpens around him. He looks dangerous. “And what about you, Elaris? Should I tell them what I see when I look at you?”
Elaris does not blink. She lifts her cup with perfect composure, sips, and gestures toward the rooms beyond. “That is enough for this night.”
We head down the hall, Arden’s amiable smiles back in place, like the tension of moments ago never happened. But it lingers in the air, thick and biting.
“Care to double up for the night?” he teases.
Remli whirls, faster than thought, and slams him against the stone wall.
Lowan moves in front of me instantly, protective, while Zillah’s shield flares tight around us.
No one breathes. Remli is inches from Arden’s face, her claws at his throat, a thin line of blood glistening at the edge of her strike.
Arden’s grin only widens, eyes dark with delight. “Good girl,” he purrs.
Her voice is a snarl. “You will not fuck this up for me, Arden Navarre—or I will ruin you.”
His chuckle is a low, dangerous whisper. “Oh, you’ll ruin me all right. Just not the way you think.”
With a furious shove, she peels herself away from him and stalks toward the bedchambers.
“She is…” Arden starts, but Remli spins back toward us, cutting him off with a venomous glare. He chuckles. “Shall we?” he says, motioning for one of us to lead.
At the end of the corridor, where there had been three chambers, there now stand four. The cave has shifted again, shaping itself to meet a need. We file into our same spaces, the newest door left to Arden.
“Well,” he chirps, as though the last few moments of blood and fury never happened, “sweet dreams, everyone. Especially you, Remli.”
He vanishes into his room, whistling under his breath. Remli glares at his retreating form, then storms into her own chamber and slams the door.
Across the hall, Lowan and I stand with Zillah and Selene, staring at the two closed doors in stunned silence. Then, as if on some unspoken cue, we turn to one another and erupt into helpless laughter.
Lowan and I slip into our chamber, the laughter in the hall still echoing faintly behind us. We peel off weapons—blades, straps, bits of leather, and steel piling onto the couch. By the time I tug free of my boots, Lowan is already unbuckling his harness.
I shake my head, a half-laugh leaving me. “Can you even believe the series of events since we left this place and came back? It feels like we’ve lived a lifetime in a couple of days.”
Lowan exhales, pulling his shirt over his head.
“None of this has gone the way I thought it would. I figured we’d have to drag that guy out kicking and snarling.
Instead, he just… came. No sweat.” His mouth twists.
“And then all the flirting and swagger with Remli. I can’t decide if he’s genuinely attracted to her or if he just has a death wish. ”
“Right?” I mutter, still amused despite myself.
We slip into the bathing chamber, the spring water steaming faintly, and sink beneath the surface. The warmth melts the ache from my limbs, but I notice the way Lowan’s jaw tightens, his eyes distant.
“What is it?” I ask softly.
He shakes his head at first, then sighs. “It’s just… with everything going on, I stayed focused on getting him back here, since it was supposed to matter so much. But now that we’re here, I can’t shake the anger.”
“Anger?”
“Toward him.” Lowan’s fists clench underwater. “His cockiness, the way he smirks like nothing in the world could touch him. And meanwhile, he’s the reason my father’s gone.”
My breath catches. “Lowan—”
“I know it’s not his fault,” he cuts in quickly, eyes fierce.
“My father knew the cost. He chose it. But still. One of the last things he ever did was ensure Arden Navarre’s safety.
And now here’s Arden—joking, flirting, parading around as if none of it weighs on him.
As if the entire realm’s in love with him.
” His fists harden, knuckles pale beneath the water.
“It makes my blood boil, and I want to see him bleed for it.”
I reach across the water, laying my hand over his. “I get it. But I don’t think that’s all there is to him.”
Lowan’s gaze flicks to mine.
“Did you see his face when he spoke to Elaris?” I press.
His lips thin, remembering. “I saw.”
“There’s more under the surface. Elaris will strip it out of him eventually, and when she does, we’ll see what’s really there. Until then…” I squeeze his hand. “I think Arden’s mask is hiding something we can’t quite name yet.”
Lowan nods, though the line of his shoulders stays taut. “I hope you’re right. Right now, I can’t decide if we brought back an ally or a curse.”
The next few days fall into a maddening rhythm.
Each morning, Elaris sends us out into the wilds.
Lowan and I steal time together, slipping into the trees to shift, wings stretching as we cut through the skies.
Sometimes we spar instead, blades flashing in the filtered light until our chests heave with laughter and sweat.
Remli refuses everything but distance. She shifts at first light and stays gone until nightfall, her lynx form vanishing into the forests where no one dares follow.
Selene drifts into the woods as well, her steps softer, slower, communing with the surrounding green, Zillah close at her side.
And Arden—exists. Easygoing. Untouched. Nothing can rattle him.
Each evening, when we circle back to the common room, he lounges like a king at rest and offers the same infuriating refrain.
“I’ve got nothing.” We try different ways of coaxing him.
Selene’s patience, Zillah’s sharp questions, and even my own attempts at gentler curiosity.
Nothing moves him. Arden only smirks, shrugging as if the whole thing amuses him.
“You need me,” he tells us without shame. “I don’t need to do anything I don’t want to do.”
The animosity festers. I hear it in Zillah’s clipped remarks, see it in the way Lowan’s jaw tightens whenever Arden so much as breathes too loudly.
They haven’t said the words aloud, but I know.
Their father gave his life to get Arden to safety.
And what has it bought them? A cocky boy basking in attention, treating our stalemate like some free holiday.
Even Remli’s walls are higher now than when we first met her. I can’t blame her—Arden needles her at every turn—but it feels like we’ve lost her just as she was trusting us. Trusting me.
And so the days drag. We train, we fly, we try to pretend the tension isn’t choking us. But every night, the truth remains the same: Arden Navarre refuses to give us a single piece of himself.
On the fourth day, the tension finally breaks.
Lowan and I return from the skies, wings still tingling from the rush of flight, only to find Arden lounging beneath a tree as if he’s been waiting.
He leans lazily against the trunk, slow-clapping.
Each sharp crack of his palms cuts through the quiet like a taunt.
“Impressive,” he drawls. “A raven and a phoenix. Fascinating pairing.”
Lowan growls low in his throat, bristling at the insult, but I only sigh. Here we go again.
“Spit it out, Arden.”
His eyes gleam with secrets. “I knew I sensed shifters in you two, but I’ve been trying to figure you out for a while.” His gaze settles on me, and my skin prickles. “I have sensed nothing like you before.”
Lowan steps in front of me, shoulders coiled tight. “I think it’s best if you stop sensing anything about her at all.”
Arden laughs, dark and amused. “Relax, Feathers. Your magic is all over her, loud and clear. What I can’t understand is—how? How do you share power?”