Chapter 36 – Quinton
QUINTON
Dain’s words still echoed, but I didn’t buy them. Not all of them. He thought she needed time. Like time could mend what the council had done to her. Like time could reach through the walls she’d built around herself. I knew better. Because I didn’t just see her pulling away. I felt it.
Every day, her anger pulsed under my skin like fire in my veins.
Her anguish twisted in my chest until I could hardly breathe.
My blood magic had attuned itself to her the moment she clapped irons on my wrists months ago, and I couldn’t untangle it now even if I wanted to.
Most nights it writhed through me, bristling, begging to reach for her.
But she shut me out. Slammed the door in my face.
And the more she did, the worse the burn grew.
I went to her house every night. Knocked until my knuckles ached, just for the chance she might answer. She never did.
Time.
As if ten years hadn’t already been stolen from us. Ten years when she believed me gone, when she bled and fought and survived without me. Ten years when I was across the border, serving the very monster who ruined our lives.
I told myself I didn’t have a choice. That keeping my siblings alive, keeping us fed, demanded compromise. Service. Loyalty to a crown I hated. Every day I swallowed bile, wore the mask Malphyr demanded. And every night, I thought of Azaria and told myself I’d make it back to her.
But in her eyes, there was no difference. Gone was gone. And when I returned, it was too late to explain.
Dain knew something. I could see it in his eyes, the way he dodged, the weight in his voice.
He was trying to protect her. Maybe protect me.
But I didn’t need protecting. I needed the truth.
Because whatever was happening to Azaria, it was dragging me down with her.
And if I couldn’t find a way through her walls, my magic was going to tear me apart trying.
The common room was quieter than usual. Firelight licked across the stone walls, shadows stretching long over the floor.
Kael lounged across the arm of a chair. Reyna curled beside him, their shoulders brushing.
Elias sat cross-legged on the rug, tracing runes into the air with a fingertip, though his eyes kept drifting toward the space that led to Azaria’s office.
“She’s shutting us out again,” Kael said.
Reyna let out a laugh that didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s Eris all over again, isn’t it?”
Kael tilted his head, expression grim. “I think it’s worse.”
“Who’s Eris?” Elias asked, glancing between them.
Kael’s gaze flicked to Dain, but Dain’s face was unreadable.
“They deserve to know, Dain,” Reyna said softly, though her tone carried finality. “Not just the siblings. Lirael, Thorne, Zeph too.”
Dain’s jaw ticked, but he stayed silent.
“Eris Teylan,” Kael began, his voice quieter now. “He joined the squad pretty much when I did.”
Elias straightened, listening.
“He was a water mage, but built like a mountain. His father had earth affinity; that’s where he got the size from. Azaria was tiny next to him.” Kael shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Blond hair, blue eyes, just like her. Half the palace joked they were long-lost siblings.”
“I joined her squad purely out of spite because Veshar kicked me out of his,” Kael went on.
“But Eris? He just walked in like he’d always belonged.
He filled cracks none of us even knew were there.
Strong, skilled with a sword, a powerful water mage.
Helped Dain with code work; helped Azaria with reports.
Apart from Dain, he was the only one who could beat her in sparring—every single time.
Well, except for the first one. He lost that one on purpose.
Gentleman that he was. And every morning after, they trained together. ”
“And he adored her,” Kael added. “Once, when she injured her leg on patrol, he carried her all the way back to the palace.”
“There was something between them,” Reyna said, picking up the thread.
“They thought we didn’t notice, but it was obvious.
I saw them holding hands more than once.
And the way he looked at her, like she was the center of his world.
They were like academy sweethearts. It was sweet.
” She smiled faintly, but it vanished quickly.
“Eris was a good man,” Reyna said. “Kind. A gentle giant. He didn’t deserve to die. ”
Azaria, softened. Laughing. Holding hands. Carried openly through the streets by a man who didn’t fear her walls. And I’d thought Callan was the first to breach them.
“It was his magic,” Dain spoke at last, his voice low from where he sat at the desk. His eyes weren’t on us, but on something distant. I’d never seen him look like that.
“She reacted differently to it. More deeply than any of you ever would. But it wasn’t just her. Eris told me once that his magic reached for her on its own, before he could stop it. It happened more than once.” His voice stayed measured, but beneath it—grief. Raw and unmistakable.
His magic reached out to her. Just like mine does every time she’s near.
“Azaria just melted when he was around,” Reyna continued.
“She was calmer, steadier. Like a water mage would be.” She paused, a grin breaking through the grief.
“But don’t let that fool you. She wasn’t just calm around him.
She would flirt. Azaria knew exactly how to edge Eris, sometimes to the point I thought he was going to crawl out of his own skin. ”
Zeph blinked. “Our Captain? Flirting?”
Reyna’s grin widened. “Azaria was never ashamed of what she wanted. And she wanted Eris. That much was obvious.”
Kael barked a laugh. “You weren’t there at the beginning.
I had been taunting her from day one; flustered her more times than I can count.
I threw every ridiculous line and half-baked flirt her way until her skin went red from her neck to the tips of her ears.
I’m pretty sure I called her ’smoking hot’ on my very first day here. ”
Reyna groaned, but she was laughing too. “I’d forgotten that.”
I didn’t join in.
Flirting. Azaria, cheeks flushed, bantering back, teasing a man until he squirmed. I’d only ever known her steel, her walls, her edges cutting before anyone could get close. But they remembered someone else. A younger Azaria who smiled, laughed, and wanted without shame.
I stared into the flames and felt it settle—the quiet, twisting ache of knowing I’d never seen her like that.
“What happened to him?” Elias asked.
The laughter died.
Kael’s gaze slid to Dain, seeking permission. Dain gave none, but he didn’t stop him either.
“Eris left for Thalor, carrying a message from Captain Torik,” Kael said.
“He had both parents and a little sister. He was visiting family. At the same time, Tywin dispatched us west: Dravareth forces had been spotted near the border for the first time since the war. We left immediately. We had no idea…” he trailed off.
“They ambushed him on the road.” His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. “By the time we arrived, the abyssal rot had already taken him. We were too late.”
“There was nothing we could do but watch while Azaria’s heart was torn to pieces,” Kael added. “Her scream haunted me for days.”
“She went to Thalor herself, to tell his family,” Reyna said. “When she came back, she never spoke his name again. It was as if he’d never existed. But she carries him with her every day.”
Kael nodded. “That navy uniform she wears? It was his. She had it refitted. And the silver band on her finger—Eris gave it to her months before he died.”
The band. The one she twisted in the cell, turning it round and round her finger like a prayer. I’d seen it a hundred times. Never known what it meant. Now I did.
Dain stood abruptly, chair scraping. He crossed the room without a word, vanished into his office, and shut the door with a firm click.
The sound hit harder than any of the words. Dain, who never broke composure. Dain, who anchored everyone else. He couldn’t sit in this room and listen to Eris’s name spoken aloud.
Reyna’s gaze lingered on the door. “Dain never talks about it either. But Eris was his friend. A good friend. We lost a teammate. Dain and Azaria… they lost part of themselves.”
“She never got close to anyone again,” Kael said. “Four years later, her walls are higher than the palace roof.”
“Except for Callan,” Elias said quietly.
The words hit like a blade’s edge. Except for Callan. Another one she had to give up.
“You remind her of him, you know,” Kael said, nodding toward Elias.
“Me?” Elias looked startled.
“Yes, you. Water magic. Similar temperament. You spar with her in the mornings. She’s more honest with you than she is with most of us. Since you three joined, little parts of the old Azaria have started slipping through again.”
“Should I speak with her? Do you think she’d listen?” Elias asked.
Reyna arched an eyebrow. “If you’ve got a death wish. Neither she nor Dain have spoken Eris’s name since the day he died.”
Elias’s jaw firmed. “Well. It’s either me or her, isn’t it?”
No one argued.
Reyna blew out a breath, then pushed to her feet. She drifted toward the cabinet where half the squad’s relics ended up.
“Reyna—“ Kael started.
“They should see.” Her tone cut him off.
From a folded cloth pouch, she drew a small stack of stiff parchment, edges worn from years of handling.
“Palace portraits. Four years ago,” Reyna said softly. “Eris never cared for looks. Azaria hated posing. They lost a card game, so I dared them to sit for a palace artist. Naturally, the rest of us piled in. Drove the poor man half mad.”
Kael snorted, but the sound was gentled with memory. We leaned in.