They’d been walking for six hours before they stopped. Not because they were tired...Kai had measured it out. Six hours was enough to get them clear of the scouts’ usual patrols, into that stretch of dead zone between kingdoms. Nobody owned it, nobody wanted to search it. Perfect.Kai had kept up seal work for most of the march. Four hours straight. His hands were steady. That was starting to feel normal.They stopped at a waystation. Not a village...just one of those anonymous buildings for travelers. A roof, a fire, and a keeper who took payment and made it his business to forget faces.Ryker paid him off, and the man erased them from memory before they even reached the back room.There were three mats inside and a cultivation lamp. Luna dropped onto one, pulled out her borrowed blade, and started running a finger along the edge. Not cleaning it...just checking. Trying to figure out whether it could handle what was coming.“Mid-tier,” she said, flipping the knife flat on her knees.

Luna stood silent in the hallway, not moving, not speaking for three whole seconds. It wasn’t hesitation. It was her mind going through every possible implication at once, sorting out which one mattered most."Brother," she said finally. "By blood. Or by...""Blood," Kai answered. "That's the word that came before his name in the dream." He stepped aside, opening the doorway. "Come in."She didn’t sit. Stayed by the wall...eyes scanning the room, exits clear, her blade close enough if it came to that."Tell me what you saw," she said."A courtyard. He was there, somewhere across it...I couldn’t see his face, but his presence was unmistakable," Kai said, settling onto the edge of his mat. "A voice said his name. Right before that, the word I always used for him.""Which was?"He said it.Luna's hand drifted to her wrist, to the spot where her chain used to be...a habit she had whenever something needed more thinking-over than she let on."If he's your brother by blood," she said, "that

Luna didn’t waste words.“You need to fight.”Kai locked eyes with her.“Not seal work. Not passive integration. Not those slow fracture sessions,” she went on. She didn’t look away. “The Scholar said nothing moves the seal faster than real combat. The session with Drace? Moved you further than three whole weeks of controlled work.” A beat passed. “You need another race-level fight. In the next seventy-two hours.”Ryker looked skeptical. “The tournament doesn’t start for sixteen days.”“That’s not the point,” Luna replied. “I’m not talking about the tournament.”They were back in the common room. Morning came through the window, lighting up the scatter of cushions and chipped mugs, not caring what kind of day waited inside.“Irongate’s got a combat district,” Luna said. “Every big tournament city does. Fighters need to test themselves, clan scouts, mercenaries scrape for their entry fees.” She focused on Kai. “High-tier combat. Happening today. No sign-ups, no records kept.”“Unoffici