The armies surrounding Black Sky Peak had stopped pretending that they came for justice.Kael Ardyn stood at the center of the broken summit while the banners of the great clans filled the slopes below him. Some of those clans had once begged him to protect their cities. Others had sent their most gifted children to kneel outside his gates and ask for his teachings. Now their leaders stood together behind a wall of soldiers, each one waiting for another person to risk the first attack.Blood ran down Kael's left hand and gathered at the tip of his smallest finger. His dark robe had been torn across the chest, and three iron blades remained buried in the ground behind him. The blades had failed to pierce his body, but each one carried a poison designed to weaken the flow of magic through his veins.They had planned the ambush well. They had poisoned the mountain springs, broken the transport circles, and placed a barrier over the sky before challenging him. Even the students who served

Rafe drove the knife toward Kael's stomach.Kael stepped outside the blade and caught the collector's wrist with both hands. He could not stop the larger man's arm through strength alone, so he turned with it and forced it down against the edge of the worktable. The knife struck wood before it slipped from Rafe's fingers.Rafe tried to pull away. Kael pressed his forearm across the trapped elbow, keeping the man's hand flat against the table.“Move again and you lose the arm,” Kael said.The collector stopped struggling. His two men remained near the doorway, neither willing to come back for him.Kael slid the black ring off Rafe's finger. Cold spread through his fingertips as he closed his hand around it, followed by an uneasy feeling that did not belong to him. His stomach tightened. For a moment, he felt the urge to duck his head and beg someone to stop.He recognized the effect and kept the energy outside his body.A tiny stone sat beneath the ring's flat metal face. It held trace

Kael turned the phone so Elena could read it.She took it from him, checked the amount, and pressed her lips together. Maya leaned over her shoulder. The roll of tape slipped from her fingers and struck the floor.“He can't just change it,” Maya said.Thomas lowered his foot from the box. “He already has,” he replied.Kael reached for the tape before Maya could bend, but the movement pulled at his ribs. She picked it up herself and placed it on the table without looking at him.“Don't answer him,” Elena said. She returned the phone to Kael. “Not while we're all like this.”He set it facedown beside the first-aid box. There was nothing useful to send Marcus yet.Thomas asked for the account book from beneath the counter. While Maya fetched it, Elena opened her banking app and counted the notes in her purse. They brought everything to the worktable, moving the broken tools aside to make room.The money looked even smaller spread out in front of them.Elena had enough for groceries and p

Kael reached the shop with the tool bag pulling at his shoulder and a sharp ache beneath his bandages. Through the open door, he could see Thomas checking the payment on his phone again. His father put it down when he noticed him, although he was still smiling.“Daniel called,” Thomas said. “He asked whether we could take on regular work.”Kael set the bag beside the counter instead of lifting it onto the bench. “We can, if he keeps doing the heavy lifting,” he replied.Elena came from the rear room carrying a plate. She took one look at the way he held his side and pulled out a chair with her foot.“Sit before you tell us how well you feel,” she said. “Maya, get him some water.”Kael lowered himself carefully. The food was still warm, and for several minutes nobody asked him to solve anything. Thomas described a customer who had agreed to wait another day for a repair. Maya complained that her father had nearly given the man a discount for waiting, even though he had brought the wron

The car Elena had called stopped outside while Kael was still trying to stand. Maya took his arm, slipping beneath it before he could tell her that he could manage.“You can lean on me,” she said. “I'm not the one with broken ribs.”He let her help him through the doorway. Elena supported Thomas on the other side, and they left the damaged shop locked behind them. None of them suggested that Maya remain there alone.At the clinic, Kael lay still while his injuries were examined again. He could not argue with the pain whenever he moved, or with Elena's account of what had happened. Thomas sat nearby with his left leg supported, answering questions about the old injury and the new blow.They returned after dark with medicine, instructions, and a bill that took another share of the hotel's payment. Thomas's leg was badly bruised, though the examination found no new fracture. Kael had been told to rest and return if his condition worsened. Elena repeated those instructions when she caught