Chapter Fifty-Five: Arin

Arin awakens in darkness, newly healed by a mage whose efforts largely fed Rawain’s scepter. He finds Essiya asleep beside him, recalling her earlier fury when he refused to fight during his beating. Recognizing how her power is eroding her restraint, Arin abandons his fixation on death as penance and commits to a singular goal: a future that begins and ends with Essiya alive.

Reflecting on Rawain’s aims and the fortress, Arin decides his life must be spent protecting Essiya and preventing both the fortress’s rise and Rawain’s ruinous war. He moves to the floor to think; Essiya unconsciously follows, sleeping with her head on his sleeve, underscoring their stubborn bond and his resolve.

Later, Arin wakes to suffocating pressure from Essiya’s uncontrolled magic. An Urabi attendant is dunking her head in water to keep her from harming others while dreaming. Arin stabs the man in the shoulder to stop him, then discovers Essiya’s veins blazing with power, her eyes flickering beneath half-lidded lids.

Knowing he alone can absorb magic and be truly overrun by it, Arin orders the Urabi to be ready to slit his throat if corruption takes him. Choosing contact despite the risk, Arin touches Essiya’s cheek with his bare thumb. Her power engulfs him in searing fire as he attempts to pull her back from the flood of her magic.