Chapter 57

Dragged through tunnels by masked fae, Veya fights as Arkyn toys with Kaan’s weald and reminds her she was near death. Sleep-repressing runes burn her temples to keep her conscious for the Mindweft’s probing. She is thrown into a cell while Arkyn departs with the key, threatening renewed mental excavation unless she cooperates.

Veya notices a prisoner in the next cell: Kyzari, gaunt and feral. When Veya reaches through the bars, Kyzari throttles her until the runes flare and recognition returns. Veya comforts Kyzari, taking in the squalor, the moons scrawled on the ceiling, and a repeated inscription, “Oh, darling.”

Prompted, Kyzari explains she was hunting moonshards after a scrambled warning, but fell into Arkyn’s trap. She reveals her upbringing under Tyroth Vaegor’s command to be “small and quiet,” and confesses that to win Bothaim’s favor, Tyroth offered her to the Grand Chancellor, who abused her repeatedly. She once screamed to the God of Aether, Caelis, who came briefly; later, she offered herself to the Creators to sever Tyroth’s control and because her heart already belongs to one.

Knowing Arkyn intends to break her, Veya produces Elluin’s diary she has risked everything to hide from the Mindweft. She passes it to Kyzari, urging her to start at the beginning despite the pain. Veya stays beside her as Kyzari reads of poisonings, Slátra’s pursuit, Elluin’s love with Kaan, and the pregnancy born of happiness.

When Kyzari collapses in tears, Veya insists she must survive. Veya reveals a final hope: by unknown magic Elluin lives, though memoryless—fierce and bold. This truth becomes Kyzari’s reason to endure, even as Arkyn’s threat and the Mindweft’s return loom.