Ausma returned at dusk with Cassandra’s reply.

  By then, Kael and Astra had already spotted patrol units moving near the outskirts of the fields. They both knew it was only a matter of time before the house would be searched.

  While Astra stood rigidly by the window with her gaze fixed on the darkening horizon, as if expecting an attack at any moment, Kael used the remaining time to teach Noah a few basic sword movements. Elia sat nearby, watching the two of them with quiet attentiveness.

  Kael paused mid-explanation when a sharp cry cut through the air. Ausma’s signal.

  A moment later, the falcon gracefully swooped through the hole in the roof and landed on Kael’s shoulder. Kael smiled faintly and gently ran his fingers through the bird’s feathers.

  He immediately noticed that Ausma’s golden eyes did not shine as brightly as usual. The long flight had exhausted him.

  Kael carefully untied the folded letter from Ausma’s claw, whispered a quiet thank you, and tossed him back toward the open sky. Ausma needed rest, and this place was no longer safe.

  The paper felt heavier than it should have in Kael’s hand.

  He was acutely aware of Astra’s cool gaze on his back.

  Before he could unfold the letter, a loud, awed voice broke the tension.

  “Whoa.”

  Kael turned.

  Noah stared up at the opening in the roof, his eyes glowing with admiration. "That is one incredible pet."

  He looked back at Kael. “How did you tame him?”

  Kael followed the boy’s gaze to the sky and found himself smiling again, this time more softly.

  He knelt beside Noah and ran a hand through his hair.

  "Ausma isn't a pet," Kael said quietly, with a hint of melancholy in his voice. "And I didn't tame him."

  His expression drifted somewhere distant.

  "I was simply honored to be chosen by him. To walk beside him.”

  He looked back toward the fading sky.

  "He's no ordinary creature. He bows to no one. He belongs to the wind.”

  A faint shadow crossed Kael’s features.

  "Ausma represents something I'll never become."

  He caught himself, shaking the thought away as he returned his attention to Noah, whose brows were now furrowed in confusion.

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  "But you're right," Kael added with a gentler smile. "He's extraordinary."

  He rose and walked toward Astra.

  She was still standing by the window, her posture tense and her eyes fixed on the distant torchlights glimmering across the dark fields like fallen stars.

  When Kael came to stand beside her, he realized he no longer knew what he wanted to say.

  The afternoon moment lingered stubbornly in his thoughts.

  Astra did not speak either.

  Her gaze remained vigilant, but beneath that vigilance, there was something else. Something thoughtful. It was as if she, too, was replaying a moment she did not yet understand.

  The silence between them felt heavier than the letter in Kael’s hand.

  Kael exhaled quietly and unfolded the letter.

  The light had faded almost completely, and he struggled for a moment to make out the words. But as his eyes adjusted to the dimness, the ink became clear.

  Relief escaped him at the very beginning before he could stop it.

  Cassandra’s parents had survived the chaos at the palace that night unharmed. She wrote that she had been worried about him—more than she cared to admit—and had been waiting for word that he was alive.

  She had heard of Zaros’s death.

  Though she hadn’t known him well, she understood what he had meant to Kael. The capital was told that Zaros Lorne had fallen at the hands of the rebels while bravely trying to stop them. A martyr. A hero.

  The narrative had worked.

  The people stood more united behind their king than ever before. Any whisper of rebellion was now met with hatred.

  Beside him, Astra let out a quiet breath. She had been reading over his shoulder.

  "There is nothing more cruel," she said softly, "than honoring a man for something he never believed in."

  Kael did not respond.

  But the paper trembled in his hands.

  This is all that remains of him.

  Cassandra continued.

  She had tried to reach Lia. After the incident, Lia withdrew from the academy and rarely left her home. Cassandra’s attempts to visit had been politely refused. She wrote that she would continue trying, but there was little more she could do.

  Kael closed his eyes briefly.

  The image of Lia in Augs’ shop appeared uninvited. Pale. Hollow. Determined.

  He forced the memory away.

  Now was not the time to dwell on the past.

  Further down, Cassandra described how his plan had unfolded.

  When the theft of the sword was uncovered, she wept dramatically before her father, claiming that her fiancé had manipulated her, betrayed her trust, and deceived her, only to steal from the Empire.

  Kael could almost see her amused expression as she wrote it.

  She noted dryly that her father seemed far more enraged that Kael had "betrayed" her than that he had stolen a Motarith weapon. If Kael ever returned, her father would probably try to kill him himself.

  At the end of the letter, Cassandra wrote that she had arranged transportation for the two siblings. They would be brought safely to the capital and placed under her protection.

  Kael folded the letter carefully and tucked it into his coat.

  He looked at Astra.

  She was already watching him.

  "We can begin," he said.

  Astra nodded once.

  They walked toward the siblings, who fell silent the moment they saw how serious they were.

  "Listen carefully," Astra began, her voice calm but firm. "Kael and I are going back toward the city wall tonight. We’ll draw the guards’ attention to us.”

  Noah opened his mouth to protest, but Astra raised a single finger. He fell silent at once.

  "When we're close enough to the wall," she continued, "we'll ensure the guards focus on us and not the surrounding fields. That will give you an undisturbed night. At dawn, leave this house. Follow the road toward the capital. Someone will be waiting for you.”

  Kael added quietly, "You can trust her. She’s a friend of ours.”

  He felt Astra’s brief sideways glance, but he ignored it.

  "But you can't just go back into the city," Noah blurted out, his voice tight with fear. "There are too many of them."

  Astra’s eyes shimmered in the dark.

  "If fate demands our deaths tonight," she said evenly, "then so be it."

  Then she looked at Kael.

  "But we will make it."

  Her gaze held something unshakable.

  "I can feel it."