The ancient oak tree in the palace gardens cast long shadows in the moonlight, and its branches formed a canopy that filtered the silver light into patterns on the grass.
Jace leaned against its trunk, rough bark digging through his tunic, and let his eyes rest on the moon. It stared back like an unblinking eye, cold and remote. His mind kept looping through the same fragments—the children's laughter in Riverfall, the commander's firm salute, the smiles that had seemed so full of relief.
All of it scattered. All of it gone.
The crunch of leaves broke through his haze. Zara came out of the shadows, her bound arm hugged close, careful with each step across the uneven ground.
"Mind if I sit?" she asked, lowering herself beside him before he could answer.
They stayed like that for a while, both facing the same pale sky. The silence pressed in, heavy but not unwelcome.
"I heard what happened," she said at last.
"Yeah." His voice scraped out of him, dull and flat.
"Tor stormed off. Haven't seen him since. Kael locked himself in the library. Elliot disappeared. Dren—" She gave a tired shrug. "Who knows."
Jace clenched his jaw until it ached.
"There wasn't anything you could have done," Zara said, her tone steady, the kind of gentle firmness that left no room for self-deception. "The way it was carried out… whoever planned it wasn't leaving gaps."
"If I'd been sharper, maybe I would've noticed something. If we'd stayed another day—"
"And what if they simply waited until you left again?" Zara tilted her head toward him. "What if your staying made no difference at all?"
"You don't know that."
"And you don't know otherwise." Her gaze held him, calm and unyielding. "Wart."
He looked at her then, the moonlight catching the set of her face.
"I know it feels like you failed. But sitting here tearing yourself apart doesn't help anyone. If you want their deaths to mean something, then get stronger. Hunt down the one who did this. Make sure they pay."
Jace's chest tightened. He dropped his eyes back to the sky, words refusing to come.
Zara stood, brushing stray blades of grass from her robes. She started back down the path toward the palace, her footsteps soft in the still night.
"Zara."
She stopped, glancing back.
"Thank you."
A single nod, and she was gone, swallowed by the trees. Alone again, Jace let the silence close in around him, the first edge of resolve cutting through the numbness.
*******
Sunlight pushed across his chamber floor, harsh and golden. Jace surfaced from a tangle of fire-stained dreams, heart still hammering, and blinked into the blur of morning. The blur shifted, solidified—and his breath froze.
Tor loomed at his bedside, arms folded, a mountain of shadow blotting out the light.
"Tor?" His voice cracked. "What—how did you—when—"
"Get up." Tor's voice was stripped bare, no warmth, no familiar ease. Just stone. "Training ground. Now."
He turned and left, the weight of his footsteps echoing until the door shut hard behind him.
Jace sat frozen for a beat, the afterimage of that expressionless bulk lingering in his vision. Whatever this was, it wasn't a casual training session.
He forced himself up, dragged on his clothes, strapped his sword. His chest tightened with the uneasy thought: This won't be pleasant.
The training ground doors gave way under his push, and he stopped cold.
Kael slumped against the far wall, robes torn, face gray and sweat-slick. Dren sat opposite, hair a mess, his hollow stare fixed on nothing. Elliot leaned by the weapon racks, shoulders rising and falling too fast, hands flexing like they still remembered blows that hadn't landed clean.
In the stands, Zara and Nia watched, quiet but intent, as if they had been here through every step of this spectacle.
At the center stood Tor, rooted in place, a storm restrained inside human skin. His greatsword hung idle on his back, but his stance radiated menace.
"Ah. Wart." His voice carried steady, almost calm, but it thrummed with something that made Jace's instincts tighten. "Perfect timing. Your turn."
Jace's throat went dry. "My turn for what?"
"Spar with me."
The way he said it made the words feel heavier than they should. Jace's body tensed on its own. This wasn't training. This was something else.
"I—I just woke up. I haven't even—"
Tor was already moving, his size no hindrance to his speed. His fist blurred toward Jace's face, leaving no time for excuses.
Only reaction.