Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Cypherion

It had been a mistake. Vale and I in the same bed. Waking up with her ass pressed against my cock, the slightest shift driving me wild.

That thing that had relied on her and trusted her woke up with the dawn this morning, and I'd spent the entire walk to the blood orange grove on the southern border of Lumin trying to banish it again.

Though, I was beginning to doubt it ever truly left.

"We can't wait much longer," I said, crossing my arms and leaning back against a tree.

Vale stretched up for an orange, dancing on her toes to reach the lowest branches, and swore in a hard voice, "He'll come."

"He might not," I said. "And perhaps that's for the best. We need to figure out what that reading meant and get moving." I'd allowed us both to get distracted last night, but I couldn't do that anymore.

Vale stiffened. "We?—"

"Careful," a voice I'd much rather not hear echoed around the trees. That Starsearcher—Harlen—rounded the trunk, tucking his hands into his pockets. "She has a rather nasty bite, from what I recall."

"Hi, Harls," Vale said softly. A selfish part of me hated the hope in her eyes when she said his name. I stifled a groan.

Why was she trusting him to know we were here?

He strode over to her, plucking a blood orange from the tree and tossing it up with a cocky smirk. "Hi, Vale."

"You got my note?"

"It found me." He grimaced, holding up the slip of parchment crumpled in his hand. A smug satisfaction warmed my chest.

"Not a fan of Mystique ink?" I asked.

"It's…invasive. That sort of magic is unnatural to me," Harlen retorted, tucking away the parchment. "But I suppose it did me a favor today." His eyes found Vale's again, and when he beamed, I couldn't stifle my scoff.

Vale cut me a harsh glare. "We made a deal," she reminded me.

I grumbled beneath my breath, regretting my agreement to make this detour to discuss whatever it was she wanted with Harlen before we carried on with Ophelia's mission.

This Starsearcher hadn't seen Vale in sixteen years, and though they'd been friends as children, he looked at her like she was a prize. And Vale was a prize, in a way. But she was something to be cherished, not something to be won.

Stop thinking like that, Kastroff.

Harlen wrapped an arm around Vale's shoulders, tucking her to him, and all I could think about was my hands on her hips last night. Her in that nightgown and how easy it would have been to slide the straps down. The feel of her breasts through the fabric and the heat between her thighs.

I'd been so close to shoving aside the last scraps of lace and silk and diving into her.

She's leaving .

Shaking away the thought, I trained my vision on Harlen as he took out a triple blade and sliced an orange.

"I should have known this was where you'd want to meet," he said, handing Vale a piece. "The grove thrives in winter."

When she bit into it, she hummed, and it went straight through me.

" Fuck ," I breathed, so quietly I didn't think they heard. I'd never withstand this mission if she kept sounding like that.

Vale straightened, wiping her hands on her skirt and taking a step back from Harlen. Guard up. So perhaps she was a bit more wary about this meeting than she let on.

Vale settled on the grass, not seeming to mind the winter-chilled earth. Silently, I slid down the trunk and propped my arms on my bent knees.

"I wanted to thank you for helping me last night," Vale began, and Harlen nodded. "How long have you been back here?"

With a sigh, the Starsearcher sat, still swinging his knife between two fingers. He moved gracefully, at one with the sway of the branches. "I never left."

"You haven't?" Her eyes widened, and I took in every small movement—every subtle tilt of her head and intake of breath—to gauge how difficult this topic was for her.

"Not for longer than a few weeks. Short trips here and there."

"Why?"

"Lumin is my home." He said it simply, as if she'd agree, but Vale's face remained impassive. "When I turned of age and finished my studies and tests, I found work. I rent an apartment near the market. I travel when I need to. It's a good life."

"But the things we experienced…"

"Nothing was worse than the day you left, Vale. After that, I didn't care about any of it."

A sharp intake of breath. Behind her olive eyes, her guard slipped. "What?"

"I was a little boy who had only ever known one friend in the world, and one morning, she disappeared. No explanation, no goodbye. After that, all I had was this city and myself. I had to make my own home."

"You could have gone anywhere," Vale said.

"I go places." Harlen shrugged, watching the silver blade swing in his hand. "I feel a sort of loyalty to my younger self. I haven't wanted to leave."

A bit of my frustration with the Starsearcher chipped away at his confession. Only the smallest chunk, but enough that I was able to understand what he meant. I'd been just as lost as him before. And I could respect that loyalty—reluctantly.

"But there's so much more out there," Vale said, voice layered with sadness for the boy Harlen had once been. "You can get away from?—"

"I don't want to get away from it," he roared, and I shifted closer to Vale but didn't comment. Sighing, Harlen continued, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. But…what are you doing here?"

His eyes flicked between the two of us, questioning.

"I—" Vale began and then froze.

He didn't know about her sessions, and from the way she snapped her mouth closed, I guessed she didn't want to tell him. So, I blurted, "Revered Alabath sent us on a mission for the good of the Mystique Warriors and the alliance clans."

Vale's head snapped toward me.

Harlen perked up. "The war is over. The battles ceased?—"

"The battles ceased in the southern mountains because the Engrossian queen was killed," I said, tone not brokering argument. "But the war is far from over. What Vale and I search for is not to be disclosed."

" Second Kastroff is right," Vale added, emphasizing my title in a way that made my jaw tick. "I cannot tell you more. But that is why I'm here, and I'll be leaving as soon as possible."

Leaving?

A bead of hope tried to bloom in my chest.

"And when this mysterious task is over, where will you go?" Harlen challenged. For the sake of my Spirit, why did he care? Couldn't he let her go?

"I'll go…home." Vale sighed as she said it, and that bead of hope in my chest extinguished with the breath.

To Valyn. She'd leave when we were done, but she'd return to Valyn.

Harlen pushed to his feet, and we both followed. He rushed toward Vale, and my hand twitched to my knife.

A million questions burned in the Starsearcher's stare. A million things he wanted to say.

But he didn't.

Spirits, did I know how that felt. I dropped my hand, but held my stance.

Harlen's eyes flicked between us accusingly, but instead of arguing, he stepped back. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, then. I see you're in good hands, and I won't keep you."

With that, he was through the trees and gone.

And Vale didn't follow him. She stood there with her hands fisted at her sides and her chin lifted in the determination she wore so fiercely. But her expressive face told me the truth. The tremble of her lips, the quick blinks.

"Vale, I?—"

Whirling, she stepped right up to me. "Thank you for the intervention, but in the future, I can handle those matters myself."

"Pardon?" My brows shot up, tugging at the fresh stitches.

"I wouldn't have told Harlen anything confidential." She crossed her arms, tilting her chin up. Her waves tumbled around her shoulders, and a breeze wrapped her scent through the grove. I tried to focus on what she was saying rather than the alluring way her slender throat worked as she swallowed and glared at me. "He may have been my closest friend many years ago, but I knew better than to reveal Ophelia's secrets to someone we don't know."

"I didn't think you were going to," I said quickly. "I only thought it might be less questionable coming from someone he didn't know."

And she'd seemed uncomfortable under his interrogation. But I didn't think she'd pour out our secrets so easily.

"Vale, I…" I sighed, shoving my hands into my pockets. "I've come to trust you with the information we've gathered." Not as I once had, but since the Seawatcher trial on those platforms in the ocean—since she'd helped me during the alpheous attack, all the way until last night when she'd confided in me—Vale had been steadily winning back my trust, despite my wishes.

She blinked those large eyes at me, chin pulling back, a bit affronted, I thought, but I wasn't sure why.

"Fine," she finally said, storming through the trees.

Her skirt swished as she disappeared among the fronds, and it took me a moment to catch up.

"What about the second half of our deal?" I asked, taking long strides to reach her. I tried to keep my voice as light as possible. "You can't avoid it. We need to figure out what the searcher meant last night. About the ninth level."

"We don't need to figure anything out," Vale growled, swiping vines out of her way as the jungle grew denser. I thought she was walking aimlessly, just getting out whatever tension the interaction with Harlen had sprouted, but I followed regardless.

"Yes, we do." I gripped her shoulder, tugging her to a stop and spinning her to face me. "I know this is all a sensitive topic and your magic is betraying you. I know you hate being here, Vale, and trust me, I understand." She watched her feet, toying with a large frond that draped across the path. The dullness in her eyes sliced through my heart like a hot blade.

Curse myself and that side of me that didn't want her to hurt. Tilting her chin up to me, I waited for her to meet my eyes.

"Maybe I don't understand it because I can't feel it the way you do, but I can see it. And I know that I'm enraged every time I see that damn temple and think about what happened to you within it. And I'm scared about the way your magic is threatening you. But we have to fight past those fears, because we need answers."

She froze, blinking up at me. And I was taken back to nights in Damenal when she looked at me like I was the first truth she'd ever learned in her life. Like I was more than just a warrior, but someone to trust. Someone to believe in.

"I wasn't going to give Harlen confidential information," she repeated. "I appreciate your defense. I think I just wanted to see him again to see if…any of home remained."

It was a peace offering. A thought in exchange for the reassurance I'd offered.

"I understand," I agreed. Vale longed for home and the innocence that had been ripped from her too soon. Harlen was a vital piece of that.

"And we don't need answers because I know what the Starsearcher meant," Vale whispered, lips barely moving. I bent lower to hear what she said next, my heart pounding. "The ninth floor below the archives. That's what she said. That's where we'll find what we need."

"Which archives, though?" My hand tightened briefly on her shoulder, but I dropped it and stepped back. I was supposed to be keeping my distance, and that speech I'd just given was certainly not doing that. I dragged a hand through my hair and tried to breathe normally. "Are they in the…"

I didn't want to say temple.

"The ninth floor is a clue for me. Because of the Fates I'm drawn to." She swallowed. "And the archives she's referencing are the Valyn Citadel Archives."

My heart crashed through my chest.

Valyn .

The Starsearcher capital.

Where Titus was.

"We have to go to Valyn?" I mumbled, hands fisting at my sides.

"We have to go to Valyn," she confirmed, voice as numb as the words made me feel.

Vale had gone dull during the journey from Lumin to Valyn, like her starlight winked out.

I hoped getting her away from the temple would restore a bit of her confidence, like what she'd found during the hunt for the emblems as she stood up for herself.

Something was stopping her, though.

And despite everything I swore, every boundary I promised myself I'd restore, it was driving me crazy.

"Did you have friends in Valyn that you'd like to see when we're there?" It was a pointless offer. We couldn't make our presence obvious if we didn't want Titus to know we were in the capital. And with how elusive his moves had been—how he hadn't written to her once—it was best if we concealed ourselves.

But if she needed it, I could find a way.

"I did not have friends," she deadpanned. Her voice didn't sound like a bell anymore. "I rarely left the chancellor's manor due to my work."

"None?" I should have stopped pushing her, but she was speaking at least. That was better than an evasive silence.

Vale cast a distant stare over her shoulder. "We are not all as fortunate as you, Cypherion."

And I was an ass.

Vale was alone in so many more ways than I'd known, ways she'd implied but had never fully explained because Titus forced her to hide so much. But she'd always watched my friends with a glint of longing in her eye. Now I knew why.

We were all searching for things in our lives. Maybe Vale's was a home. A place to belong. She needed people who truly cared for her.

And she had apologized on that roof. For the first time, she'd torn down that wall and sorrow had burned beneath those words.

Perhaps I could be that friend for her, until she left.

It was clear there was too much damage between us to go beyond that, no matter how badly I wanted her. At the end of this, she'd go back to Titus.

I'll go home , she'd said to Harlen. That was her home, wasn't it?

But the prospect of heading back to the capital now had leached color from her face. So why would she return when this was done?

I didn't understand, but I knew when this was over, I'd be in Damenal as Ophelia's Second, Angels willing we all make it there. Until then…

I cleared my throat. "I…I'm your friend, Vale."

"Are you?" It could have been teasing once, months ago. A jokingly arched brow waiting for me to admit I wanted her as more than a friend. But now there was genuine pain lacing her voice.

"Yes," I promised. It took all my power not to nudge Erini forward to Vale's side. "I'm your friend. My friends are your friends now, too."

You're not alone anymore, Stargirl. Don't go back there.

"Thank you," she said, chin down and eyes on her hands. No acknowledgement of that silent pleading.

Vale and I had an end, and the sooner we reached it the better. Until then, we'd be friends, and I'd set aside my other feelings.

When we stopped mid-afternoon, I took my time caring for Erini. She was a quiet horse, but a strong one, and the time spent with her was meditative.

Vale was calmly brushing Marage. She unscrewed the top of her canteen and shook it, but nothing came out.

"Here." I offered her mine and some fruit, then stopped to unroll the map I'd been tracking our path on. We could have headed into the jungle and followed the century-worn trails. Erini would have likely found our way to the capital, but plans were important. Going without them when unnecessary was setting yourself up for foolish, avoidable danger.

"Looks like there's a small town just over the next ridge," I said, rolling the map back up. "We can stay there for the night and reach Valyn by sunset tomorrow. If that's okay with you."

"Sure." Vale nodded, eyes and voice hollow. Spirits, I may only be able to be her friend, but I missed her smiles.

"Have you been through this area before?" I asked.

"Not since—" She snapped her mouth shut, regret darkening her cheeks.

Since…

"Vale, are we taking the same route?" Her silence was enough of an answer. "Cursed Angels." I pinched between my brows. Be nice. Be friendly. "We could have gone the other way around the lake."

We did not have to take the same route she'd traveled with Titus as he took her from the Lumin Temple to Valyn.

"No, we couldn't," she rushed out. "This is the fastest route. It's okay."

"Vale," I pleaded, "don't do this. Don't pretend none of this is bothering you when I only know the slightest of demons you're fighting, and they sure as Spirits are bothering me."

She was shocked into silence for a moment, chewing her lip. "It is rather beautiful out here," she finally said, and the serpent around my heart uncoiled a bit at the energy in her voice.

"Stunning," I said, staring at her, begging her to continue.

"Actually," she contemplated. Her eyes grew so wide and hopeful, but a tinge afraid, like she didn't know what to expect. "I'd like to take you somewhere. If that's okay with you."

If that's okay with you . We were being so delicate with each other, and a piece of me hated it.

"Yeah, Stargirl," I breathed, and with it, I released another bout of the hostility I'd been clinging to. "Anywhere."