After managing to slowly climb down with only a few extra cuts and scrapes to my name, I made my way back to the blacksmiths and took up the well-needed rest everyone had been demanding of me. I slept through the rest of the day, only crawling out of my slumber when Auron knocked on my door with some food and water, asking me how bad my pain was. It wasn't too noticeable until someone pointed it out, the exhaustion wracking my body had served as a suitable distraction.

The next time I awoke, it was to a loud knocking on my bedroom window. I jumped out of my skin, nearly falling out of my bed. It just had to be a tree, I assured myself. Nobody in their right mind would climb up to the second floor of a building to knock on the window. Though, it didn't exactly sound like a tree.

Slipping out from under my bedsheets, gripping the dagger I had made only a week ago, I made my way over to the glass. I tried to peer out of the window as I slowly approached it to see if anyone was out there, but I couldn't make out anything against the darkness of the night.

Perhaps I was hearing things? Maybe my exhaustion had other symptoms aside from not wanting to move from the warmth of my bed?

I reached the window and found nothing. Not a soul was around. Throwing the dagger back onto the bedsheets, I crossed my arms and leaned against the windowsill to watch the world whilst it slept.

What had caused the knocking sound? Had I imagined it?

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a folded piece of paper that had been slipped underneath the window. I wasn't insane after all.

Hurriedly taking it and opening it up, I read the short message inside the note: meet me at The Lost and Found. I didn't know why, but I had expected something more from Mace. Was that just him outside my window? Or was it another one of his cloaked figures?

How did the escaped prisoner even know about the hidden village of Torrine? Did he mean to meet me now? It felt like I was in a dream, a nightmare of sorts. I wanted to fall back asleep and see if this was real in the morning. But what if I didn't go to The Lost and Found and I missed my opportunity to get answers? What if I went now and he wasn't there? Mace did seem like the type of person to conduct his shady business during the hours of the night.

I couldn't waste this chance.

For the second time that day, I headed over to the stables to saddle up Cirrus. The only difference was that this time I was on my way to The Lost and Found. It was also the dead of night, meaning I had to move as silently as possible, telling my alabaster steed to stop huffing and sighing as I put on her reins.

The forest surrounding the castle was much more sinister in the darkness, the moonlight casting haunting shadows as it shone through the branches instead of the alluring ones the sun brought. It was nearly impossible to see further than a few trees off of the main path, meaning navigating my way to Torrine would be a little difficult. Hopefully, the muscle memory of riding back and forth to the hidden village for years would guide me.

Eventually, I did make it to The Lost and Found and it was much busier than I had ever seen it before, but that was likely because Kayne, Auron, and I had only ever visited during the day. It would be troublesome trying to find Mace amongst all the people.

I pushed my way through the crowd gathered outside of the large doors to the tavern and walked over to the counter that Forsythia stood behind. The tall woman gave me a warm smile as she dried a marbled drinking glass.

"Well, I didn't expect to see you come alone tonight," she remarked in a greeting. "Would you like your usual?"

"Yes please." I grinned back, sliding into one of the stools opposite her. "Have you happened to see a suspiciously wanted man around here tonight?" Forsythia always kept track of the people coming in and out of her tavern, no matter how many there were.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that, dear." She pushed a glass of my usual alcohol along the counter and I pushed over two silver coins in return.

"He just comes up to your nose in height, long brown hair, a very punchable face, always looks like he might suddenly deceive someone and go on a murderous rampage... Is that enough information?"

Forsythia burst out laughing. "Do you mean the man sat at your usual table?"

I turned to see two people sheltered in the darkness of our normal seats, one of which, who kept more to the light of the room, was indeed Mace. After squinting, I managed to figure out that the other person sitting with him was an old woman. The soul trader. The woman who had attempted to steal my soul from me just under a week ago.

Mace threw a bag of gold coins in front of her and the old woman snatched it up seconds after it had hit the table. She stood abruptly, her eyes raking the man before her with a hunger for what I could only imagine was his soul, and left. She made eye contact with me, singling me out in the crowd, and grinned. There was something feral about the way she did so, making me shudder.

"Thank you for the drink and the information." I turned back to Forsythia who was watching me with curiosity. "I'd love to stay and talk, but I have some business to attend to."

Mace didn't seem to notice I had arrived, so I headed over to him, taking the soul trader's place. The seat was still warm from the old woman as I sat down.

"I don't recommend doing business with soul traders. They aren't trustworthy people." It was more of a reminder than a warning. Though, who was I to be helping him? He could suffer and lose his soul for all I cared.

Mace leant back in his chair — Auron's usual chair — taking a mouthful from his drink. "I was just paying for a job I already had done, there's no need to fret." He laughed to himself, a shallow sound. "Although they're not trustworthy in the slightest, the ability to see souls is very handy for finding people."

I raised a brow, trying to act as relaxed as I could. My hand kept straying to the dagger I had sheathed to my thigh just in case things turned deadly. "Who might you be looking for?"

"I had her look for you. She found you after only a day of me requesting your location and let me know this is the table you frequent at. Not only that, but she trailed you when you left and found out you stayed at the castle." The escaped prisoner took another slow sip from his glass. "Soul traders are pretty resourceful if you ask me."

I shook my head. "Whatever suits you, but we're not here to talk about that tonight."

Mace crossed an ankle over his knee. "You don't look like you're in too much pain for someone who's just been shot."

"And you don't look too hidden for undoubtedly the most wanted person in the kingdom," I retorted. Had word not spread about what had happened at the ball? He had been the only one not wearing a cape, so surely a description of him — a man who tried to kill the High Fae Queen — was floating around somewhere.

He held his hands up in a mocking surrender. "We don't need to start this off with hostility."

"It's a bit late for that. You were the one who shot me first." My hand tightened around the cup that contained my drink.

Mace shrugged. "My arrow was aimed for your queen, you just happened to be in the way."

I couldn't help but let out a frustrated sigh. We couldn't be doing this. It was as if we were children bickering back and forth. I wasn't going to get any useful information out of him if we continued. "I came here for answers. How exactly did you and the rest of your group manage to get in and out of the castle so easily? Was it through more of those secret passages?"

"I suppose the answer to that would be yes, but those passages were never there to begin with. If you try to find them now, you won't be able to find anything because they don't exist." Mace watched me with an inquisitiveness, trying to gauge my reaction.

Was that why I hadn't been able to find anything when I searched as soon as Kayne and Auron had left me to rest? "But then how did you get to where I was through the wall?"

"With the scraps of magic Icrodeia has left." To prove a point, he snapped his fingers and my drink began to stir itself until it became a miniature whirlpool, readying to spill the alcohol. "How do you think I managed to escape from the tower? I couldn't just easily waltz out of there without some kind of assistance."

"But..." I didn't know what to say. I knew magic existed, although I had never seen it used in front of me before. The Kingdom of Vahan had magic users that wielded fire, some sorcerers in the forbidden market dealt in enchantments, but never had I expected or heard of Icrodeians having a lick of anything of the sort. "How?"

As Mace lowered his hand, the drink halted moving. "Have you noticed the strengths of the gold Icrodeians have in their eyes? How some have a murky yellow and others have more of a vibrant shade?"

I couldn't say I had. I hadn't even seen many of my own people in Racaea for the time I had been living here. If I had noticed a difference, I would have probably blamed it on the lighting.

When I didn't respond, he continued, "The stronger the colour present in an Icrodeian's eyes, the more potential they have to wield the power of the Idaphite stone. Not many know of this, though, as it's typically kept a secret to the royal family. I would appreciate it if you kept this information to yourself too."

There was a growing dread in the pit of my stomach. "And where do I fit into all of this?" I couldn't believe he was just trusting me with this knowledge. There had to be some sort of catch, some lie woven into the truth of his words to throw me off.

Mace downed the rest of his drink. "A long time ago, aeons before either of us were born into this world, the castle back home was raided specifically for the Idaphite stone. It was swung at with weapons, axes, pickaxes, everything you could imagine, until it was shattered. Smaller pieces of a large floating crystal makes it much easier to steal, after all." I could tell he debated calling Forsythia over to order another drink, but he decided against it. "There was no trace of where it went and until now, nobody has ever had a clue as to where it went. Not a single shard."

"And you think I have it?" I raised a brow. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I haven't come across any fancy magical stone or any piece of it for that matter."

"Oh, I know. All of our investigations have led us to a certain couple living on the border between our lands. The Sephirans have been difficult to get a hold of, but if you were to contact them for us, to lead them into a trap for us, things might work out." He smiled, proud of his plan.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. "I'm not going to lead my parents into a trap so you can harm them."

"Even though they had you sold to Racaea? Don't you think they deserve some sort of punishment for what they did?"

I didn't know their reason for doing what they did, I couldn't jump to any conclusions about their motives until I met them. "What do you need this stone for anyway? Why is it so important to you?" I asked, changing the topic at hand.

"It gives the Icrodeia royal family their strength." Mace paused, as if to consider his words. "They've been able to sustain themselves over the few scraps of shards left over, but now they have nothing left. That's all I can tell you in that aspect for now."

"So, you want it to grow stronger?" I leant forward. What was I going to do? Was I really going to form an alliance — fake or not — with him?

He bunched his lips as he thought. "Essentially."

"If it's to threaten Racaea or the fae, I won't help you. I'll only assist you if you leave them alone." There was a prickle on the back of my neck that made the hairs across my body stand on their ends, as if someone was watching me from a dark corner I hadn't noticed.

"So you're actually going to help our cause?" Mace appeared to be genuinely surprised.

"Only so this war doesn't have to-" Before I could finish my words, a man paced over and held a sword to Mace's throat. The blade was one I was familiar with. A simple small opal sat in its hilt and it had been crafted by a weaponsmith I happened to live with.

Auron.

"What in the forest's name is going on here?"