Saezu cameback to the kingdom to meet with Elayna

  The sky hung heavy over the border road, the wind sharp and constant, as if the world itself refused to be silent in the face of what was happening. Saezu stood at the edge of the kingdom, just before the broken lands began—the Farlands. Behind him, Goldhearth was a distant shadow. Before him, only uncertainty.

  Elayna arrived just after dusk, cloaked and hooded, her steps sure despite the watchful guards who lingered nearby. Fenric had arranged it. One final meeting. No titles. No orders. Just them.

  Saezu turned as she approached, the fire between them crackling low in the cold air.

  "You're late," Saezu said, but there was no edge in his voice.

  "I had to slip past your fan club," Elayna replied, pulling down her hood. Her hair was pinned back tight. Her eyes, rimmed in red, held steady.

  He motioned for her to sit. She didn’t. She stood across the fire from him, as if distance might soften the blow.

  “I tried everything,” Elayna said.

  “I know,” Saezu replied.

  “I made noise. I begged council members. I even threatened Hadric with exposure—"

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  “You shouldn’t have.”

  She stepped forward, heat finally rising in her voice. “I shouldn’t have? They were about to destroy you in that court and I—” She broke off, breathed deep. “I couldn’t just watch them do it.”

  Saezu stared at the flames.

  “I never expected you to fix it,” he said. “I just needed to know I wasn’t alone.”

  A beat of silence passed. The wind whistled through the trees. The guards lingered at a polite distance.

  “You were never alone,” she whispered.

  He looked up at her then, and for a moment, all the weight fell away. No kings. No brothers. No traitors or exile. Just Elayna—brilliant, infuriating, real.

  “I have to go,” Saezu said.

  “I know.”

  He stood. Walked around the fire to her. They stood inches apart. He reached out and took her hand.

  “They’ll watch you,” he said.

  “Let them.”

  “They’ll try to use you.”

  “They already did.”

  He gave a tired smile. “You were the only good thing in that place.”

  “And you,” she said, voice trembling, “were the only reason I stayed.”

  He leaned his forehead against hers. Closed his eyes.

  “I’ll come back,” he whispered.

  “You’d better.”

  “I’ll burn that city to the ground if I have to.”

  She didn’t flinch. “Good. I want front-row seats.”

  He stepped back.

  Pulled a chain from around his neck—his mother’s pendant—and pressed it into her hand.

  “Keep it safe. Until I do.”

  She nodded, closing her fingers around the cold metal.

  Neither of them said goodbye. It wasn’t that kind of moment.

  Saezu turned. Walked into the dark.

  And Elayna, head held high, turned back toward a city that had already started to crack.

  That night, in the wild, Saezu did not light a fire.

  He did not sleep.

  He walked.

  And every step forward was a promise: I will return. And when I do, I will not be the same.