Elian;

The name cuts through me and leaves terror in its wake. Cold... frightening terror

Everything inside me goes still as I remember the creepy man I saw at the capital that day... the way he smiled at me... The stories of him that Elien told me...

That... That’s the men who... found us?? That’s the man who.. Spoke... in our mind???

"B-Balinar??" I repeat the name inwardly, with t sounding like a curse I mustn’t have dared to utter.

"I can feel him, Elian", Elien says, and I listen in dreadful silence.

"It’s not like before. It is no longer distant... or faint. This time, it’s... close." He adds, and my hand subconsciously presses harder against my stomach, while the baby shifts again... More restless this time, like she feels the tension rising through me.

"That’s not possible," I say, shaking my head slightly.

"Nagari is protected. The borders—Queen Selthía’s magic—there’s no way he could just pass through, and be close—" I add, but Elien cuts me off.

"I don’t understand it either." He says, and that only causes my fear to build. Because Elien always understands everything.

He’s the one who explains and teaches me things.

But now... now he doesn’t understand??

"I don’t know how he crossed the border... I don’t know how he got this close without being stopped, but he’s close. I can feel him, Elian. And now... Now, he’s found me." He adds, and I gulp.

"What... what does this mean for us?" I ask, with my voice dropping.

"It means that whatever I thought would keep him out... didn’t." He says, and the weight of that settles deep in my heart.

This time, what I feel is my own fear. Not just his, but realisation, and my own fear, taking shape.

"What do we do?" I ask.

This time, there’s no anger or accusation in my voice. Just fear, and an honest, quiet question.

"What do we do if he’s already here? We can’t just leave Nagari. Where do we go? Back to the capital?? Or back to Gravemaw? Koda won’t let us back there. Not for a while..." I speak, but Elien doesn’t answer. Instead, I feel him thinking...

Calculating.

And then he speaks.

"I’m sorry. I... was wrong. I thought I could handle everything on my own and protect you by not making you worry, but... I know now that part of caring for someone is letting them care for you. So, I think we shouldn’t hide this." He says, and I blink in confusion.

"Huh?"

"You remember what Queen Selthía said." He asks, and I pause.

"...What... did she say?"

"She said she sees us... And that we are... hers to protect." He reminds me, and the memory surfaces easily.

Her voice. Her gentleness and certainty when she said it.

The way she looked at Elien like a child she would give anything to protect.

"Yes... I remember." I reply, and Elien lets out a breath. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Good. It means you understand how we are not going to handle this alone." He replies, and I tilt my head in confusion.

"I’m going to talk to her and tell her... Everything." He says, and I freeze.

Everything??

"You mean... you’re going to tell her... everything?? Your past with—with Balinar?" I ask in awe, and he takes a breath.

"Yes. If that’s what it’ll take to keep our baby and us alive, yes. I will tell her about my past with Balinar."

That lands like a blow to my heart. It took a lot for him to tell me a little about Balinar. And now... he wants to open up to Queen Selthía?

Completely??

"She already knows there are two of us," he adds. "Zerana knows too. I will only be telling her exactly what she’s up against. Because Balina is a monster, and for him to do what he just did... It means there’s trouble. Trouble she has to be warned of."

I let out a breath as I don’t know how this will play out.

"And if she reacts badly?" I ask. "If she relays that were wrong and nothing can get past her?—"

"If we do nothing, Balinar will not need her permission or ours to do something." Elien cuts in, with his voice sharper now,

Silence falls upon again, and in the silence, I think...

I exhale slowly, lifting my gaze to the ceiling. My hand moves over my stomach more gently this time, and our baby shifts under my touch.

"You’re right. We can’t do this alone," I whisper.

"No," Elien agrees, and I shut my eyes.

There is still fear in my heart, but this time around, there is direction... I now understand the horrid discomfort I had been feeling, and now, I won’t just be sitting on my hands.

We know now what to do... The direction to take...

"...Fine. We will go to Queen Selthía." I agree. The words feel final the moment I say them, and I know there’s no turning back from them.

There is no pretending things are normal. No hiding.

I can’t tell Koda and Zephan about Elien, but we can tell Queen Selthia all she needs to know.

The room feels different now.

Not safer... but lighter.

I turn toward the door, with my heart beating slowly in my chest. This is going to be one hell of a conversation.

And there’s no time to waste. If Balinar has found us, who knows how much time we have left?

He may be after Elien, but it’s no longer just Elien in this mess. It’s me, I’m... and our daughter.

And I’d be damned before I ever let anything happen to my baby.

"Elian... from on... We are a team. We’ve always been. I’m sorry I made it feel otherwise... I won’t ever let that happen again. We... I’m done running. We’ll face Balinar. We’ll teach him a lesson. And I’m sure that as long as I have you and our baby by my side... It will all be alright." He whispers, and I smile as I nod.

"Yeah. We are a team. And it’s high time we get rid of that curse name Balinar. I promise we’ll get him off your back."