The chairs were too small for any of us. The two slave mages were seated in those ridiculously small chairs, their arms tied to the chair legs so that they hunched quite low to the ground, and they looked incredibly uncomfortable. “Where is the other Focus?” Raella asked. I could see that she was rolling a large ruby in her hands. Lyre sat on the table, not bothering with the undersized chairs, and placed the jade gem next to him with a soft clunk on the solid wood. I could see that it was shaped like an octopus. The silver haired mage narrowed her eyes at it, looking as though she wished she could simply will it into her grasp.

Nodding, Raella stepped over and placed the ruby next to it, where I could see that it was heart shaped and glittered in the light of the room. Then she walked back over to stand between the chairs the mages were tied to. Zolambi stood next to her, his arms crossed as he frowned at the gems where they sat harmlessly out of reach. Greyjon leaned against the wall, his arms also crossed as he stared at the prisoners. He looked almost too casual, and I knew that he was very carefully keeping an eye on their bindings and was poised to jump into action if he was needed. The Dwarven King was also in the room, pacing as he listened to us talk, his expression grim.

Peyton and Asterollan sat across from each other at the table, closer to where the prisoners were. Somehow they both made sitting in the chairs look effortless and comfortable, such a stark contrast to Lucas’s awkwardness that I smiled briefly thinking of him tripping on the chair. Peyton was frowning at the gems. “What are they, exactly?” she asked.

I stood next to Lyre where he sat on the table, so close that our legs touched, and I took some comfort in the closeness. “Focuses,” I told her. “In the human lands, they keep the elves from casting at will by requiring them to use a Focus. Without those, they can’t use their magic… not as long as they’ve got those face tattoos.”

“Ah. So that wasn’t just a fashion statement,” Peyton said, her tone wry. She glanced at Lyre, then at Zolambi. “Did you two have similar tattoos before?”

Zolambi nodded. “Yes,” Lyre said simply. “When you break the Focus, it also removes the tether… the tattoos that help bind us in our slavery.” The raven haired woman looked up curiously, studying Lyre as he spoke, but said nothing. I wondered if perhaps she already knew how to break the bindings, or if this was her first time hearing about.

“With only two slaves here, we’d only be able to break one tether,” I noted, watching their reactions carefully. The silver haired woman stared at me impassively, her eyes narrowing. I suspected that she, at least, knew exactly how that worked.

Asterollan shook his head. “It wouldn’t be wise to free either of them. Yasmin,” he gestured to the raven haired one, then to the silver haired one, “and Safyral are both notoriously loyal to King Guilphrey.”

“Speaking of loyalty,” Zolambi said, narrowing his eyes at Asterollan. “Should we trust you? We show up here, and the human king from your country shows up the same night?”

“He didn’t hesitate to kill any of the soldiers that came for us. Cassandra had to stop him from slicing that mage in half.” Lyre gestured to the silver haired mage – Safyral – as he spoke. “He defended us without a second thought.” Lyre turned his head to stare at Asterollan. “I trust him.”

“In fact, he was more worried about their impending attack than the rest of us were,” Peyton added, looking a little sheepish as she stared at the table. I could see the faint flush of embarrassment creeping across her skin.

Asterollan looked slightly taken aback at the defense that both Peyton and Lyre provided, and stared up at Lyre, meeting his gaze steadily. Zolambi also looked surprised, and nodded quietly, studying Asterollan thoughtfully. I wondered if Lyre’s statement would be enough to clear his suspicion completely, or if he would be keeping a careful watch on Asterollan still.

“Has Yasmin told you anything at all?” I asked Raella.

Raella sighed and shook her head. “Unfortunately not. When we met in the ballroom, King Guilphrey only made veiled threats that insinuated they were acting against us tonight, and that he was here to stop our evil plots.”

“I overheard in the maze that they wanted to kill us. The Graces,” I said. “Though I guess that was kind of obvious,” I added awkwardly.

Raella looked thoughtful, raising a hand to rub a finger along her chin. “It may seem obvious, but confirmation is good to have. The next question would be why. Do they want to stop us from sealing the would-be god ascendant away? With the weakening of the seal, is he communicating with them? Perhaps making them his puppets?”

I paused for a moment before adding, “They mentioned something about their failure upsetting a god, but then said the seal might actually protect them.”

Raella’s eyes widened and she turned to stare at the mage prisoners in shock. “Such foolishness! Working for that… creature of darkness!”

For a moment, Safyral opened her mouth, looking as though she wanted to speak to defend their actions, but then her lips snapped shut and she stared at the floor angrily.

“The gods have been taking an active part in things lately. Maybe they were working for one?” I asked.

Raella was already shaking her head as we spoke. “Then why would the seal protect them from the god’s wrath? The seal is for the ascendant. It has nothing to do with the gods.” She sighed. “Besides, the ascendant wants to be a god. He likely claims to be to anyone he speaks to.”

The room fell silent as we considered what little information we knew. “We should still be on the lookout for other assassination attempts,” Zolambi said. “Also, I do recall these two being quite valuable to King Guilphrey. He may attempt to rescue them.”

The Dwarven king stopped pacing. “Bringing soldiers into our palace is an affront, if not a direct act of war – we’ll immediately cut our ties to the Kingdom of Wryaes and have their citizens expelled from the Anchors at once. These two could be useful as pieces in future diplomatic negotiations… if you will allow us to keep them as our prisoners.”

“I don’t think they really want to help us anyway,” Raella said, studying them. “I would like to question them once more individually, perhaps tomorrow. After that, what you do with them is your business. Just be careful to keep their Focuses away from them, and they will be mostly harmless.”

The dwarven king nodded and summoned a few of his soldiers into the room. There was a flurry of activity as a velvet lined wooden box was brought to the king. He carefully placed both focuses into it, locked the box, and carried it away himself as he bid us good night. The prisoners were untied and escorted out. Greyjon took the chance to excuse himself, following the soldiers who were taking the mages away. I think he suspected the next conversation we would be having, and was pretending to be concerned about whether the prisoners would escape so he could avoid it.

Soon it was just Raella and Zolambi left with Peyton, Asterollan, Lyre and I. We sat in silence for a long moment before Peyton said, “So you summoned us here to die.” She pulled Lucas’s jacket close around her and leaned forward in her chair, frowning at the table. I stared at Raella and then at Zolambi. Zolambi was absently running his fingers down the velvety pattern of his robes, as though tracing the raised portions of the pattern was soothing. He stared at the table as well.

Raella’s chin lifted slightly at the statement, ever haughty, but then she gave an uncharacteristically defeated sigh and her shoulders slumped slightly. “Yes. We have no choice. Only divine magic can refresh the seal, and only people summoned from elsewhere can wield that divine magic.” For a moment, her tone was almost pleading.

Peyton looked up to meet her eyes. “The compass spell isn’t new. Others have tried to escape before.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Peyton frowned at Raella. “And the spell to reseal your bad guy. We don’t cast it, do we? We’re just there to provide the divine magic. That’s why the four of you came with us. That’s why we haven’t been taught any sort of sealing spell. We’re just… batteries.”

I hadn’t even considered that – not once had I wondered why we hadn’t been taught more about refreshing the seal, even though that was what we were there to do. I looked from Peyton to Raella curiously. Raella gave Peyton an appraising nod. “You are very astute. Yes. We cast the spell – and the Graces fuel it.” Peyton closed her eyes and visibly shuddered, and Raella looked almost pained for a moment. I could sense Lyre staring at me intently and I placed a hand on his leg. I knew what he wanted, but I refused to meet his gaze. “I know that you will all consider running. I can’t… fault that. But I am not exaggerating when I say that the ascendant’s release will touch every corner of our world. Even if you run now… you’ll never be safe.”

“But how do you know that?” Peyton asked, her tone slightly exasperated.

Raella opened her mouth to respond, then stopped. Then said, “I don’t. Not for sure. I only have the knowledge that’s been handed down to us.”

“A story from five thousand years ago,” Lyre said, still staring intently at me. “So long ago you don’t even know his name. Or even the name of the old gods.”

For some reason, something in what he said clicked in my memory with something someone else had said earlier that night. “Jon Umberling said that there was a temple underground. A temple with all this information, a temple to the God of Knowledge.” I met Lyre’s gaze. “We should at least go that far, and learn what we can. See if this sacrifice is worth it.” Lyre was already shaking his head, frowning, but I smiled at him reassuringly and squeezed his leg. “Maybe we’ll find we have more options than we think,” I told him quietly. I didn’t want to promise that we wouldn’t die, but I found I was flooded with a strange degree of hope.

Asterollan was staring at me too, a soft frown on his face. Peyton sighed. “Fine. We’ll go that far. But if there’s nothing there that convinces me this is necessary, we’re all running.” She looked back over at Raella. “We have a child with us. And these people have become my friends. I’m not letting you use them as sacrifices.”

I nodded in agreement. “Fair enough. I don’t want to die either.”

Raella looked at each of us in turn. “I suppose that is the most I can ask,” she conceded, looking strangely chastened. But that expression lasted only a moment before, hardly seeming able to contain herself, she added, “What is this about a temple in the mountain?”

---

We returned to our rooms. I drew a deliciously hot bath and convinced Lyre to join me, though he didn’t seem to care for the temperature of the water. We sat together for a long time as the water cooled, mostly in silence. “I’m sorry. I know you’d rather we run now,” I said finally, running a finger along his arm. He had annoyingly flawless skin.

He pulled me close, resting his chin on my shoulder and breathed deeply. “I’m going to find a way to keep you,” he murmured stubbornly, and I smiled despite myself.

When we were done bathing and had pulled on the robes we had taken from the bathhouse before, we found food waiting for us in the common area. Peyton and Lucas were sitting and eating together, using the desk as a table. It seemed that she was filling him in on everything he had missed. “How’s Lexie?” I asked him.

“She’s sleeping right now. I think she’ll be okay, but she killed a few of the soldiers. It… it kinda shocked her.” He shuddered at the memory. “It kinda shocked me too. I don’t think I was ready to see people die tonight.”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever ready to see someone die,” Peyton said, absently pushing her food around her plate.

I thought of how easily Asterollan seemed to take killing, and wondered how many deaths he had seen and caused to make him so desensitized to it. I sat down at one of the other tables in the room, which had plates waiting for Lyre and me. I hadn’t even thought of food all night, but now that I had a plate full in front of me I found I was starving. The scent of the roasted chicken and the mashed potatoes made my stomach rumble. I set to eating, thinking back on how long the day had been. We had still been on the road just that afternoon. That felt so long ago.

Peyton finished first and excused herself to her room. Lyre, also drained, barely pecked at his meal before going to bed before me. I glanced up at Lucas. “I’m surprised you’re not asleep yet.”

“Asterollan’s taking a long time in the bath,” Lucas groused. Just as he made his complaint, his door opened, and Asterollan stepped out, also wearing the robe he had taken from the bathhouse. He was rubbing a towel over his hair. “Oh, good. Finally.” Lucas beelined for the room, shutting the door behind him. I just barely heard Peter trill an enthusiastic greeting before the door snapped shut.

I hadn’t really considered the robes to be skimpy before, but watching Asterollan, I realized it did very little to hide the lithe musculature of his frame. I glanced around quickly, looking for something else to focus on, and realizing there wasn’t any more food set out – only dirty dishes left sitting at the tables. “Did you have anything to eat?”

Asterollan nodded. “Yes, I ate while you and Lyre were in your room.” He studied me, his face carefully devoid of any emotion, and then walked slowly to one of the cushiony couches to sit. He began to unfold a blanket that had been sitting on the arm of the chair. I blushed slightly, thinking of the private moments Lyre and I had been able to steal for ourselves since we had confessed our feelings for each other. I guess we were in a relationship of sorts now, but it was all still very new and I easily got the fluttery-floaty feeling in my chest every time. I had to keep reminding myself that it was the honey moon stage and that eventually I might find something annoying about him, but I really couldn’t see it happening.

I finished eating and stood, glancing at the dirty dishes still sitting out on the tables and guessing that I was supposed to just leave mine as well. I glanced over at Asterollan again. He had laid back and tucked the blanket around himself. I wasn’t sure if he was really sleeping or not, but his eyes were closed and his breathing seemed steady. I returned to my room.