The next morning was the coldest one she had ever felt.

Ela's eyes snapped open as chilly air from the open window whooshed past her bared frame. The previous night had been anything but peaceful; her mind had been plagued by nightmares, awful dreams. At least all of them seemed to melt away from her mind as she kicked the last of her blankets off her body and sat up in her new bed.

The party had ended uneventfully. Ela had been tempted to tell Kage all about her encounter with the Flouornan spy, but something kept her from doing so. A few toasts and dances later she was thrust into a dark blue coach and taken to the far left wing of the palace. It was a deserted place, reserved for guests who at that moment were extinct, but at least she was in.

One night had not been enough for her to decide. She didn't think any number of restless midnights would be sufficient for a dilemma this difficult. At some moments she was certain helping Flouorn was the proper thing to do, that Seyal was clearly in the wrong. Yet at others she felt insecure. There are no good or bad guys in a war. Then her silly mind forgot all about that again, and she was ready to leave everything behind for the lost cause that was Flouorn's military.

Today was one of those hesitant days. Why bother? What's the point of betraying your country? Why interfere in a war simply out of bitterness? Shaking her head, the girl let her feet touch the carpeted ground. The spy, Alzira, claimed that a few days in the palace would help her make up her mind.

It was time to find out.

It didn't take her long to get dressed. The closet -- which clearly belonged to someone else before she moved in -- was filled with dresses, skirts, shoes, all covered in a thick layer of dust. She chose the least conspicuous; a dark blue dress, ditching the crinoline, and the most neutral black shoes she could find. They were tight, squeezing her toes together into an awkward shape, but unfitting shoes were the least of her concerns.

Some staring at the mirror and a few deep breaths later, Ela hauled the doors to her narrow room open.

Somehow, Stephano's light hair wasn't a surprising sight. Ela pulled the doors behind her closed and turned to glance at the guard. "You know, I almost pity you."

"Why is that?" he asked, his gaze unmoving as the glare of the sun.

"You have to watch over me."

The boy gave his shoulders a faint shrug. "That is my job, your Grace. I am honored to--"

"I don't want to hear the flattery," she cut off and twirled around, taking long strides across the corridor. "Keep all my limbs intact and we'll be fine."

Ela wasn't sure how, but she had to find Kage. She could feel her power brimming in her, sparks of energy tickling her fingertips. The fatigue of the factory had fled her body; her power was back and greater than before, ready to raise one, two, three more walls of crystal. If she kept idle for a few more hours, she wasn't sure who or what she would scorch to oblivion.

As she strode down corridor after corridor, the discreet yet audible thump of booted feet behind her didn't escape her. It was only natural that a guard would trail after her for at any point, yet the thought of Stephano not leaving her alone at times she would need to be irritated her more than it should have.

It didn't help that her mind was split in two. Perhaps a guard watching her every step would help scare the Flouornans off. Was that something to be grateful for or something to dread? Was this a gift from the gods or the final handful of earth in the grave of her freedom?

Her thoughts screeched to a halt at the sight of a familiar figure sauntering down the other end of the hallway.

The heels of her battered shoes dug into the rug beneath her as she came to an abrupt stop. Her brows furrowed as she examined the ceaselessly growing figure in the distance. The disheveled hair, the sly golden eyes, the thin lips curved into a small smile; she had seen that Mushan before. Her head throbbed with the beat of a thousand war drums presaging chaos in the narrow hallway, the pulse mocking her failure to remember. A sweltering feeling swelled in her chest, her body responding to the realization before her mind could.

And then it reached her head.

It all came at once, like a locked door was shoved open in her brain. The night of her capture. The illusion manipulator. An ally of her brother, yet a traitor, too. Her fingers rolled into fists as the figure approached her with an inquisitive glance. He wore a dark blue coat adorned with little chains of gold holding its edges around his torso. The bird of Seyal on its side did not escape Ela.

Zhao, she summoned, and the puzzle was finally complete.

"Everything alright, miss?" he asked. His tone was truly curious, yet the slight jerk of his brow gave it all away. He remembered her, and her expression was enough to imply the recollection was mutual.

No, she wanted to scream in his face. Nothing is okay. And it's your fault. Ela was reluctant to admit it but had Zhao not helped Arden, none of this would have happened. She didn't regret standing up to Kage, but without outsiders' involvement, it would have been much smoother.

The girl slowly turned her head to the side, glancing at Stephano. "Could you leave us alone for a moment?"

The guard sighed, the pucker of his lips way more apologetic than his tone. "I'm afraid not, your Grace. I have been ordered to always keep watch over you."

"Perhaps a distant watch would work?" Zhao offered, looping his arm around Ela's crossed one. She resisted the urge to coil in disgust. "I don't imagine you want to be intrusive."

Stephano's eyes stayed on Zhao for a moment. He didn't look like the type who gossiped a lot, yet even knowing that himself, his jaw was set in a proud height. "No. I don't."

"Great," Zhao chirped, prompting Ela forward with a tug of her arm. She was truly tempted to leave a few burns on it, but her curiosity didn't allow her to harm the man.

The silence between the two only lasted until there was enough distance between them and the guard. Ela wanted to speak first, to shoot questions at him she knew he had no answer to, to call him a coward and a traitor and everything else that came to mind. Yet when she had the chance to do so, no insult flew out of her mouth.

She swallowed down the last of her assumptions and freed her arm from the man's loose grip. "Why?" she managed after some contemplation. That was a question she had asked him before, and his reply wasn't quite satisfying. Many things had changed since then, however. And she supposed his answers had, too.

Zhao stole a glance behind him before turning to the girl with a bitter smile. "I do not like repeating myself, Elara."

"Has nothing changed?"

"Of course not," he laughed, his gaze wandering to the beautifully decorated walls. "I hate them all just the same."

Ela frowned, tilting her face to glance at him. She knew he disagreed with Kage's ways and there were multiple reasons to loathe him, but why include the team in that resentment? "Hate who? And why?"

At those questions Zhao's head snapped to her, the look of genuine shock painted on his features. His brows twitched and his lips cracked open, as if ready to exhale his confusion. Instead, his lips curved to a caustic grin. "Oh, you poor soul. He really hasn't told you yet?"

"What are you talking about?"

The man's features relaxed as he turned to look ahead, yet his eyes were clouded, blurred in what seemed to be hurt and anger fused in one. "I knew Arden Vera before this whole ordeal. He attended the same school as my sister."

"So?" prodded Ela, her patience ticking away. She never asked to hear Zhao's life story. She just wanted to know what caused him to betray them.

Zhao inhaled a deep breath, his lids fluttering shut for a second. His chest rose and fell sharply as the silence stretched between them. Ela's mind couldn't help but saunter away toward possibilities. What was it that Arden could have done? And how bad could it have been to evoke such a reaction from Zhao? The girl had thought the man beside her was the most collected person she had ever met; even in times like these, he seemed happy and charming and as careless as possible.

At last, his feet stopped moving. "Arden killed my sister."

Everything ceased for a moment. The birds chirping delightfully outside, the thump of Stephano's feet behind them. It was as if the world had simply decided to catch its breath for a second. Ela's head was the only thing that continued on, throbbing with questions Zhao did not look like he was in a place to answer.

Arden was a thief. A gang leader. It was only obvious he would have killed one, two, even dozens of people for the sake of his gang. All those nights by the fire in the textile factory hadn't been for nothing; Ela had heard many stories from everyone, and Arden's were always the most fascinating. They were never shocking, however, and the astonishment slowly wore off as he described actions far worse than murder.

So why was she so bewildered to hear that he could have killed Zhao's sibling? The man had tortured men, ruined their lives, and a quick pull of a trigger didn't sound nearly as harrowing. Yet the sudden shift in the atmosphere, the dip of the man's lips, everything about his expression as he let the words flee his lips was simply too disturbing to brush off as just another slaughter.

To Ela's surprise, Zhao let out an abrupt chuckle. "Don't look so distressed, Elara. I saw it coming."

"Then why did you let it happen?" Ela asked reluctantly, rubbing the shivering skin of her arms.

"Oh, I tried to warn her. Trust me. But she wouldn't listen."

"Why is that?"

Zhao resumed his slow pace, and Ela followed suit. His face was somber, yet there was a slight incline to his eyes, as if the whole situation seemed amusing to him. "The usual reason why people act absurdly. Infatuation."

Ela's brows dipped into an ever deeper frown as she shook her head in disbelief. How could love ever kill and person? "Listen, if it's this hard for you, you mustn't really--"

"I must," he cut off, his smile tight as he shot a glare at the girl. His eyes glimmered with something unreadable, and they pierced through Ela like a needle on fabric. "As much as you would like to believe so, you are not invisible. Nor are your allies. Future allies."

It was her turn to halt. Thousands of memories flashed before her; the creepy note, the fountain, Alzira's offer. Yet somehow none of those thoughts mattered. Her empty burning lungs and her heart crashing into her chest so hard she worried it would shatter her ribs and tear apart her skin were the only things she could think about. The room was suddenly twirling before her eyes and her stomach churned as she forced her body to keep upright. Don't panic. Don't panic. Her attempts at soothing her galloping heart proved fruitless.

"You have twenty-four hours to tell the prince. All I have revealed so far is that you were talking to a suspicious hooded figure." The man fixed the buttons of his cuffs as he continued his long strides across the carpeted floor. "Wait long enough and I might just remember a little too much."

She wanted to kill him. She wasn't even sure she would regret it afterward. Ela's fingers itched with the familiar prickling of her power as she stared down at her hands. They were covered in that warm aura, their silhouette wavering as the air around them heated rapidly. Burn him. Scorch him to death. She wanted to, she really did. She could already smell the roasted flesh as the man stopped and turned to regard Ela with a condescending raise of his brows.

Yet some kind of strategic logic she never knew she possessed pierced through that hatred. Look around. You're in the palace. Don't let him blow your cover.

With a deep inhale followed by a slow sigh, Ela lowered her hands. A few heavy steps later, she had caught up to Zhao. "All of this for revenge?" she spat, her feet trembling with rage as she tried to walk as calmly as possible.

"I doubt you have noticed, dear Elara, but I have yet to take a side in this conflict." Zhao steered them towards a stairwell. "Vera is trying to acquire something just for the sake of money, and your brother wants it for all the wrong reasons. I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't."

"So you decided to both do and don't at the same time," Ela replied sternly.

"I do whatever will be most beneficial."

A spontaneous laugh fled Ela's throat. "Are you really any better than Arden, then? You only helped him for the money if I recall correctly."

"Do you want me to help Kage, then?"

The two figures reached a set of double glass doors leading to a blooming garden. Flowers of various colors littered its perimeter and a large stone fountain was built in the middle, the crystal water splashing onto the pond playfully.

Before they parted ways, Ela turned to glare at Zhao. "I want you to do the right thing." As she pulled the door open, the words jumped out of her mouth before she could contain them. "If you talk, Zhao, I'll talk. And that won't be pretty for neither of us."

The man made no attempt to follow her as the door behind her clicked closed. The scene before her was lovely, yet still somehow tragic; it was a small square opening in the palace's interior, surrounded by grey stone walls that should have normally made the feast of colorful plants contrast with them gracefully. Yet the glass of the entrance had been deceptive. The flowers weren't as vivid as the ones in the Academy. They were dull, drooping towards the ground, probably wishing they could be buried underneath it at last. The plants' edges had turned brown, and even the fount seemed depressed; the statue on it seemed overly solemn, as if mourning the wilted blooms.

She wasn't sure what she was doing in the garden, but once she caught sight of Edel Kainet staring at some withering leaves through dull eyes she hastily turned around and grasped the knob of the entrance once more.

"Don't leave."

The sound of his voice bounced off the walls of the garden as the girl reluctantly dropped her hand and looked behind her shoulder. The Prince of Nature was now turned to her, his brows curved into a worried frown and his eyes glassy, fatigued. Even the distinct auburn color of his hair seemed faint as he ran a quivering hand through it.

Ela examined his features. She had never really known Edel, but he always seemed tranquil and happy, even when Seyal was crumbling. "You--" she began, not sure how to put it politely. "You look like a mess."

The prince sighed, dropping on a stone bench beside the bush he was inspecting. The crease of his forehead gave away everything that his expression hid; the man wasn't simply drained. He was exhausted. "First it was Petref, now Tsekale. And all we can do is watch."

The Flouornan raids, she realized. She had overheard something about the Petref settlement in the ball. "And why just watch?" she asked cautiously.

Edel raised his head to glance at her. It was as if he had forgotten she was standing there. "If only it was merely the attacks. Our best troops were in the ball last night. We would have caught the Flouornans in the act." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "They decided to raid a Mushan village instead, and we looked like fools to the delegates."

Ela shook her head. This is your chance to make me trust you. Was this what Kage was referring to? "There were delegates in the ball?"

The man nodded slowly. "Yes, and they were all looking at you. They are interested, to say the least."

"Interested in what?"

"Having you in the army," Edel said, only further fortifying Ela's confusion. The army? "They have high expectations, but I am certain you can live up to them."

Ela huffed. "Did anyone ever ask me?"

"I know it sounds harsh, but we do not have the luxury to be picky right now."

The girl stayed silent. It wasn't that she was being picky, she just wanted to be in control of her life. Being in the army would sound like the opportunity of a lifetime a few weeks ago, but now it only seemed futile. It didn't matter if she was a dual bender. The Flouornans would still slaughter her without hesitation if she chose Seyal.

A sigh rushed out of the prince's mouth as he puckered his lips. "Your past actions do not concern me, Elara. What matters now is that you are here, and this is your war now, too." Edel stood to his feet, grasping the top of the bench for support. "I understand going rogue seems tempting at times like this, but all I ask of you is that you try to think this through. Promise me you will be careful with your decisions."

Ela swallowed hard. He was right. She had been indecisive for long enough, and it was finally time to pick sides. Even though Seyal was run by horrible people, it was still her home, her country. Flouorn seemed like the least bad choice in comparison, yet it would only use her as a weapon. Flouornans despised Ascended and that was the reason they were attacking Seyal in the first place.

It was finally time to act. She looked at Edel with the most genuine smile she had mustered in a long time and bopped her head in a sharp nod. "I promise. This will all be over soon."

***

I'm sick! Yay. Through all the coughing and fainting I had some trouble writing this, but I finally did it.

Thank you for reading! Please consider voting and commenting (even if the comments are about my awful update schedule), it helps me a ton! ♥