The carriage rolled steadily through the darkening countryside, its wheels striking every uneven patch of road with a dull wooden rattle. The surviving knights had reorganized themselves outside, keeping the formation as tight as their injuries allowed, but the stranger in the black kimono had somehow ended up inside.
Itsuki still was not entirely sure how that had happened.
One moment he had been standing beside the carriage insisting he could keep pace without a horse. The next, after the lead knight pointed out that running beside them for the better part of a day would draw unnecessary attention and make the rest of them look ridiculous, the stranger had shrugged, climbed inside, and taken the empty section of bench beside Mariah as though he had been invited from the beginning.
No one asked his name again.
They had tried enough times.
He clearly was not going to give it to them.
Mariah, however, had found something she considered considerably more interesting.
She sat across from him with one leg crossed over the other, her red eyes moving over him with such obvious concentration that Itsuki knew exactly what was happening before Mariah even opened her mouth.
The stranger noticed too.
He leaned comfortably against the carriage wall, one arm resting across the back of the seat. His katana remained beside him within easy reach, though nothing about his posture suggested he expected another attack anytime soon.
Mariah tilted her head.
“There really is nothing.”
The man looked down at himself.
“I’m starting to take that personally.”
“I’m serious.”
“You’ve told me.”
“No spiritual pathways that I can detect. No circulation. No reserve. No residual energy around your body from what you did earlier.” Her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Nothing.”
The stranger smiled.
“You say that like you’re disappointed.”
Mariah leaned slightly closer.
“I’m fascinated.”
Itsuki looked away.
Of course she was.
There was a dead man lying beneath a covering only a few feet from them, and Mariah was fascinated.
The body had been positioned as carefully as possible along one side of the carriage. There was barely enough room for everyone even after the knights outside had taken whatever supplies they could carry on horseback. A dark stain had spread across part of the cloth covering him, and every time the carriage hit a deeper rut, Itsuki found herself looking toward the body to make certain it had not shifted.
She had not known his name.
That bothered her more than she expected.
He had escorted her because King Shadis had ordered him to.
He had died because someone wanted her.
And now he lay covered in a carriage while Mariah stared at their mysterious rescuer like she had discovered a new species.
“I would need to examine you properly,” Mariah said.
The stranger’s eyebrows rose.
“Oh?”
Mariah smiled.
It was not the absent, almost clinical smile she wore when something had caught her scientific interest. This one was different.
Itsuki knew that smile too.
“I would need time,” Mariah continued. “A controlled environment. Instruments. Physical measurements. Blood, possibly. Tissue if you were willing.”
The man’s smile widened.
“You’re really selling this.”
“I haven’t gotten to the interesting part.”
“There’s an interesting part?”
“There are several.”
Itsuki’s jaw tightened.
Mariah leaned back against the seat, studying him with an ease that only made the conversation feel worse.
“I would want to examine your entire body.”
The man blinked once.
Then he grinned.
“Well.”
Mariah’s smile deepened.
“Muscle density. Bone structure. Nervous response. Cardiovascular output. Anything that could explain how you moved at that speed without detectable spiritual reinforcement.”
The stranger placed a hand over his chest.
“And here I thought you were flirting with me.”
“I can do both.”
That got him.
His eyebrows lifted with genuine surprise.
Mariah seemed delighted by the reaction.
The man slowly nodded.
“Alright.”
“What?”
“You’re dangerous.”
Mariah laughed softly.
“You’ve known me for less than a day.”
“I’ve known enough women to recognize trouble quickly.”
“That sounds like experience speaking.”
“Painfully.”
Mariah leaned forward just slightly, resting her chin against her knuckles.
“And yet you’re still sitting beside me.”
“I’m brave.”
“You ran beside a sword attack without any spiritual energy.”
“That was easier.”
Mariah laughed again.
Itsuki stared out the window.
She could feel irritation climbing steadily through her chest.
The stranger glanced toward Mariah.
“So let me make sure I understand this. You want to get me alone somewhere, take off whatever gets in the way of your examination, put your hands all over me, take some blood, and study my body for several hours.”
Mariah’s red eyes gleamed.
“If necessary.”
He stared at her.
Mariah stared right back.
The corner of her mouth lifted.
“You seem nervous.”
The man gave a quiet laugh.
“No. I’m realizing you’re playing a very dangerous game.”
Mariah crossed her legs in the opposite direction.
“I thought you said you were brave.”
“I am. Doesn’t mean I don’t recognize when someone’s trying to kill me.”
Mariah smiled innocently.
“I haven’t tried to kill you.”
“Yet.”
“Would you like me to?”
“See? Dangerous.”
Itsuki turned sharply toward them.
“Can you two stop?”
The words cut through the carriage.
Mariah’s smile disappeared almost immediately.
The strangers did too.
Itsuki looked between them.
Her hands were clenched in her lap.
She had not meant to say it that sharply.
Or maybe she had.
She did not know anymore.
“You’re sitting there flirting like nothing happened.”
Mariah’s expression changed.
“A man died.”
The carriage suddenly felt smaller.
The stranger’s eyes moved toward the covered body.
Mariah did not look away from Itsuki.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Mariah flinched almost imperceptibly.
Itsuki felt the anger coming faster now.
She tried to stop it.
She could not.
“You haven’t said anything about him. You haven’t even looked at him since we started moving. You’re already thinking about experiments again.”
Mariah’s face tightened.
“That isn’t fair.”
Itsuki laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“Fair?”
The word hung between them.
Mariah’s eyes lowered.
Itsuki immediately knew she had struck where she intended.
That only made her feel worse.
And angrier.
Everything from the village was still there.
And now Mariah was smiling.
Flirting.
Talking about experiments.
Itsuki could not understand how she was supposed to tolerate any of it.
Mariah took a slow breath.
“I haven’t forgotten him.”
Itsuki looked toward the covered body.
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
The stranger shifted slightly beside Mariah.
The humor had disappeared from his face completely now.
His dark eyes moved between them once.
He understood.
Maybe not what had happened between Itsuki and Mariah, but enough to recognize that whatever tension sat between them had existed long before he entered the carriage.
He leaned back.
“Alright.”
Neither woman looked at him.
He raised both hands slightly.
“I think I’m going to shut up now.”
Mariah glanced toward him.
“That might be for the best.”
He nodded.
“Definitely.”
Itsuki looked back toward the window.
For several seconds, only the carriage wheels filled the silence.
Then the stranger looked toward Mariah one last time.
“But if you ever want to run those tests-”
Itsuki’s head snapped around.
He immediately pointed toward the far side of the carriage.
“I’m done.”
Mariah pressed her lips together.
Itsuki could tell she was trying not to smile.
It made it worse.
The stranger lowered his hand.
“I mean it. Quiet now.”
“Good,” Itsuki muttered.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Itsuki stood.
Mariah immediately watched her.
The carriage shifted beneath Itsuki’s feet, but she steadied herself against the wall and moved toward the far end, putting as much distance between herself and the two of them as the cramped interior allowed.
There was not much but it was enough.
She sat near the rear corner beside the window and pulled her knees slightly toward herself.
No one followed.
For that, at least, she was grateful.
The stranger kept his promise.
He stopped talking.
Mariah did too.
The countryside passed outside in long stretches of empty road, low hills, scattered trees, and occasional distant structures that never came close enough for Itsuki to make out clearly. The knights maintained their formation around the carriage, and every so often one would ride closer to check through the window before returning to his position.
Itsuki watched all of them.
At first, she expected another beam.
Every opening in the clouds made her tense.
Every sudden flash of light in the distance made her stomach tighten.
Every time one of the knights outside shifted quickly, her heart jumped.
Nothing happened.
An hour passed.
Then another.
The stranger eventually rested his head against the carriage wall and closed his eyes, though Itsuki was not convinced he was sleeping. His hand remained close to the sheath of his katana.
Mariah kept mostly to herself.
She did not write anything.
That surprised Itsuki.
Mariah had a notebook among her things. Itsuki knew it. She had seen it before they left Radiance.
She never reached for it.
Itsuki did not know whether that was because of what happened at the village or because Mariah understood that pulling out a notebook after everything that had happened might be the worst possible thing she could do.
Either way, she left it alone.
Itsuki appreciated that.
She was still angry.
Both could be true.
The road continued beneath them.
Four hours. Five. Then six.
Itsuki eventually lost track of how many times she checked the sky but nothing came.
The stranger opened his eyes every so often and glanced toward the rear of the carriage as though checking something none of them could perceive.
Each time, he relaxed again.
It was nearly eight hours after the attack when he finally sat forward.
“We’re probably fine.”
The lead knight was riding close enough to hear through the open window.
“Probably?”
The man glanced toward him.
“You want me to lie?”
“No.”
“Then probably.”
The knight frowned.
The stranger looked toward the road behind them.
“If they were sending someone immediately, they would’ve done it by now.”
Mariah looked toward him from the opposite bench.
“You’re certain?”
“No.”
Mariah’s expression flattened.
He smiled faintly.
“You really hate that answer.”
“I hate uncertainty.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
The stranger looked outside again.
“My guess is they decided following us right now isn’t worth the risk.”
Itsuki’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
His attention shifted toward her.
There was no flirtation in his face now.
No teasing either.
“Because I’m here.”
Itsuki stared at him.
The words were not arrogant.
That made them more unsettling.
He continued.
“They know they already failed once. Coming back right away means sending someone stronger or sending more people.”
The lead knight asked, “How many?”
The stranger shrugged.
“Could be two. Could be twenty.”
“That is not helpful.”
“I’m trying very hard not to ruin the good news.”
“What good news?”
“They aren’t here.”
The swordsman riding beside the carriage gave a tired snort.
The lead knight ignored him.
“How much farther?”
The driver answered.
“About fifteen hours to Radiance at this pace.”
The stranger nodded.
“Alright.”
Mariah watched him.
“What?”
“I’ll stay until you’re about three hours out.”
The lead knight looked toward him sharply.
“You’re leaving?”
“Eventually.”
“You said you would protect us on the way back.”
“I said I’d make sure you got close enough that coming after you became stupid.”
“That isn’t what you said.”
The stranger considered it.
“Close enough.”
The knight did not look amused.
The man leaned toward the window.
“Once you’re three hours from Radiance, you’re basically back in their territory. Patrols get denser. Reinforcements can reach you faster. Anyone trying to take the girl there would have to be incredibly confident or incredibly stupid.”
Itsuki did not like the way he said the girl.
Maybe he noticed.
His eyes shifted toward her.
“Itsuki.”
Hearing her name from him made her sit a little straighter.
He had clearly picked it up somewhere during the chaos.
“You need to be careful.”
Itsuki frowned.
“I’ve heard that a lot lately.”
“I’d imagine.”
“I don’t need another person telling me not to leave Radiance.”
“I didn’t say that.”
She paused.
The man rested one arm against his knee.
“I said you need to stay protected.”
Itsuki looked at him.
“There’s a difference.”
Something in her expression must have changed because he continued before she could respond.
“Whoever sent that guy wasn’t testing you. He came to take you.”
Itsuki’s fingers curled against her skirt.
“I know.”
“And he wasn’t guessing where you’d be.”
The carriage went quieter.
Mariah’s eyes sharpened.
“What are you implying?”
The stranger looked at her.
“That they knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Where she was.”
Mariah’s expression changed.
The lead knight looked toward them through the window.
The newcomer continued.
“That means either they tracked her, tracked you, tracked the escort, or knew enough about the trip to put someone in the right place.”
Itsuki felt cold.
Mariah’s face lost what little color it had.
The man noticed.
“I’m not saying someone inside Radiance told them.”
Mariah looked at him carefully.
“But you’re not ruling it out.”
“No.”
Itsuki looked down. She did not need another problem or another reason for Kaito to tell her she could not leave Radiance. She did not need the king surrounding her with more guards or everyone around her deciding that keeping her alive meant keeping her trapped.
The stranger watched her for a moment.
“They’ll probably come after you again.”
Itsuki looked up as Mariah stiffened beside her.
“I wouldn’t assume today was the end of it,” he continued.
“Why me?”
His eyes stayed on hers. For the briefest moment, Itsuki thought he might know something, but his expression gave her nothing.
“I don’t know.”
It was the first answer from him that Itsuki fully believed.
He leaned back against the carriage wall.
“But someone wanted you badly enough to send that man. Until you know why, don’t make it easy for them.”
Itsuki’s jaw tightened. “So I should stay inside Radiance.”
“No.”
She blinked.
The man gave a small shrug. “I don’t know you well enough to tell you what to do with your life. But if you’re going somewhere, don’t go alone. Don’t sneak away, and don’t assume nobody’s watching just because you can’t feel anyone nearby.”
Itsuki looked at him.
A faint smile appeared on his face. “Trust me on that last one.”
Her eyes narrowed.
He laughed quietly. “See? You’re learning.”
Itsuki looked away, still unsure what to make of him. She was grateful he had arrived; without him, the remaining knights might have died, Mariah could have been killed, and Itsuki herself might have been taken. That should have made trusting him easier, but it didn’t.
There was simply too much about him that made no sense.
He was strangely comfortable with everything happening around him. He knew the masked man, and the masked man clearly knew him. He seemed to understand something about whoever had sent the attacker, yet refused to explain any of it. Worse, he had moved faster than Itsuki could follow without releasing even the slightest trace of spiritual energy.
Eventually, she turned back toward the window.
Her reflection floated faintly across the glass, and she barely recognized how exhausted she looked. The weight of the day seemed to have settled across her entire face.
She closed her eyes for only a moment.
Then she felt it.
Itsuki’s eyes opened again as her attention shifted inward.
The gold was still there, but it was stronger now.
Her breathing slowed.
She had noticed the change after leaving the village, but there had been too much happening for her to concentrate on it properly. Now, with the danger finally distant enough for her thoughts to settle, there was no mistaking what she was feeling.
Her natural spiritual energy was returning.
More than that, it was growing.
Itsuki carefully followed the sensation through herself, trying to understand just how much had changed.
Before Oceanside, spiritual energy had always felt natural to Itsuki, something she could reach for without thinking because it belonged to her so completely. She had never considered what it meant to have that connection until it disappeared.
Afterward, there had only been emptiness. Tiny traces eventually followed, and then Mariah discovered the faint gold buried inside her. Now there was finally enough for Itsuki to feel it without desperately searching for it, a steady warmth beneath everything else.
But it was no longer alone.
The darkness remained with it, and Itsuki’s stomach tightened as she focused more carefully. The two energies did not feel as sharply divided as they once had. Gold moved through her while the darkness flowed alongside it, neither consuming the other nor fighting for control. They simply existed together, close enough now that they almost felt intertwined.
That frightened her.
Itsuki lowered her gaze toward her hands, but there was nothing unusual to see. No black wisps escaped her skin, no gold shimmer appeared around her fingers, and nothing about her body would have told anyone else that something inside her had changed.
She could feel the difference, though.
She was stronger.
It was not simply that her spiritual energy had returned. There was more of it than she remembered possessing before Oceanside, enough that Itsuki could already tell her reserves had grown somehow. Whether they had merely increased or changed into something fundamentally different, she could not tell.
The realization should have excited her.
Instead, it frightened her.
Had the butterfly caused this? Had what happened in the village changed something inside her? Was the darkness truly part of her now, and if so, could she separate it from the gold? More importantly, did she even need to?
Itsuki did not know what would happen if she tried using both together.
Her thoughts immediately went to Mariah.
Itsuki glanced across the carriage and found her looking outside, completely unaware of what was happening only a few feet away.
Itsuki intended to keep it that way.
At least for now.
The thought of telling Mariah that her theory had worked made something twist painfully inside her. Mariah had gambled with something that belonged to Itsuki and, somehow, she had won.
That did not make what she had done right.
Itsuki turned back toward the window.
Fifteen hours remained until Radiance, and once they reached the capital, everything would change again.
Kaito would learn about the attack. King Shadis would learn. Yumi would know, and so would Yoshinori, Aiko, Ryuji, and Tetsuo. Before long, everyone would know that someone had come specifically for Itsuki and that six SS-ranked knights had not been enough to prevent one of them from dying.
She already knew what would come next.
More protection. More restrictions. More people telling her that leaving Radiance was too dangerous.
And the worst part was that she understood why.
Her chest tightened as another name surfaced in her thoughts.
Shunjiro.
She wanted to find him so badly that the thought itself hurt.
It did not matter that other people were already searching. It did not matter how many times she had been told that the Nature Continent and Darkness Continent were being checked. Itsuki wanted to look for him herself. She wanted to know where he was, whether he was hurt, whether he was alone, and whether he was even trying to return to them.
She had already spent too long sitting inside Radiance while other people searched for answers on her behalf.
Now her energy was returning.
She was stronger than before.
And the moment everyone learned that someone had tried to abduct her, they would probably make it harder than ever for her to leave.
Itsuki pressed her forehead lightly against the cool side of the carriage.
She hated that she could not simply dismiss their fear as unreasonable.
A man had died today while protecting her. They had not gone searching for danger or taken some reckless mission beyond their abilities. Danger had found them on an ordinary road and killed someone anyway.
She could not pretend that meant nothing.
But neither could she accept the idea of spending the rest of her life behind Radiance’s walls because someone somewhere had decided they wanted her.
Her thoughts began bleeding together until she could barely separate one from another. Shunjiro, Mariah, the village, her parents, the masked man, the darkness inside her, the returning gold, and the dead knight lying only a few feet away all crowded into her mind at once.
Itsuki closed her eyes.
She was exhausted, far more than she had realized while fear, anger, and adrenaline were still carrying her forward.
The carriage rocked steadily beneath her while the sound of hooves continued outside. Somewhere near the front, the stranger was speaking quietly with one of the knights, but Itsuki made no effort to listen.
She pulled herself farther into the corner and rested her head against the wall. Radiance could wait until tomorrow. Mariah could wait until tomorrow. Whatever was happening inside her could wait too.
For the next few hours, she only wanted everything to stop.
As exhaustion finally began pulling her under, one thought remained clearer than all the others.
Shunjiro.
Where are you?
The question faded with everything else, and with the carriage still carrying them toward Radiance, Itsuki finally fell asleep.
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
Someone poked Itsuki’s cheek.
Once.
Then again.
“Itsuki.”
Her brow twitched.
“Itsuki, wake up.”
That voice.
Her eyes opened.
Shunjiro was leaning over her.
For a moment, Itsuki could only stare.
His dark hair hung messily around his face, exactly the way she remembered it. His eyes were warm, and there was something almost amused in his expression as he pulled his finger away from her cheek.
Itsuki’s heart stopped.
Then everything inside her seemed to burst at once.
“Shunjiro!”
She sat up so quickly that the excitement escaped her before she could control it, a smile spreading across her face wider than anything she had managed in weeks.
He was here.
He was actually here.
The searches were over. The waiting was over. All those nights wondering where he was, whether he was alive, whether he was hurt somewhere beyond their reach—
He was right in front of her.
Itsuki reached for him.
Her hand passed through empty air.
The face in front of her changed.
Black hair became dark red.
Warm eyes became crimson behind round glasses.
Shunjiro disappeared.
Mariah was sitting in front of her with one finger still pressed against her cheek.
“Itsuki?”
Her smile vanished.
For several seconds, Itsuki did not understand where she was.
The carriage.
The wooden walls.
The steady rumbling beneath her.
Mariah.
No Shunjiro.
Her hand remained suspended between them.
Slowly, Itsuki lowered it.
The pain came immediately.
It felt as though someone had reached into her chest and squeezed her heart in a fist.
Her breath caught.
The ache was physical enough that she pressed a hand against the center of her chest, trying to breathe through it.
Mariah’s expression changed.
“What’s wrong?”
Itsuki looked away.
“Nothing.”
“That didn’t look like nothing.”
“I’m fine.”
Mariah watched her for another moment but did not press.
She turned toward the window, trying to force the last pieces of the dream out of her mind. They refused to leave. She could still see his face. Still hear his voice telling her to wake up.
For those few seconds, she had believed it.
Completely.
That was the cruelest part.
Her chest hurt more now than it had before she fell asleep.
Itsuki swallowed and rested her forehead against the side of the carriage.
That was mean.
She did not know whether she was accusing her own mind, the universe, or Shunjiro himself for daring to look so real inside the dream.
Probably all three.
Mariah remained quiet beside her.
Itsuki rubbed at her eyes and finally looked outside properly.
Something was different.
The landscape had changed.
The road was wider now, maintained rather than rough and uneven, with stone markers appearing periodically along the sides. Travelers moved in both directions. Merchant wagons. Riders. Farmers carrying goods toward the capital.
Itsuki straightened.
She knew this road.
Her exhaustion disappeared beneath sudden awareness.
“How long was I asleep?”
Mariah glanced toward the window.
“A long time.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Most of the remaining journey.”
Itsuki stared at her.
Mariah smiled faintly.
“Your body apparently decided you were done negotiating with it.”
Itsuki looked down at herself.
She did feel different.
Not rested exactly. There was too much weight inside her for that. But the crushing physical exhaustion from earlier had dulled considerably.
Her body had needed the sleep.
Probably more than she had realized.
“How close are we?”
Mariah nodded toward the front of the carriage.
“Look.”
Itsuki shifted toward the window.
Then she saw them.
Radiance’s walls.
They rose in the distance, enormous white stone fortifications catching the afternoon light. Beyond them, the highest towers of the capital stretched upward, golden rooftops and distant spires visible even from outside the city.
Itsuki stared.
Relief came first.
Fast enough to hurt.
She had not expected that.
After everything that had happened, seeing Radiance again made something inside her loosen. This was familiar. Safe, or at least safer than anywhere she had been during the past several days.
People who knew her were there.
People she trusted.
People she loved.
Itsuki had spent the entire journey away trying to prove, at least partly to herself, that she could handle what waited beyond those walls.
Now she wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by the people inside them.
The village had frightened her.
The attack had frightened her even more.
She had almost been taken by someone whose face she never saw and whose reason for wanting her remained completely unknown. One of the knights assigned to protect her had died because of it.
Itsuki wanted to be somewhere crowded with familiar voices.
She wanted Aiko talking too much.
She wanted Ryuji making some stupid comment.
She wanted Tetsuo saying something that made no sense.
She wanted Yoshinori pretending he was not worried while obviously being worried.
She even wanted Kaito’s inevitable lecture.
The thought almost made her smile.
Then the feeling of dread arrived and her shoulders sank slightly.
Everything she had spent the last several hours trying not to think about was waiting beyond those gates too.
Kaito was going to find out.
King Shadis was going to find out.
The attack would be reported immediately.
There was absolutely no chance anyone would look at what happened and decide Itsuki should be allowed to leave again anytime soon.
She could already hear the arguments.
Too dangerous.
Too much unknown.
Someone specifically targeted her.
The enemy knew where she was.
The escort had not been enough.
Stay inside Radiance until they understood more.
Her fingers curled against her skirt.
She hated it.
She also could not argue with it.
Not after seeing the covered body still resting along the carriage wall.
Itsuki’s gaze lowered.
The knight had remained there throughout the entire return journey.
Someone had adjusted the covering while she slept. It was cleaner now, secured more tightly around him so the movement of the carriage would not disturb the body.
Itsuki looked away.
She had wanted freedom badly enough that morning to risk everything Mariah was asking of her.
Now she would probably have less freedom than before they left.
And yet part of her was still relieved to be home.
The contradiction made her tired all over again.
Mariah adjusted her glasses.
“We arrived faster than expected.”
Itsuki glanced toward her.
“How much faster?”
“A day.”
Itsuki blinked.
“A whole day?”
“The driver barely stopped. The knights wanted us back inside Radiance as quickly as possible after the attack.”
Itsuki looked toward the front of the carriage.
She could hear the horses outside, their pace slower now as traffic thickened around the road leading toward the gates.
Then she realized someone was missing.
Her eyes moved toward the bench beside Mariah.
The black-haired stranger was gone.
Itsuki frowned.
“When did he leave?”
Mariah followed her gaze.
“A few hours ago.”
“He left while I was sleeping?”
“Yes.”
“And nobody woke me?”
Mariah raised an eyebrow.
“You looked like someone could have set the carriage on fire and you would have asked for five more minutes.”
Itsuki gave her a tired look.
Mariah’s mouth twitched.
“He also did not seem interested in waking you.”
“Did he finally tell you his name?”
“No.”
Itsuki was somehow unsurprised.
Mariah leaned back against the carriage wall.
“I asked one final time.”
“And?”
“He told me I was persistent.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He did not mean it as an insult.”
“I’m sure you enjoyed that.”
Mariah’s smile threatened to return.
Itsuki immediately looked toward her.
Mariah thought better of it.
“Anyway,” she said.
Itsuki sighed.
“What did he say before he left?”
Mariah’s expression became more serious.
The shift immediately caught Itsuki’s attention.
“He told me to keep you protected.”
Itsuki’s jaw tightened.
“Of course he did.”
“He was serious.”
“I know.”
Mariah hesitated.
“There was more.”
Itsuki looked at her.
Mariah rested her hands together in her lap.
“He said what happened on that road probably will not be the last attempt.”
Itsuki said nothing.
“He believes whoever sent that man will continue looking for opportunities to reach you.”
“For how long?”
Mariah’s silence answered before her words did.
Itsuki felt her stomach tighten.
Mariah continued quietly.
“He said they are relentless. His exact point was that once they decide they want someone, they do not simply forget about them.”
Itsuki looked toward the window.
The walls of Radiance had grown larger.
“What does that mean?”
Mariah watched her.
“He said you may have to deal with them for the rest of your life.”
Itsuki’s fingers tightened.
The carriage suddenly felt colder.
“And then?”
“He told me he would know.”
Itsuki looked back.
Mariah’s eyes stayed on hers.
“Because he has been running from them too.”
Itsuki remembered the way the masked man had reacted when the stranger appeared.
He had known exactly who the man in the black kimono was.
And apparently the people behind him did too.
“Did he tell you why?”
“No.”
“Who they are?”
“No.”
“Where he came from?”
“No.”
“What they wanted from me?”
“No.”
Itsuki stared at her.
Mariah sighed.
“I had about as much luck getting information from him as the knights did.”
“I thought you two were getting along pretty well.”
Mariah smiled.
“There are several kinds of getting along.”
Itsuki’s expression flattened.
Mariah lifted both hands.
“Sorry.”
Itsuki looked away again.
At least that had not changed.
The stranger had vanished from their lives almost as abruptly as he entered them, leaving behind no name and more questions than answers.
Itsuki wondered whether she would ever see him again.
Considering his warning, she was not sure she wanted to.
Her attention drifted inward.
The energy was still there.
Even after sleeping, it had not diminished.
If anything, the sensation felt clearer now.
Gold and darkness moved together beneath the surface, stronger than they had been before she fell asleep. Itsuki could feel the increased reserves sitting inside her without needing to search for them.
She really had grown.
Somehow, despite losing access to her spiritual energy after Oceanside, despite everything the butterfly had done to her, despite the darkness now sharing space with what had once been purely hers, she had come out of it with greater reserves than before.
She should have been happy about that.
Instead, she imagined telling everyone.
Then immediately imagined what they would say after hearing about the attack.
It would not matter.
Strong or weak, Itsuki was going to be watched constantly now.
She knew it.
The thought brought Shunjiro back into her mind.
Her heart squeezed again.
She wanted to search for him.
The desire had not weakened after sleeping. If anything, being this close to home made it worse.
Everyone would be there.
Everyone except him.
And now, after what happened outside Albis, there was a very real possibility that Itsuki would not be allowed beyond Radiance’s walls for the foreseeable future.
She pressed her lips together.
Maybe they would be right.
She hated that thought most of all.
The carriage slowed.
Voices sounded outside.
Itsuki looked up.
The gates were directly ahead now.
Radiance Knights stood along the entrance, inspecting wagons and directing travelers between the massive doors. The familiar insignias, armor, and white stone surrounding everything should have felt ordinary.
Instead, Itsuki stared at them like she had been gone for months.
The lead escort spoke briefly with someone at the gate.
Itsuki could not hear everything through the carriage walls, but she caught enough.
One casualty.
The guard at the gate looked toward the carriage.
His expression immediately changed.
Orders were shouted.
The path ahead cleared.
The carriage started forward again.
Itsuki sat straighter.
Mariah looked toward her.
“You alright?”
Itsuki thought about lying.
She almost did.
Then she looked through the window at the city beyond the gates.
“No.”
Mariah said nothing.
Itsuki appreciated that answer more than reassurance would have helped.
The carriage passed beneath the massive archway.
For a moment, shadow covered them.
Then sunlight returned.
Radiance opened around her.
Familiar streets stretched between white buildings trimmed in gold. Merchants called from stalls. Carriages moved through intersections. People walked between shops completely unaware of what had happened outside their kingdom only hours earlier.
Life continued.
Itsuki watched it all through the window.
Her chest tightened again, though this time the feeling was different.
She was scared.
Angry.
Exhausted.
Confused about what was happening inside her and terrified of what might happen next.
She knew difficult conversations were waiting for her.
She knew Kaito would have questions.
The king would have questions.
Everyone would.
She knew that by tonight, the freedom she had fought to reclaim might be taken away again for reasons she could not even call unreasonable.
But she was home.
The people she needed were close again.
Itsuki rested her hand against the window as Radiance passed outside.
For the first time since leaving, she allowed herself to feel relieved.
They had returned one day earlier than anyone expected.
And for now, before anyone knew they were here, Itsuki simply watched the familiar city roll past.