The room they were given was situated at the eastern wing of the Western Palace. It was a high-vaulted suite carved into the bones of the fortress itself. There were windows that filtered in the faint light of the twin moons. It was a cold chamber, made for warriors who did not need warmth to sleep, and for lovers who did not need comfort to feel close.
Elyonari was draped across the sprawling bed layered with deep velvet and pelt throws, her silver hair haloed like starlight across the dark pillow, one leg casually thrown over the edge as she stared up at the ceiling. Biolumine, now a white, soft-furred kitten, purred faintly in her lap, curling deeper into the fur of her cloak.
Vastarael stood near the end of the room, pulling off his cloak and letting his hair flow.
She turned her head toward him, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Is it safe for your girls to be away from you?"
Vastarael exhaled as he rotated his shoulder once, the weight of responsibility rolling off his frame just for a breath.
"They're with Obsidian in the same room. She's more than capable of protecting them. Anyone who tries anything will be reduced to nothing before they even reach the doorknob."
The moment passed and he stepped out of the light pooling from the torch sconce above, entering the shadowy corner of the room. His voice, as he spoke again, was lower now.
"Chainless and Chrysanthemum have a separate chamber on the third floor. Insignia's in the southern barracks of the outer fortress. Guard rotations are doubled, which is Zarvana's decision."
Elyonari let her eyes fall shut, fingertips brushing idly against Biolumine's ears, which flicked with a little murmur.
"Good. But you've been thinking… say it."
Vastarael's eyes remained fixed on the darkness, watching the flicker of torchlight across the stone.
"The Western Chieftain… Vuthar Tel'Khaz. He's more than he seems."
He stepped toward the bed now, his boots silent, his expression unreadable. He dropped his outer fake armor piece by piece that he had to put under the impression that he was a normal paladin, until he wore only his sleeveless undershirt and pants.
"He's a beast tamer. I saw it. Behind him. There's a beast invisible to almost everyone. But Biolumine… she twitched the second we entered the throne room. I felt it through her instinct."
Elyonari opened her eyes now, her pupils narrowing.
"You think he was the one who sent a creature to follow me when I was in the sky?"
"I don't think," Vastarael murmured as he sat at the edge of the bed. "I know. Only a beast tamer of his level could summon something that potent and veil it from all senses… all but mine."
Biolumine gave a faint, annoyed huff from her curled form as if to appreciate her
"He's cautious and smart. But he made a mistake letting us stay here. Three days is enough."
Elyonari purred, sliding up behind him. She pressed her bare arms around his waist, resting her chin against his shoulder
"Enough for what? To kill him?"
Vastarael tilted his head. "To corner him."
Elyonari's voice softened, and she switched into the Spheraphasian tongue.
"Ul'virae senhaf vas reneos?" she asked.
[Are they listening?]
Vastarael responded in kind, without hesitation."Nehir. Varnelar veyithai."
[Yes. They always are.]
He turned toward her now, and the smirk that ghosted across his lips was frost made flesh.
"He's good. Very good. Thankfully, I ordered the others to speak only in Spheraphasian like we have since we came here from now on. I won't risk Krepsuna ears catching whispers they shouldn't."
Elyonari pressed her lips against his shoulder once and then pulled back to rest beside him.
"So what do we do?"
"We could let this city burn. The Ice Rain could take them all. Let them freeze. Let them feel what the world does when their walls and arrogance are shattered."
Elyonari's laugh was faint, cruel, and beautiful.
"And yet?"
"We help," he said, calmly. "Not out of kindness. Not because they're worth saving."
He turned to her fully now, cupping her chin in one hand, eyes locked with hers.
"But because Vuthar will owe us. Because if we help him, he will let his guard down. He'll welcome us to Central as honored guests. And when the time comes, when the Broken Alliance begins to fracture again… he'll stand beside us."
A pause.
"Under us."
Elyonari's lips curved, not into a smile but a mirror of his cruelty.
"Let's help him survive his own storm, then. And watch him drown in gratitude. Wait. Are we sleeping on the same bed?" she asked dryly, then turned her head slightly to glance at him, silver hair brushing her cheek. "Why is there only one bed?"
Vastarael was in the process of unfastening his shirt, the silver clasp unhooking with a soft click. His long, curly hair fell down his back in loose strands as he placed the fabric gently over the high-backed chair beside the fireless hearth. He looked over his shoulder at her,.
"I don't mind sleeping with you."
Elyonari's cheeks tinged just slightly not with embarrassment, but indignation. Her brows twitched upward.
"Excuse me?"
"I meant… I don't mind. It's just sleep, Elyonari. You've known me long enough to know I don't say things like that for... whatever it is you're imagining."
She turned away with a huff, hiding the amused ghost of a smirk that played across her lips.
"Then you should clarify next time. I thought you had suddenly developed a sense of humor."
"I haven't. We already had dinner with the palace vassals an hour ago. I don't intend to go through any more diplomatic dinners. I'm going to sleep."
He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling off his boots before lying back against the pillows. He sighed, letting his head rest into the softness.
"You coming or not?"
Elyonari gave him a sidelong glance before muttering to herself and pulling off her mantle. She climbed into the bed, lying beside him but keeping a handspan of distance. At first.
Then, with the faintest rustle of blankets, Vastarael turned to her and without hesitation, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in. Elyonari stiffened at first, her eyes narrowing as her brow knit again.
"What do you think you're—"
"I've been alone for two and a half years," he murmured, cutting her words off with the soft press of his forehead to hers. "Without you. I didn't think I'd… miss you."
The words weren't syrupy or romantic. They were blunt and honest.
"You're warm..."
She felt his cold breath on her lips and that's when she noticed something. Her eyes widened, her expression slowly twisting into horror.
There was no heartbeat.
There was no pulse against her chest. No warmth. Nothing but the cold stillness of skin that mimicked life.
"Vastarael… there's no heartbeat. Why don't I feel it?"
"…My mother," he said softly. "The clone version of her that is. She… took my eyes. Sliced them out."
Elyonari inhaled sharply. "Your mother did that?"
"Yup. Then, a Winter Labor took my heart during the... trial. Tore it out like parchment."
She covered her mouth, eyes shaking.
"Then how are you…?"
"Nine pseudo-cores. One functions as my heart now. The others stabilize the tethering fractures in my body. "I'm alive… by design. Not by nature anymore."
Elyonari stared at him, then slowly placed her hand over his chest. It was cool beneath the fabric, uncomfortably so. Not dead, but not alive either.
"You must've suffered."
Vastarael shrugged, trying to seem detached. "I survived."
But as she leaned into him more, he instinctively wrapped both arms around her now, as if trying to anchor himself to the one thing in this place that still felt real.
She noticed. She felt it.
So she didn't say anything more. She simply leaned into him, her head tucked beneath his chin as her arms encircled his waist. The chill between them began to fade, if only slightly, replaced by something ancient and quietly breaking through the frost.
And in that bed of silence and steel, no one else would ever know how cold his body truly was.
But she held him tighter anyway.