“About time,” I say bitterly. That’s one less threat I’ll have to worry about. Michael’s old regiment—a group of elite personal Guards gifted with the powers of every Season—had hunted and attacked us just miles from here, and the Guards who were left in stasis the longest had been deemed the biggest threat to me and Fleur. I don’t think I’ll ever forget Kai Sampson’s narrowed eye in the moment before she shot me full of arrows. Or Doug Lausks’s teeth as he sprinted over the frozen lake to kill me. I’m more than ready for Lyon to dole out their punishments. “What will happen to them?” I ask, remembering the bee Lyon crushed under his shoe the day he helped us escape the Observatory—a bee that had once been a Season . . . or at least the soul of one. After what Doug and the other Guards did to us, I find it hard to muster any sympathy for them.

Lyon sighs as if he’s not entirely sure. “They will be stripped of their magic. Like the others, we’ve given them the choice to live on here, taking on service positions at the Observatory.”

I raise an eyebrow. Lyon raises one in return, acknowledging my surprise. “Most are grateful for the option, given the alternative.”

“Even Doug?”

A shadow passes behind Lyon’s eyes. “I’m not sure he can be swayed into conceding his magic peacefully.”

“Can’t you just look in your magic wand and see?” The Staff of Time carries an insane amount of power: the power to grant immortality, to pause the clock, and to reveal glimpses of the future.

“I prefer not to.”

“Why not? Seems like it might help you find an answer to your problem.”

“Will it?” He tips his head. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe I’m the only one who fears the consequences of my own power. Perhaps we are wise, you and I, to recognize the risks in making such decisions.”

I pick at a crack in the surface of the desk, finding it hard to look at the twisting dark cloud in the glass orb atop his desk.

“Be that as it may,” he continues, “I had hoped not to use the staff in the manner of my predecessor. But I fear Doug may leave me no choice. Only time will tell, I suppose.” He shakes his head. “But enough of this. How are you and Fleur?”

“We’re good.”