From her, to a Heartless she was so afraid of.

“Thank you,” she murmurs into my shoulder. “Thank you, Zera.”

We part with shy smiles, and the two of us slide into our seats at the table, and dinner begins. I try to ignore Lucien’s stony gaze as I cut pieces of the fatty pig livers off and eat—slowly, behind your napkin, Y’shennria’s voice in my head insists. And make sure you wipe the blood off your chin, for Old God’s sake. The sage asks me polite questions about Heartlessness, and it’s strange to have someone asking these out of curiosity, not malice. Not suspicion or hatred. It almost makes me feel sort of…accepted. Or at the very least less chased out of town with fire and sharp stones.

Fione chimes in with her own observations. “It’s remarkable the range-extending magic on your necklace has lasted this long,” she says. “Most powerful relics like that are functional for only a few weeks, at most.”

“Yes, well.” I smile at her. “I’m special. And so is my jewelry.”

My eyes flicker to Lucien, ready to play, and for a split second, his granite expression fractures, twin tugs at the corners of his broad lips. All right, so. It’s not a whole smile. Not anywhere near as beautiful as the ones he was giving me during our walk this afternoon. But we’ll get there eventually.

“There’s no need to worry over the necklace.” The prince stares at me. “She and I won’t be parted again.”

“You never know!” I tease him. “The gods might have something to say about that.”

“The gods”—Lucien lifts his chin, onyx eyes catching light—“will have to wait their turn.”

Suddenly, holding his gaze is like trying to hold on to water, to quicksand, to an ember cupped in my hands. I can’t. I look anywhere but him, my face hotter than the fire in the hearth. Fione slyly pokes at her greens, and Malachite’s smirk is so blatantly knowing, I get the overwhelming urge to fight him. Politely. With many knuckles.

It feels surreal to be able to sit down and eat a dinner at all. With friends. Friends. I thought I’d lost them forever. But nothing’s lost forever, is it? That’s not the nature of nature—absolutes aren’t true or real. Absolutes are human inventions, because the tide isn’t always high. The moons aren’t always full. The grass isn’t always green, and the sky isn’t always blue. Even the sun isn’t always in the sky. Feelings don’t change easily, Lucien said once.