The healers start opening them and pulling out supplies: bandages, ointment, needles, and thread—everything we might need. Without the magic of Heart, Aphelion’s healers are dependent on these implements. The weight of this mission and its purpose flutters heavily in my stomach. I have to save the magic of Heart.

Someone thrusts a loaded box into my hands, and then, once everyone is armed, we start marching back out of the room and out through the palace. Gabriel says nothing, his shoulders hunched, his head low, and I can’t imagine the stress he’s under right now. I run up to walk next to him. “Hey, are you okay?” I ask.

He looks over at me and shrugs. “I don’t have time to think much about that. I just have to keep going. You know?”

“Yeah, I know that so well, Gabriel.”

He gives me a soft smile, and it’s weird seeing him look at me like that. Like he’s actually, maybe, a bit happy to have me around, even if I still annoy him.

We enter the city, marching through the streets surrounded by a contingent of soldiers. Up ahead, more healers and soldiers scurry about, setting up a big white tent in the middle of an open square. A line of people is already forming, everyone covered in cuts and bruises, some of them holding their arms, others limping on injured knees and ankles.

We don’t have any beds, so we use sheets and blankets to create makeshift pallets on the ground as we begin the task of healing the survivors.

Over the next few hours, I use the second half of my magic. That soft, velvety ribbon feels dense and solid as I mend limbs, seal up cuts, and, in one case, repair an entire chest of broken ribs. I don’t understand why I can control this side of my magic when the other is so difficult to contain.

It’s hard work, and my brow beads with sweat. As I’m healing, I catch a few curious glances directed at me and Tristan. He’s across the tent at another bedside, using his thinner vein of healing magic to smooth over cuts and bruises.

It’s been a long time since anyone has experienced the healing magic of Heart. Many of them must have seen the red lightning when I destroyed the throne room, and I worry they’ll reject us because of our grandmother, but they mostly seem grateful for our help.

I lose track of the hours until I notice the sun is starting to set. My stomach rumbles with hunger. They’ve been feeding us small bites of food, but I’ve been too busy to bother with much. I’ve been trying to keep myself hydrated, but that’s about the extent of it.