It’s the first time my great-aunt has deigned to address me with anything but accusations and hostility, but I’m not chalking this up to any kind of win just yet. She just wants information.

“There are rumors of a battle,” Cyan says. “That things went poorly for the king during the bonding ceremonies.”

“A battle?” I ask. I’ve been so focused on returning to Nadir that I haven’t had time to digest everything that went down in Aphelion. I have no idea what happened after Nadir and I entered the palace. Gabriel revealed the truth about Tyr, and then what? I just hope Tristan and Willow are safe.

“Yes,” Cyan says. “Apparently, it turned quite violent.”

He peers at me, and his suspicions are growing by the minute.

“Did you not just say that’s where you came from?” he asks. “Surely you know this already?”

“Yes. No. I mean . . . yes, I was there, but—” I stop and take a deep breath as my lies and half-truths start to topple over each other. “Let me explain.”

“Please,” Cyan says, his patience clearly wearing thin. I’ve stumbled into his life with a lot of wild stories, and he doesn’t even know yet that I’m here to steal from him. If I’m not careful, he’ll sniff out my true purpose, and then I’m well and truly fucked. “Enlighten us.”

I tell them more about my mission in Aphelion and what happened with Gabriel and Tyr, giving them enough details to make my stories sound plausible.

“Tyr lives?” Cyan asks, sitting up, the incredulity in his voice obvious. “That’s impossible.”

I shrug. I can’t be sure the man Gabriel presented to Aphelion is, in fact, the true king, but everyone else seemed to believe it.

“And then what happened?” Cyan asks.

“I’m not sure. You know as much as I do at this point.” I toy with the fork on the table, flipping it over and over. “Why weren’t you there? Were you not invited?”

Cyan nods and sits back. “I declined my invitation. I had things that kept me here.”

“I see,” I answer when it appears he has no intentions of explaining any further.

“What does the Aurora King want with you?” Anemone asks.

“I don’t know that either.” It’s partly the truth. I recall the details of what Cloris shared with me and Nadir. She revealed our location to the Aurora King, and he sought us out, but what was his goal? I had always assumed he wanted to keep us close and contained, but the way he’s been chasing me across the continent suggests it’s something more. We know he wanted the ark, but for what purpose?