“What if there is no plan, Neme? What if—what if I don’t have enough magic to stop this?” I ask softly, my voice trembling.

Nemesia takes my hands in hers, looking deep into my eyes and seeing through me, like she always does. “I’ve seen you tap into the aether deeper than anyone ever has, Laurel.”

I sigh, dropping her hands. Her belief in me is both fortifying and suffocating. I look back down at the battle. My armies have dwindled to a few hundred soldiers, while Mazus has battalions still waiting in his army camp just outside the valley who have yet to join the fight. My eyes lock onto a female Thayarian soldier battling three massive Velmaran males, and my body tenses with recognition. She was once assigned to my personal guard. Though outnumbered, she drives forward with her sword, stabbing one Velmaran soldier in the stomach and parrying to slash the arm of another. For a moment, there’s a flare of hope in my chest that she may be able to take them—before a fourth soldier comes up behind her. He knocks her to the ground and swiftly slices the back of her neck. She slumps to the ground and doesn’t get up again.

Bile rises in my throat, but I force myself to stay standing. My shoulders slump in shame—I cannot remember her name.

Resolve hardens in my chest. My magic will not be enough—not with how unpredictable my control is. Night after night of this war, I’ve practiced, trying to use my aether gifts consistently. But each night, my empty hands remind me of all I’ve lost. No, there’s no plan, no scenario where we win this war. I decide on what a part of me always knew was inevitable.

“Send a message to Mazus,” I whisper to Nemesia, not wanting to say the words aloud but having no other option. “I want an audience with him. And a temporary respite from the battle while we… negotiate.” Nemesia gives me a hard look, the angles of her expression creating a sharp line from her jaw to her pointed fae ears. “Until then, we hold the line in case he doesn’t agree to the ceasefire.”

“What are you planning?” she asks warily.