The blade hit the stone wall inches from my head, steel singing as it quivered in the torchlight.
“Wake up!” Astrid’s voice cracked like a whip across the chamber. “You’ve been screaming her name for three nights running!”
I bolted upright, sweat cold on my skin, the remnants of another vision clinging to my consciousness like smoke. Dark cliffs. Storm-colored eyes. A voice that called to something deep in my bones.
“Astrid—”
“Don’t.” She stalked across the room, fury radiating from every line of her body. “Don’t you dare try to explain this away.”
“I can’t control the dreams.”
“Dreams?” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “These aren’t dreams, Kieran. They’re summons. And you’re answering them.”
Commander Hayes appeared in the doorway, drawn by the sound of raised voices and flying weaponry. “Is there a problem here?”
“Ask him.” Astrid pointed at me with a trembling finger. “Ask your prince about the woman he’s been calling for in his sleep.”
Hayes looked between us, his weathered face grim. “Sir?”
“The third bond is forming,” I said, because there was no point in lying. “The prophecy is completing itself.”
“Her name is Nyx,” Astrid spat. “He says it like a prayer. Like a plea. Like she’s already more important than—”
“Than what?” I stood, facing her across the charged space. “Than you? Than us?”
“Than anything!” The words exploded from her with enough force to make Hayes step back. “You think I don’t feel it? The way the bond is shifting, stretching, making room for someone else?”
“That’s not how it works—”
“Isn’t it?” She moved closer, and I caught the scent of her fury—hot and wild and desperate. “Because from where I stand, it feels like I’m being replaced.”
“You’re not being replaced.”
“Then why does it feel like I’m losing you?”
The vulnerability in her voice hit me like a physical blow. Around us, the chamber seemed to hold its breath.
“Because you’re afraid,” I said.
“Of course I’m afraid!” The admission tore from her throat. “I’ve never shared anything in my life, and now you’re asking me to share you with two other women?”
“I’m not asking you to do anything.”
“You’re asking me to watch you fall in love with someone else.” Her voice broke on the last word. “You’re asking me to smile and nod while another woman claims part of your heart.”
“Astrid—”
“No.” She held up a hand, stopping me mid-sentence. “I need to know. Right now. Before this goes any further.”
“Know what?”
“If you had a choice—if the prophecy didn’t exist, if the bonds weren’t forming—would you still want her?”
The question hung in the air like a blade. Hayes shifted uncomfortably by the door, but made no move to leave.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly.
“That’s not good enough.”
“It’s the only answer I have.” I stepped closer, and she didn’t back away. “I’ve never met her, Astrid. I’ve seen her in visions, felt her through the bond, but I don’t know her.”
“But you want to.”
The accusation hit its mark. I felt my jaw clench, my hands curl into fists.
“Yes,” I said.
The word seemed to echo in the sudden silence. Astrid went very still, her face pale in the torchlight.
“At least you’re honest,” she said quietly.
“I’m trying to be.”
“Are you?” She tilted her head, studying me with those green eyes that missed nothing. “Because it seems to me like you’re trying to convince yourself this is all beyond your control.”
“The prophecy—”
“The prophecy gives you an excuse.” Her voice was deadly quiet now. “It lets you want things you’d never admit to wanting otherwise.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” She moved closer, close enough that I could see the pain she was fighting to hide. “Tell me, Prince—if there was no prophecy, no destiny, no bonds pulling you in three directions—would you still be here? Or would you be back in Silver Moon with your gentle healer?”
The question was a trap, and we both knew it. Any answer I gave would be wrong.
“I’m here now,” I said.
“For how long?” She stepped back, her expression hardening. “Until the next vision? Until the bond pulls you toward the Eastern Cliffs?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then let me make it easier for you.” She walked to the weapons rack, selecting a long knife with practiced ease. “Fight me.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” She turned to face me, blade raised. “Fight me. Winner takes all.”
“Astrid, this is insane—”
“Is it?” Her smile was sharp as winter steel. “You want to know where you stand? This is how we find out. No prophecy, no bonds, no destiny. Just you and me and steel.”
Hayes stepped forward. “Commander, perhaps we should—”
“Stay out of this,” she snapped, never taking her eyes off me. “This is between me and the prince.”
“I won’t fight you.”
“Then you’ve made your choice.” She lowered the blade, and I saw something die in her eyes. “Get out.”
“Astrid—”
“Get out!” The words rang off the stone walls like a battle cry. “Go find your precious Nyx. Go complete your destiny. But don’t you dare come back here and pretend you chose me.”
The dismissal hit like a slap. I stared at her, this fierce woman who’d just challenged everything I thought I knew about choice and destiny.
“You’re wrong,” I said.
“Am I?” She sheathed the knife with sharp, angry movements. “Then prove it. Stay. Choose me. Let the prophecy burn.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Then you know I can’t do this.” She turned away, her shoulders rigid with barely contained emotion. “When you leave for the Eastern Cliffs—and we both know you will—don’t expect me to be waiting when you get back.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a promise.” She looked at me over her shoulder, and I saw something final in her expression. “I won’t be anyone’s third choice, Kieran. Not even yours.”
She walked to the door, pausing only to address Hayes. “The prince will be departing soon. See that his escort is ready.”
Then she was gone, leaving me alone with the Commander and the weight of choices I’d never wanted to make.
“Sir,” Hayes said quietly, “perhaps—”
“Don’t.” I sank onto the edge of the bed, suddenly exhausted. “Just… don’t.”
But even as I said it, I could feel the pull—that inexorable tug toward the Eastern Cliffs, toward a woman I’d never met but couldn’t stop dreaming about.
The prophecy was completing itself, whether I wanted it to or not.
And I was running out of time to decide what that meant for the woman I was leaving behind.