Kai rolled the blue and orange mana core that Mira had given him in his fingers.

  Does she actually expect me to thread this?

  He had threaded the teal core, and it was very uncomfortable. He couldn’t even imagine a peak third evolution core—even if it was in the smoothest, purest form.

  It was a different caliber entirely.

  “Hey Dad,” Kai said. “What do you think she’s actually looking for?”

  A rustic man in obsidian armor walked through the wall. It was his Guide, and while Kai knew it wasn’t his dad, the system did a bang-up job at capturing his dad’s personality.

  Of course, creating a caricature of another person was against the Guide’s rules, but Kai’s Guide was different. His father, Ryker Dairook, paid a platinum request to copy his personality, experiences, and memories into the Guide to allow his children to access them. In essence, he would be able to provide guidance to his children after his death.

  Creepy, but endearing—and effective.

  Through this strange request, Kai’s father was capable of teaching him swordplay long after his disappearance. And since his father was a famed swordmaster in the Fourth Ring, it might as well have been a diamond request—or beyond.

  So he used it often, so often that he ditched his edgy, sexy dream queen guide and replaced her with his father exclusively. It was a bizarre decision—but it had strange merits.

  “I can’t tell you anything about Mira Hill,” Ryker said, reminding him of the diamond-grade information suppression request guarding Mira’s person.

  “Okay,” Kai sighed, rolling his eyes. “Tell me what you think Ryker Dairook would think about what Mira wanted when she gave me this.” He lifted the sunrise core.

  His guide’s face hardened. “I doubt this is what your father intended when he cloned his—”

  “Just tell me,” Kai said.

  Ryker pulled out a chair and sat down. “I think he’d point out that human motivations are complex. But he’d doubtlessly find her gift an act of desperation.”

  Kai raised his eyebrow. “Desperation?”

  “Yes, desperation. If I were your father, I would think that she was lonely and afraid she wouldn’t have friends in the future if she got too strong. So she wants you to catch up. As for why she gave you a sunrise core, your father could only assume she thought you were talented enough.”

  “Talented enough?” Kai laughed. “Yeah, I’m talented—but I’m not that talented. I doubt she is either. She clearly had help. Don’t you think?”

  “I cannot think in regards—”

  “Don’t you think my father would think that?” Kai snapped. “Just speak for Ryker Dairook this session.”

  “Yes, he would assume Mira got substantial help, not only from her alchemy god, but also from the Drokai. He’d estimate alchemy, tempering, advanced chats, and in person guidance from powerful entities were involved.”

  Kai laughed. “And she expects me to do it alone?”

  Ryker shook his head. “Your father would assume that she’s expecting you to fail. It’s an unreasonable request, and she knows that. That said, his experiences would lead him to believe that she’ll still be disappointed if you fail—and the failure will lead to permanent damage in your relationship.”

  “Permanent?” Kai cried.

  “I know it sounds unreasonable, but he would remind you that Mira has never seen you fight. She’s merely trusting your stories and Trigan’s backing. That’s left her with a supernatural belief regarding your talents—a perfect ideal that exists only within her imagination. The second that you prove you’re normal, it will deflate her image of you. It will have to come sometime, but this is an inflection point.”

  Kai’s heart ached as he looked at the core.

  A knock freed him of his anguish. He looked at the clock. It was a quarter past midnight. Kai saw the time and instinctively grabbed Vengeance and activated Divine Eyes. His anxiety quickly faded, though, and he unlocked the door. “Hey, Tyler. What’s up?”

  “I…” Tyler saw the sword in Kai’s hands and then checked his watch and grimaced.

  “It’s all good,” Kai said, opening the door wide, letting in the late winter chill. He put the sword on the table. “Just habit. Come in.”

  Tyler walked in reluctantly and shut the door.

  “So?” Kai asked. “What’s up?”

  Tyler winced. “I know this’s gonna sound weak, but I think I’m just looking for someone to talk to.”

  “Well, that’s fine by me.” Kai checked his cabinet for brandy. He still had some, so he pulled out the bottle and wiggled it in his hand. “But let’s drink about it.”

  Five minutes later, Tyler was sniffing three fingers of brandy. He swallowed one down and nearly puked, hissing and clenching his jaw before jiggling his cheeks. “Damn. What are you drinking?”

  Kai laughed. “No clue. But I’ve been assured it’s the good stuff.”

  “Good stuff? Damn. I’d hate to taste the bad stuff.”

  Kai laughed. “Trust me. It’s worse.” He took a drink and then pointed at him. “Alright. Stage’s set. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing…” Tyler said. “Okay, it’s not nothing. There’s this dickhead named Rickland. He’s practically stalking Sarah, but it’s not a crime to practically stalk someone, and Malo said I’d cause a firestorm if I tried to make it one.”

  Kai chuckled. “Wise man.”

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  “But he also said that I could solve the problem, mano e mano,” Tyler said. “Man to man. Square up. But I can’t, obviously. Even if the guy’s weak compared to the rest of the soldiers, there’s still a huge difference in cores. I can’t even access my mana, let alone amplify it. I really need to evolve. And I just… I don’t know, I'm just complaining.”

  Kai laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Oh, feel free to keep complaining. You’d be doin’ it for the both of us.” He lifted the sunrise core.

  Tyler’s eyes hardened. “Are you crazy?”

  Kai shrugged. “You sister seems to think so. Gave me this and a gold evolution skill. She—”

  Tyler’s eyes lit up, and he grabbed Kai’s hands. “You have the gold? How good is that compared to the diamond?"

  "It's the same. Diamond has top skills up to demigod, but I guess gold will give you the top techniques up to the third evolution."

  "Seriously?"

  "Yeah. It's pretty huge."

  "Yeah, it is! Can you chant me the first ev?”

  Kai pulled back. “Whoa. What?”

  “If you’re evolving, can you give me the chant for the first ev?”

  “Yeah, I get it. But did we just have the same conversation? You’re weak. That sucks. But you’re not going to change that in a few days. So why aren’t you waiting for Mira?”

  Tyler looked at his reflection in the amber brandy glass.

  “Is it because you want to do things on your own?” Kai asked. “If so, you should break that habit. Mira has two gods, a demigod, elixir specialists—everything. If you turn down any of that for any reason, you’re just flat fucking stupid.”

  “Stupid?” Tyler laughed. “Like what? Threading a sunrise ‘cause a girl asked you to?”

  Kai snapped his fingers and pointed at him. “Exactly.”

  “Well that’s flat wrong,” Tyler said. “Risking your life to impress a girl isn’t remotely the same as doing everything you can to protect someone you love. You can woo Mira with a bottle of wine and some angst speak if you let her down. If I fail Sarah, she could be traumatized for life.”

  Kai finished his drink in one terrifying swallow. Not only could Kai not deny that, but he also fervently agreed with Tyler. He wasn’t supposed to agree with him. He wasn’t supposed to tell Mira’s kid brother to be stupid—in general. Still, he understood and agreed.

  “And it’s not like I’m just being paranoid,” Tyler continued. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I was chastised this morning, and it’s made me realize there’s a bigger problem we need to worry about.”

  Kai had grabbed the bottle before Tyler’s last line. After it, he held the bottle, suspended, awaiting judgment like a guillotine. “What’s that?” he asked.

  “Ikala,” Tyler said. “I mentioned that things were getting weird in the military and Malo agreed. And that’s mind-blowing. Because who would attempt a coup or a mutiny? In Areswood? Against Mira? It doesn’t make sense, but it feels… dangerous. I don’t know how to explain it. It just does.”

  “Ikala…” Kai tried to remember where he had heard that name. “Is that the balding guy with the long beard?”

  “Yeah,” Tyler said. “Do you know him?”

  “No, but I’ve heard of him. Aiden says Sina’s hated that guy from day one, but he says she’s been getting more aggressive. Apparently he stopped her from attacking him the other day.”

  “And you didn’t tell me? I’m the captain of the guards.”

  “And Ikala is a lieutenant of the military. You might’ve been the head of the fighting force last year, but that’s changed. Don’t forget that.”

  Tyler deflated when he remembered Malo’s reminder about his position.

  “But you’re right,” Kai said. “If there is something up, you’ll want a core. And if an accident befalls Rickland…” He slapped his knees and stood up. “I guess that’s just how it is.”

  Tyler’s face flushed with vitality. “You mean you’re going to help me?”

  “Obviously.” Kai swallowed down his brandy. “You think I’d leave your girl undefended? No way. If Mira hates me for that, well… it wouldn’t’ve lasted anyway. Besides…” He rolled the sunrise core in his fingers. “I hate being a hypocrite.”

  2.

  I was glad that I wouldn’t be training in Lake Nyralith all year. Tyler worried me sick, and while I had filled Wraithwood with talented soldiers, I suddenly had a bad premonition, the type that makes you tell someone you love them before they get onto a play, or when you look at your brother before he goes out to a party and say, “Be careful.”

  I needed to get back, but first, I needed to go through my second round of the Cailain elixir. Tinus had created a full ceremony for it, complete with a hot spring that had been turned into a witches’ brew of herbs and liquids, neither of which they would elaborate on. But apparently, they would allow me and Kline to absorb the Cailain faster.

  And that was strange, too. I was coming back for training in the summer. There was no rush on such training if I was the strongest entity in my ring, save the Drokai—right? But Tinus was strangely insistent that I do it for reasons he himself couldn’t articulate.

  It felt like there was a convergence point.

  Something serious was going to happen. I didn’t know what—and it didn’t matter. I just needed to get home—and soon. Even if it cost me the Dreamscape training—I’d do it.

  But first I had to take the Cailain. Helfine had invested considerable resources into the ceremony—and it was necessary. So, pushing down my desire to go home, I accepted the elixir in a special glass and entered the hot spring. It was going to be a brutal eighteen hours, but after my body churned and morphed and molded into something different, my body would be able to heal bone injuries. And I could always use that.

  Inside the hot spring, I drank the elixir, and then experienced true dread when it entered my bones.

  3.

  Tyler finished his evolution that night. As it turned out, Kalas’ brutal insistence on “proper” mana circulation into his punches and kicks was indispensable. After two years of brutal, “useless” training with the man, he finally understood what was going on. Because from the moment Kai started chanting him the first evolution spell to the end, he was in control. And when he finished, he felt like he was reborn.

  Kai grinned when he saw him. “Damn. If I had that core, I’d be unstoppable.”

  Tyler could now feel mana and could see Kai’s by the warping patterns around it. “Yours isn’t so bad yourself.”

  Kai shrugged. “Kalas beat the fundamentals into me.”

  Tyler’s eyes widened. “Kalas? You mean—”

  “One in the same,” Kai said with a knowing grin. “We’ll talk about it later. Until then…” He lifted up the sunrise core. “This’s going to take a while.”

  Tyler grimaced. “Do you actually think you can handle it?”

  “Of course not,” Kai said. “But someone special told me that if I don’t, Mira’ll end up alone… or something. And as a gentleman, who am I to refuse?”

  “You just think she’s hot,” Tyler said dryly.

  “Certainly helps.”

  Tyler was amazed Kai brazenly admitted that to her brother. Then, again, he didn’t know if that was normal for people with attractive sisters. It never applied to him because his sister was a dirty gremlin who went on week-long mycological foraging trips through the Pacific Northwest. A lot of people found her “nice,” “charming,” and “awesome,” but never “hot.”

  “But,” Kai said. “I would’ve done it anyway. I offered my life to her. This is what that looks like."

  Tyler was spellbound when Kai sat on the ground, determination flashing in his eyes. The man was so likable and easy going until he was furious or serious. Then, it’s like he became another person entirely. Yep, it was safe to say that Tyler liked Kai.

  “Okay… here we go…” Kai rolled his neck and sat down, legs folded, and then lifted the core. He looked at Tyler. “You wanna watch this shit?”

  Tyler dragged a chair across the room and sat. “Let’s see it.”

  Kai put the core into his mouth and started silent chanting, sloppily at first, given the warping, but it picked up aggressively. Mana swirled in a torrent, and Tyler wanted to scream for him to stop. But to his surprise, Kai wrangled the chaotic mana, albeit sweating.

  Tyler watched in nerve-wracking silence and anticipation, but a sudden hail of snarls broke out in Wraithwood Village—and he had a bad premonition of what was happening.

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