“Caelum?” I called softly.

He stood a few paces ahead, half-turned, his gaze fixed on the treeline like the shadows might speak if he stared long enough. His posture was rigid, shoulders squared, spine straight, the edge of his robe fluttering slightly in the restless wind. He looked like a statue carved from dusk.

His hair, dark as polished obsidian, was bound loosely at the nape, strands falling over the collar of his robe. That deep gray robe trimmed with silver runes clung to his frame just enough to hint at the lean muscle beneath.

And gods” he was beautiful.

Not in the careless way of youth, or the fake charm of power. But in the way nightfall is beautiful, calm and vast, hiding a thousand secrets just beneath its surface.

He didn’t turn at the sound of my voice.

“The lanterns are still out,” he said after a long pause. “The Grove is listening for the intruder.”

Even his voice sounded different now, or maybe I was just hearing him properly for the first time.

I stared at the strong line of his jaw, the way the light caught on the contours of his cheekbone. The feeling in my chest twisted again. It wasn’t new. It had been simmering since the temple. Since he touched my wrist like it might shatter, and whispered that he only desired to know me.

Everything in me responded to him in some deeper, older way that made my skin burn in his presence.

I wondered if he felt it too, but he stayed still, silent and watching.

I moved closer, drawn not just by instinct but by longing. Or the simple desire to be near him while I still had the choice to do so.

I was quiet on my feet, with the soft moss giving under my boots. “How did someone enter?”

“There must have been a glitch in the borderline magic after you and Damien entered,” he murmured.

That didn’t startle me. I’d suspected that something like this would happen after Fabian and Caelum explained who could enter the Grove. Damien entering with me flawed its design. I’d felt it glitching in the way the birds had gone silent.

I scanned the trees again, squinting into the soft darkness. There was no rustling or unnatural sounds. Only a creeping sense of being observed by something that knew better than to be seen.

A cold thread ran down my spine.

Caelum turned toward me then, eyes sharp in the fading light. “We need to move back to the Grove’s inner ring. It’s the only place the wards still hold.”

I didn’t argue or ask what he thought was out there. I just nodded my response.

We moved quietly through the forest’s inner paths, the silence thickening with every step. There were no birds, no crickets, just the hum of magic underfoot, pulsing faintly under the soil like a heartbeat out of sync.

As we passed beneath the first arch of carved stone, a low chime rang out from the branches overhead. It wasn’t loud. A ward had been triggered somewhere and I felt it.

Caelum’s hand lifted briefly, palm outward, and the sound stopped. His magic responded to the Grove like breath to lungs.

A few sentinels stepped into view as we crossed into the outer rim of the temple grounds. Again with the robes and gilded hoods, eyes already shadowed with worry. They bowed in unison to Caelum.

“Stillness,” Caelum said without acknowledging their greeting. “No cause for alarm yet.”

“But the wards’”

“Are holding,” he replied. “Gather the Watchers. Light the lower spires. And alert the Circle that I’ll be convening within the hour.”

The sentinels hesitated, eyes flickering to me.

Caelum didn’t. “She walks with me,” he said.

There was no question in it or a need to explain, just like Kael. They nodded once, then disappeared into the Grove like smoke. I peeked a glance at him wondering why his character reminded me a lot of Kael.

I kept silent, but I felt my heart flutter at the ease with which he had said, “She walks with me”. As if it was always meant to be.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. No, that wasn’t true. I knew exactly how I felt, and it terrified me.

We entered the Grove’s inner sanctum soon after. The outer circles gave way to smooth walkways carved into the hillsides, threaded with pale crystal light and soft moss underfoot. Small households dotted the slopes, their windows dim, their doors closed. But I could feel them. The people inside, holding their breath.

Caelum stopped near the Gathering Tree, a twisted column of silverbark that rose like a spine through the centre of the Grove. Already, the guards had arrived. And a few people I didn’t recognise.

And then I saw Damien standing at the back of the circle, sleeves rolled, eyes sharp and jaw locked. Beside him was Fabian. The two of them couldn’t have looked more opposite. Damien was stone. Fabian, fire. And both of them were watching Caelum and me as if wondering why we were together.

Caelum stepped forward. “The Grove is unsettled,” he said, voice carrying over the small crowd. “The wards are intact, but the Grove has withdrawn its welcome to outsiders. Which means it has sensed a threat inside our borders.”

Murmurs rippled through the small council. I caught the glint of worry behind even the most composed faces.

“When was the last time the Grove closed itself?” I asked quietly.

One of the advisors glanced at me, startled. It was clear they weren’t used to anyone outside their order speaking up.

Caelum answered instead. “Not in living memory.”

It made sense why they were all reacting this way. But why were they so sure it was a threat?

“We’ll divide the territory into patrol quadrants,” Caelum continued. “Start from the outermost spires and move inward. I want ward tracers on every path, and anyone capable of sealing or sensing to report in hourly.”

“And us?” Damien asked, folding his arms.

“You’ll sweep with me,” Caelum said with that hard tone. As much as he tried, his disdain for Damien shone through. “You and Fabian will flank opposite routes. Luna will remain by my side.”

That earned looks from everyone, especially Damien.

“She’s not’” he started.

“I am,” I interrupted, stepping forward. “I’m involved whether you like it or not.”

Damien stared at me. He wasn’t angry, and if he was he’d never let it show. I suppose he was just wounded that I would agree to go with someone else.

Fabian’s gaze darted between us, and for once, he didn’t smile.

“Fine,” Damien said finally. “But if it comes to a fight’”

“I know how to fight,” I snapped, sharper than I meant to. “You trained me well.” I reminded him.

We split soon after, each group dissolving into the shadows of the Grove. The wind had picked up again, but it wasn’t natural, and neither was the chill in my spine.

Caelum and I moved through the upper ridge, weaving beneath the hanging crystals that marked the sacred perimeter. I could feel Damien nearby, his presence a burn on my senses.

Fabian moved like smoke on the other side of the slope. His eyes caught mine once through the trees. He didn’t smile, well, I didn’t either.

I was thinking about Caelum’s offer not to save me, but to see me. I was also thinking about Damien who had loved me in silence for so long that I forgot what it felt like to be loved out loud.

Now with three men orbiting my story like moons, pulling in different directions, I already knew where I stood. Next to the one who didn’t ask me to choose, he just wanted to stay.

Caelum simply walked beside me, his presence magnetic, and maddening in how easily it made me feel like I belonged by his side.

But that illusion fractured the moment Damien stepped into our path.

His eyes found Caelum first, then dropped to where my shoulder brushed the edge of the temple keeper’s robe. The look on his face changed. Was that jealousy or betrayal? I couldn’t tell.

“We need to reroute,” Damien said without preamble. “One of your patrol spires hasn’t responded to the tracer calls. Fabian’s already there.”

Caelum didn’t move. “Then let Fabian cover it. Our quadrant isn’t complete.”

“I don’t take orders from witches,” Damien growled. “Especially not ones who play protector while they circle someone else’s woman.”

Heat bloomed in my cheeks. “Damien’”

“No.” His eyes locked on mine, frustration glinting under his usually unreadable mask. “You walk like you’ve already chosen, Luna.”

“There are no sides,” I said. But my voice lacked conviction, and we both knew it.

“There’s always a side,” he muttered. “And right now, you’re standing on his.”

Caelum didn’t rise to the bait. He simply stepped forward, placing himself slightly between us.

“I’m not your rival, Damien,” he said calmly. “You made your choice a long time ago. You chose duty. But she has always needed more than that.”

Damien’s jaw clenched. “You think you understand what she needs because you spent a few minutes with her? Don’t mistake proximity for depth.”

My pulse was a hammer behind my ribs. “I’m right here,” I said. “And I’m not something to be passed between oaths and silence.”

The way they looked at me, I felt like I was on the cusp of something I didn’t have time or energy to tackle. Why was Damien suddenly so defensive?

Fabian came walking up the shadowed ridge. He glanced between us, that smug gleam dulled but not entirely gone.

“You can keep snapping at each other,” he drawled, “or we can deal with the fact that something inside the Grove is moving.”

Caelum’s attention snapped to him. “What did you see?”

“Not what,” Fabian said, stepping closer. “Who.”

His voice dropped a register. “A person, cloaked, and alone. They weren’t hiding—and the Grove didn’t reject them. It let them in. Like it recognised them.”

“That’s impossible,” Caelum said under his breath. “No one slips past the Grove’s judgment.”

Fabian tilted his head. “I didn’t say they slipped past it. I said the Grove welcomed them. And they’re not witch.”

A new kind of silence took hold before Caelum turned toward me slightly, and I knew what he wasn’t saying aloud.

This was about me. Whatever had crossed into this territory” it was here because of me. Maybe not intentionally, but I’d shifted something. And the Grove was responding to whatever ripple I had set loose.

Damien saw it too. His eyes narrowed, but it was suspicion I saw in them. It was understanding. Like he was finally seeing the part of me that no longer belonged solely to him.

“This has something to do with her,” he said, and his voice was dull with dawning realisation.

Fabian didn’t look away from me. “Of course it does.”

Their argument, if you could call it that, was over. But the damage had already been done. I wasn’t standing between them any more. I was the fault line they were all watching.

And the worst part was I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to choosing Damien.

Somewhere between the shrine and this moment, a part of me had moved toward Caelum, willingly, and now” I didn’t know if I could step back.

Even if I wanted to.