A woman turned to stone.

Nothing more than a panicked statue with balled fists and despair etched on her face.

Sorein watched as Iliya froze in place, the rings on her fingers burning bright with silver fire until the bracelet on her wrist appeared to activate.

Frozen, she remained still.

Iliya's eyes glowed with soft, translucent light.

"Is she alive?" Jeremy asked, walking closer. He stepped up behind Sorein, his expression dark. "What just happened?"

He didn't know. Sorein had never seen such magic before, not as the enchantments smoked against her skin and burned her flesh.

A gentle breeze brushed across the ground. Nearby leaves rustled, the roar of the river picking up.

"I don't know..." he whispered.

"So everything you've told us has been a lie?" Noah asked slowly. "The reason you won't go to the Estate, the reason you left Chiori...?"

Sorein sighed, swallowing past the dry, hollow sensation on his tongue. It was too late now. "She ordered me off the island," he explained, turning to meet his friend's stare. A joyless laugh fell from him. "In fact, I believe she bade me not to show my face again but that's irrelevant now..."

"I'd never seen you pack so fast," Jeremy muttered.

He made to inspect The Princess in her paralyzed state, but Sorein threw out his arm, blocking him.

"Guys..." Noah managed to say, sounding anxious. "What's happening?"

Sorein and Jeremy turned to see streams of mana lift from the surface of the river, fluttering through the air in millions of tiny particles. Energy pulled from all life, tugged straight from the grass and trees, seeping out of the planet's core.

"This isn't normal..." he continued, reaching out his hands to watch as even his life force filtered from his body.

Even as each string of mana glowed silver and crystallized in the air, Sorein couldn't find a single piece of logic in his brain that might explain this. Every etheris file he'd ever read, even the forbidden incantations he'd studied.

Nothing explained the funnel of power pouring into Iliya.

Sorein's own skin tingled with a foreign static, yet something about the feeling in the air felt familiar. He couldn't quite place it, but he knew this sensation.

Even if he didn't recognize it at all.

"I've never seen anything like this," Jeremy whispered to himself. Were it not silent everywhere else, Sorein wouldn't have heard it.

The shadows on the ground began to stretch toward him, answering the call of his stressed bones. His magic ached, flaring in response. Licks of dark flame lapped at their ankles as Sorein prepared for the worst.

Just as Sorein readied himself to approach Iliya's frozen frame, a large wave of static power rippled between the divide.

Only, this did not come from the Princess.

A slash of bronze light cut through the air, black feathers fluttering to the ground in its wake.

Now Sorein stepped back, his teeth clenching as he realized just who stood before them.

In front of Iliya stood a man nearing the height of Sorein himself. His clad black militia uniform fit him like a second skin, showing off broad shoulders and a leaner waist. Though a gleaming black dagger was clipped to a utility belt, the man before them displayed no weapons.

Fae then, Sorein guessed.

Therian's were often casters, fighting from a length instead of up close. They were talented shifters, but often only used those powers to manipulate their form, again from distance.

Few Fae were gifted shifters. If their bloodline ran pure and their link to the God's strong enough, they'd bear a family totem. For Andrin and Sorein, it was the wolf, but this man...

Wavy brown hair dropped an inch shy of his shoulders, his position in front of the Princess was instinctive and sacrificial. Should they have been enemies, Sorein had no doubt this man would not only take those dealt attacks, but end them himself.

Inhuman eyes of liquid gold rimmed with flames of amber and bronze looked upon them. The hottest forge swirled in those irises, something purely animalistic haunting their bearer.

Sorein knew those eyes.

He'd seen them once before, this man disappearing through the halls of Destry's palace.

Ezre Chakrine, a former Lord of Solraidas Capital and Iliya's Grandfather, analyzed them closely. Every weakness, every strength, down to the core of their beings. He didn't look a day over thirty, his age only illuminated in the light of his gaze. The weight of centuries and war hidden in the depths.

As acting King of Chiori Faire despite the monarchy, his presence still rattled the strongest men, causing anyone to falter.

His golden eyes saw everything and they had settled on Sorein, himself.

"Where is Rhydian?" he asked. Ezre's voice was clipped and sharp, despite the softer voice he possessed.

Sorein attempted to master himself and cleared his throat discreetly. "He didn't accompany us this evening."

"Didn't accompany you?" The King scoffed. "What, did he finally court the Nydarian girl?"

The Prince was only vaguely aware of Rhydian, let alone the Princess of Draiwyld. Though he served as Destry's captain, he also served her court, being the grandson of Taeori Rainne's Queen. His royal bloodline would make him an adequate mate, should the Princess of Draiwyld consider him.

Still, Sorein wasn't certain where he was or what he was doing. He wasn't even sure if he should bow given the current predicament.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I don't know," Sorein said. "I offered to be Iliya's escort for the evening."

Ezre's eyes flashed when he heard the title, narrowing even more. "It appears the Princess has forgotten how to even attend an event," he muttered.

The King circled around Iliya's frozen body before whispering several incantations. Slowly, the glowing in her eyes began to vanish and her legs gave out beneath her, unconscious.

Ezre quickly caught her and gathered her into his arms, hoisting her up.

The edge in his voice had softened by the time he addressed them again, though Ezre only bothered making eye contact with Sorein.

"I suppose being escorted by Azuris' finest isn't like leaving her unprotected," he mused.

Sorein chose his words carefully as relaxed and took a step forward. "I wouldn't let anything harm her," he said.

The King nodded, the anger lining his stare dissipating steadily. He approved, certainly, though not in a warm light. Sorein could still detect the reservations hiding beneath his posture.

"Will she be okay?" Noah chimed in, coming to pass both Jeremy and himself. "What happened to her?"

Ezre looked down on the girl in his arms, her breathing now soft and comfortable as if she were merely in a dreamstate.

"Yes," he answered softly. "She will be well in the morning."

Sorein was grateful for that much of an answer as the man turned to take Iliya home.

But the King stopped and glanced back once more.

"I should warn you," he began, pausing to rephrase. The words seemed lost to him, unless he was hiding something. "Iliya may very well not remember the last several moments before the activation."

The activation...?

Questions flooded his brain even as Ezre turned on his heel and disappeared with the sleeping Princess firmly wrapped in his arms. Sorein faintly heard the sound of feathers and the gentle flapping of wings, but nothing cut through the torment of confusion.

"He didn't answer my question," Noah grumbled, mostly to himself.

Sorein reminded himself to lecture the immortal to find some semblance of composure. That would come later.

Later, after he understood what he'd just witnessed.

"Sorein," Jeremy said, dredging him out of his thoughts. "We should head back."

Home.

The festival.

He didn't know where.

Sorein stared down his friends, the realization creeping up on him that they'd been followed all evening. Not only that, but Iliya had noticed long before him.

"How long..." he demanded. "How long have you been watching us?"

Noah chuckled. "You're an easy man to spot, Sorein."

His glare flashed to the human, temper rising. "How long?"

"Since she nearly fell in the river," Jeremy explained, trying to calm him. "You were so focused on keeping her safe that you must've tuned us out."

Sorein thought he'd had more control over his mind then that, but the implications started pouring through his head. They'd seen everything.

Everything.

"You stayed in that Pavillion? You saw that bastard cornering her?"

"She handled herself just fine," Jeremy countered.

Sorein scoffed, rubbing a rough hand over his face.

This night had been a disaster in every possible way.

He didn't know whether to be livid or grateful, knowing they'd seen what had been done. Perhaps if things had gotten worse, they would've stepped in, but then again...

He'd never known Jeremy to interfere in others' lives. If anything it was something he normally enjoyed about the Captain.

"Did you really tell her whole family?" Noah asked, finding his way to the half-crushed bench and taking a seat.

Sorein didn't feel the need to answer for this crime another time. He didn't owe it to them.

But the weight on his chest constricted and he found himself nodding. "Yes. I did."

"Don't you think..."

"I knew it wasn't my place, Noah. Spare me the lecture," he snapped back.

"You loved her," Jeremy said, shocked.

"No," Sorein denied, sighing. "But I might've, one day."

The silence settled over their strange and mysterious night, winds still sweeping away the traces of Iliya's magical deterioration. Those small particles of mana swept away like dust.

The Prince did his best to shake off the horrors of this night, not to mention the torturous concern and confusion. He'd do anything to forget about it all.

Sorein started walking.

And he didn't stop until he was home.