As soon as the morning sun streamed through my bedroom window, I set off for the archives again. While I made my way to the grand hall, I began to plan what I would look through, what I needed to ask the servants who specialised in the ins and outs of the archive to get for me.

The first thing I asked for was all of the trades between all of Racaea and the Icrodeian castle, but the search proved fruitless. A servant returned — a different one to the servant who had helped me the previous night — saying that the Idaphite shard has been the only thing sent from the castle since the archives opened and records began. It was worthless and yet valuable information at the same time, almost proving that this shard was the answer we were looking for.

After that, I looked at the address the Idaphite shard was sent to and found nothing there either. At least it hadn't left the kingdom just yet. I wondered if the people in possession of this item knew that people were searching for it, that a war was about to start because of it.

Jolting me out of my thoughts was a servant escorting Auron to where I was sitting. He thanked them for showing him where I was and then slid into the seat opposite me.

"You know, I'm questioning how you always manage to get into the castle without being stopped and questioned." It was nice to see someone other than the servants standing hesitantly in the area and the papers surrounding me.

The weaponsmith shrugged. "Perhaps I've got a knack for silently sneaking around."

I chuckled. "After the scare you gave Sabre and me the other day, I would believe that without a doubt."

"What are you doing back in the archives?" Auron asked, getting straight to business as usual. "Is there still more to look through? You and Sabre have spent a lot of time searching through everything already."

"There was, but I think I've found something." I sat up properly, eager to show him my findings. "There was a small item delivered from the Icrodeia castle roughly eighteen years ago. It's the only thing to ever be sent or received there, so I have a feeling that's what Mace is after."

"Mace?" Auron scoffed. "So, you're on a first name basis with him too?" His tone was laced with hostility, catching me off guard.

"Too? What do you mean by that? I overheard his name being used by one of the cloaked figures at the ball." Something had happened while I had holed myself away in these stacks of papers, I could sense it.

"Well, I suppose I'll get to why I came here in the first place." He folded his arms across his chest. "Sabre snuck out last night to see this 'Mace'."

"She did what? Is she okay? Is she hurt?" I stood from my seat, running through my mind all the places she could currently be. Only two nights had passed since I nearly lost her, she couldn't be hurt again already. While I paused to think, I realised something. "Wait, why do you make it sound like she went willingly?"

"Because she did," Auron clarified. "I noticed her sneaking out last night and I found her at The Lost and Found talking to him — a conversation over a couple of drinks. She was trying to get information about what Icrodeia wants and Mace was attempting to get her to help him with something.

"What was it?" Something akin to sorrow wrapped around my heart. Did she not trust either of us to tell us that she was going to see him? The man who had nearly killed her. I thought we were closer than that. Were the feelings I had for Sabre only one-sided?

"I don't know yet. It didn't seem right to push her for information when she could barely stand from her wound. I came here to ask you if you wanted to tag along when I ask her instead of being filled out on it later." His expression was strange, unlike one I had ever seen on him before. Though I could understand why. It felt like one of our friends had betrayed us.

"I'll join you." I glanced around at the towers of paper surrounding me and took the two with the information about the Idaphite shard. "I would like to hear for myself what she has to say." It had to be a mistake or misunderstanding, that Auron was jumping to conclusions. Why would Sabre want to meet up with him when it risked her own safety?

On the way out of the archives, I let a servant know that the remaining sheets could be returned to their rightful places along the shelves or inside of books. I was confident that we had the answer we were looking for. If the Idaphite shard did turn out to be a failure, Sabre most likely knew what Mace wanted by now.

Once we reached the blacksmiths, we discovered Sabre hadn't woken up yet, so Auron went upstairs to wake her up. While he did so, Trik walked in from one of the work rooms carrying several different crafted weapons and jewellery. He gently put them down on the countertop next to a stack of orders before he noticed me standing in the entrance.

"Prince," he acknowledged. "You're here quite early in the day, though I'm a little thankful for that because I've been meaning to speak to you."

"Oh?" I raised a brow at his words. "Is everything okay?" Did Trik even know what was going on with the engagement between Sabre and I? I supposed he didn't as not even Sabre had heard of the official news of Lady Lorella taking her place.

"Everything is fine, I just want to talk to you about your relationship with Sabre." Trik leant forward on the counter, using his crossed arms to prop himself up. If you were an outsider looking in, you would think he was relaxed and having a cheerful conversation. However, I could see the threatening fire burning within his eyes. Why did I suddenly fear for my safety? "If you dare to treat her poorly or even break her heart, you'll have to answer to me. And trust me, it will not be pleasant."

I jokingly held my hands in surrender, not knowing how else to respond. "Are you threatening a prince?"

"I don't care about your fancy titles." Venom laced his tone as he clearly didn't catch on to the jest I had made. "Sabre is my daughter."

"I will never intentionally hurt her. I do care about her a lot." My voice became quiet as I finished my sentence, heat finding its way to my cheeks.

"Good." The blacksmith put the weapons and pieces of jewellery he had brought into the room into a sack, placing each one in with the utmost care. Once every item was in and the bag was tightly secured, he swung it over his shoulder. "I'm heading out. Let those two upstairs know that I'm going to deliver orders."

I had to refrain from giving him a mock salute and merely bowed my head instead. "Will do."

Only a few moments after Trik left, Auron and Sabre came down the stairs. The latter rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned as she sat on a chair — the same chair that she used almost a week ago when she had offered to pretend to be my suitor. I found it cute the way she looked so sleepy, something I hadn't really seen before.

I couldn't think like that. Only hours ago had she met up with our enemy without telling any of us. She could have been injured by Mace again. It had to be pure luck that she had gotten back safely. If Auron hadn't gone to find her, she might have been captured or worse.

Unable to stop myself, I walked over to Sabre and pulled her into an embrace. Smelling the charcoal and smoke in her hair was almost comforting. "Mace didn't hurt you, did he?" I pulled back and moved my hands up to hold her face.

She shook her head. "No, he didn't touch me." Guilt and a mixture of something else was plaguing her features. She looked so defeated.

"Why didn't you tell us? We're in this together."

Sabre removed her face from my hands. "I didn't think. I should have told someone where I was going, but I got called to meet him at a moment's notice. There wasn't time to waste."

Auron and I took our seats around the table too, just like it had been a week ago when Auron was cleaning my wounded hands. I flexed my fingers. Those cuts and bruises hadn't even lasted a full day before they'd healed.

"So, what does Icrodeia want?" Auron pushed, his jaw tight. "Kayne thinks he might have found something too."

"You have?" Sabre looked up from where she was picking at a fraying thread in her shirt.

I held up the two pieces of paper I had folded into my pocket. "It's not much, but it's a very good start. We need to see if our solutions match."

"Right." She took a moment to think over her explanation before saying it aloud. "Mace is after something called the Idaphite stone, or pieces of it anyway. It supposedly grants the Icrodeian royal family strength — a type of magic. According to him, the stronger the gold in someone's eyes, the more potential they have to wield this power."

"And where do you come into all of this?" Auron's expression hadn't changed. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking.

Sabre brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. "The Sephirans — my parents — were the last people their investigations led to. They can't get a hold of them, so they want me to try as I'm their daughter."

"And yet they had you sold," the male weaponsmith pointed out. "I don't trust it. What does he want the stone for?"

She shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me. Though, I did let him know that if his plans threatened Racaea or the fae in any way, I wouldn't help him."

"You said an Idaphite stone, right?" I questioned with pride bursting in my chest. My findings had been right after all. When we first started searching in the archives with no success, I thought our time had been wasted. Now, it had proven to be useful. When Sabre nodded in response, I continued, "I found out about an Idaphite shard." I unfolded the papers and laid them out on the table.

"You actually found the same thing?" Auron's brows raised in surprise as he leaned over to look at the information.

"Apparently so. There wasn't too much about it in the archives, but it came from the Icrodeian castle nearly eighteen years ago and it was sent to this address not too long afterwards." I pointed to the trading log.

Sabre's eyes went wide as she read the address and she pulled out a scrap piece of paper from her pocket. She placed it on the table for the rest of us to see.

If you've changed your mind and wish to assist us after all, this is the location where the Sephirans were last seen. Be careful, they aren't a pair to be messed with - M. Those were the words etched into the paper with an overly fancy, cursive handwriting, followed by the exact same address on the trading log.

After all this time, we had finally discovered what Icrodeia was after, but we were still nowhere near to stopping this war from happening. If we didn't get this stone or a shard of it to Mace, there would be no hope.

"But why do they have it?" Auron's shoulders drooped.

"This is why Mace was so desperate to get his hands on you," I mused out loud, unable to stop myself from saying them.

"What?" Sabre's eyes met mine, confusion and hurt dancing through them. "You knew? You knew this whole time that he wanted me? Why didn't you say anything? We could have resolved this quicker if we knew that."

Auron chuckled darkly. "Why does everyone keep secrets from each other? We aren't going to get anywhere like this."

"I found out while interrogating Mace in the tower. It wasn't clear if he was telling the truth or not, so I didn't mention it." Looking back on it, I had been foolish not to mention anything. There could have been some sort of security arranged for Sabre in case she would be threatened. I had been naive to think that keeping it from everyone would be the right thing to do. "I also didn't want it to upset Sabre."

The silence that filled the room felt like it was pushing against us, crushing and urging us to do something to fix the current rift in our friendships.

"What do we do now?" Auron was the first to speak.

"We go and get it," Sabre replied, determination filling her voice.

I frowned. "I agree, but we can't go just yet. We need to prepare and I have other things I need to do first." There was the matter of questioning my mother about what she did to Icrodeia and also trying to decide who we would bring with us. "I say we should leave in a few days' time."

Sabre nodded in agreement, though she refused to meet my gaze. It fractured a piece of my heart. Why had I been so half-witted?

The other weaponsmith only sighed in frustration. "I don't suppose I could deter you two from trying to get it yourselves, so I'm in too. We could just send some guards to go and get it for us. You have that power, right Kayne?"

"I do, but the guards are needed elsewhere right now. They're trying to secure the castle grounds more and search for Mace's group." I stood from the table and walked over to the door. "I'm going to get as much done as I can now before we leave."

Reading my friends' faces, I found nothing but disappointment on Auron's and something unreadable on Sabre's. A mix of hurt and guilt. It mirrored my own feelings too.

"Oh," I said as I remembered the words of the blacksmith not too long ago. "Trik mentioned he was going out to deliver some orders and to let both of you know." Once I delivered the message, I opened and closed the door behind me. The sound of the bell hanging above it was the only sound audible.