Theron arrived within ten minutes, his face drawn with worry and exhaustion. He'd clearly been awake all night, searching through Darian's chambers as I'd asked, looking for evidence of treason.
"What's happening? Elena said Kael is dying, that you need my help with a ritual?" He moved toward the bed, reaching for his brother's body.
I stepped between them. "Stop. Don't touch him yet."
"Why? What's going on?" Suspicion crept into his voice. "Elara, what aren't you telling me?"
"The truth. About tonight. About the poison. About everything." I kept my knife ready but not threatening. Not yet. "Kael isn't really dead, Theron. The poison was meant to fake his death so we could identify who was working with Daemon. Who the traitor is."
His face went through several expressions in rapid succession—confusion, understanding, relief, and then something darker. "You faked his death. You've been lying to everyone, including Father. Including me."
"Yes. Because we couldn't trust anyone. Not even family. Especially not family." I watched him carefully. "Someone in the royal line has been helping Daemon for years. Someone close to your father. We needed to force them to reveal themselves."
"And you thought it might be me." His voice was flat. "That's why you sent me after Darian. You thought I was the traitor and you wanted me searching in the wrong direction."
"Or Darian is the traitor and we needed you to find proof. We didn't know. We still don't." I tightened my grip on the knife. "But we're about to find out. Because that poison you saw kill Kael? Someone tampered with it. Turned it from a temporary death into a real one. And only someone who knew our plan could have done that."
"You think I sabotaged your poison?" Theron's shock seemed genuine, but I couldn't trust appearances. Not now. "Why would I do that? Kael is my brother! We were finally rebuilding our relationship after years of hostility. Why would I kill him?"
"For the throne. For power. For revenge. For Daemon's promises. I don't know your reasons, Theron. But someone changed that poison, and you're one of very few people who knew Kael was supposed to wake up after six hours."
"Who else knew?"
"Elena. Captain Thorne. Mira. The healer Isla who created the poison. And you. That's it. That's the entire list."
Theron's eyes widened. "Isla. The healer. Elara, when you sent me to search Darian's chambers, I found correspondence. Coded letters between him and someone in the castle. I couldn't decipher most of it, but one name appeared repeatedly. Isla. They've been working together."
My blood went cold. "You're saying the healer who created the poison for us was working with Darian? Working with Daemon?"
"That's what the letters suggest. And if she knew about your plan to fake Kael's death, she could have sabotaged it. Created poison that would kill instead of temporarily incapacitate." He moved closer, his voice urgent. "Where is she now? We need to find her before she disappears or dies. She might be the key to unraveling the entire conspiracy."
"She's in the healers' wing. Captain Thorne was supposed to summon her."
"Then we need to go. Now. Before Daemon's people realize we're onto them and eliminate her." Theron started for the door.
"Wait!" I called after him. "Kael is dying. Actually dying. We need to save him first."
"How? If the poison is the problem and we can't reverse it, what can we possibly do?"
I explained Elena's plan quickly. About using the shade to burn through the poison, about needing genuine threat to trigger the shade's protective response, about how insane and dangerous the whole thing was.
Theron listened without interrupting, his expression growing more horrified with each word. "You want me to threaten you. To attack you for real, hoping Kael's unconscious curse will manifest and purge the poison while also potentially killing me."
"Yes."
"That's the worst plan I've ever heard."
"It's also the only plan we have. Will you do it?"
He looked at Kael's still form on the bed, then back at me. "If I do this, if I actually threaten you convincingly enough to trigger the shade, and it kills me instead of just stopping me—you'll know I wasn't the traitor. You'll know I chose to help save my brother even at the cost of my own life."
"Yes."
"Then let's do it." He drew his sword. "But understand this, Elara. If this goes wrong, if the shade kills us both and Kael wakes up to find he's killed his wife and his brother in his sleep, he'll never forgive himself. Are you prepared for that?"
"I'm prepared for anything except letting him die. So yes. Do it."
Theron moved into position, sword raised. Elena stepped back into a corner, ready to channel magic if needed but otherwise staying out of the way. Mira pressed herself against the far wall, her face pale but determined.
"Remember," Elena said quietly. "The threat has to be real. The shade won't respond to theatrics."
"Oh, it'll be real." Theron's expression hardened into something cold and frightening. "Because I'm going to be thinking about every time Darian and I tormented Kael as children. Every cruel word, every bit of isolation we inflicted because we were jealous of his power. I'm going to channel that guilt and rage, and it's going to feel absolutely genuine."
"Good. Then let's begin." I positioned myself beside Kael's body, one hand on his chest where I could feel the faintest hint of magical signature. "Whenever you're ready."
Theron took a breath, then lunged.
He moved fast, sword whistling toward me with genuine intent. Not to kill—the angle was slightly off for that—but enough to seriously injure if it connected. Enough to constitute real danger.
I tried to dodge, but he anticipated my movement, blade shifting to follow. The tip caught my arm, cutting through fabric and skin. Pain bloomed hot and immediate.
"Kael!" I screamed his name, not sure if he could hear me through whatever darkness the poison had trapped him in. "Kael, wake up! I need you!"
Theron struck again, harder this time. The flat of his blade caught my ribs, knocking the air from my lungs and sending me stumbling backward. I hit the floor hard, the knife falling from my nerveless fingers.
"Get up," Theron snarled, and the malice in his voice sent chills down my spine. He was fully committed to this deception, channeling real darkness to make the threat genuine. "Get up and fight, or I'll cut you down where you lie."
He raised his sword for a killing blow, and I knew this was it. Either Kael's shade manifested now, or Theron would be forced to actually hurt me seriously, possibly kill me to make the threat real enough.
"Kael," I whispered, tears streaming down my face. Not fake tears—real ones, born of terror and pain and desperate love. "Please. I need you. Wake up."
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. The sword descended toward my throat.
Then the room exploded into darkness.
Kael's shade manifested with force I'd never seen before, erupting from his supposedly dead body like a tidal wave of pure shadow. It was massive, filling the entire room, tendrils of darkness reaching for everything and everyone.
But its primary focus was Theron.