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"Dead!" Kit paced the length of the corridor, his tail flicking up dust clouds around his hindquarters, fur ruffled. "Our ben'nessren's been slain! By the moon, the Shadow Realm has brought war to our doorstep!"

Lucy closed his eyes and exhaled. Abby, Margo and Sebbi weren't dead. They weren't. They were alive somewhere.

In peril? Maybe. Being annoyed to death by some guy who had galaxies popping in and out of existence along his skin? Definitely. But not dead.

They couldn't be dead. He didn't have it in himself to deal with that. After the news of Sebbi's poisoning and then seeing the big, dumb oaf bed-bound, Lucy had been on the precipice of breaking. If anything further happened to the people he loved well, he'd hope the shadows swallowed him too.

Kit came storming back, his fingers wrapping and unwrapping around the hilt of some dagger tucked away in his trousers. "We must alert Reven and convene the Houses." He nodded, then pounded a fist into his palm. "We must act. Storm the--"

Lucy pinched his eyebrows together and blew out. He'd told Abby that dealing with the ladle-wielding Crum would be the last time he stepped up to help sort out the crazy. Now here he was stuck with Kit while she'd shirked her responsibility again. She always had it easier.

"Before you go beating the drums of war," he said. "Why don't we think about this first?"

"We don't think first in Aelurus." Kit whirled around, meeting Lucy's gaze. His eyes a steely gray-blue, full of conviction. "We act."

"No wonder you get along so well with my brother." Kit cocked his head. "He acts before he thinks too. Gets himself into a world of trouble."

"Your highness," Kit's voice trembled as he whipped his tail through the air, agitating dirt until another mini sandstorm appeared around his hindquarters, "do you not understand what has happened?" Kit shook his head and frowned. "Of course you do not. You are in shock."

The cat-man took a step forward, arm in the air. He looked about to throw himself on Lucy, and under the weight of such a creature, Lucy knew he'd snap like one of those trees during Margo's magick outburst.

He took a step back. "I'm not in shock, Kit. And my brother's not dead. None of them are."

Kit frowned. "Even so, this," he raised his arms to encompass the corridor, "was an act of war."

"It was an accident. A literal misstep." 

Crum who'd decided it was no longer fun to be a dull lump, moved from the ground to his feet, slowly inching his way toward where Abby and the others had fallen. 

"That is not how Aelurians will see it. They will thirst for war. And the Houses will give it. Without a ben'nessren to lead us, there will not be a way around it."

Pressure mounted behind Lucy's eyes as dark spots galloped across his vision. "That's absurd," he said as Crum skirted his periphery, side-stepping any shadows that blocked his path.

"You won't fall in." Lucy aimed his words Crum's way as he jumped over the shadow of an archway.

"And how would you know that?" Crum shot back. Ribbons of snot hung from his nostrils like gossamer, catching on what little moonlight streamed in from outside.

"I don't." Lucy shrugged. "I just wouldn't mind so much if it was you that fell into one."

Crum snorted and ran a sleeve across his nose as he continued toward Lucy, equal parts cautious and idiotic. 

"Your highness, Kit's right."

All at once, they turned in the direction of the voice. A cat-man in long, black robes strode toward them down the corridor.

"How wonderful," Lucy spat sarcastically. "Someone new has graced us with their presence."

Ignoring Lucy, Kit lowered his head, palm pressed against his chest. "Master Reven." His whiskers shook as he dared to look at the other cat-man through his eyelashes.

The Aelurian, the one called Reven, came to a stop before Lucy and bowed. "I'm afraid you missed all the good stuff. The threat of magick, the shadespore, the weirdo with the star-studded skin." Lucy pointed toward Crum who twitched like a broken piece of machinery. "There's him, though the entertainment he provides has waned drastically over the last ten minutes or so--"

"Your highness," Reven said, cutting through Lucy's sarcasm to get straight to the point. He'd thought Abby to be the only one able to harness such a skill, but apparently others existed who could breach his defense mechanisms with similar ease. "I am your brother's advisor." He gave a passing glance Crum's way, who pressed himself into a pillar, his arms wrapping around the carved obsidian, cheek flush with the stone. "I summoned you all here."

"And let me guess," Lucy snorted, "you didn't happen upon this corridor by sheer coincidence, did you?" 

Reven shook his head, the white tufts of hair sticking out from his ears reminding Lucy of Ean's persistent cloud cover.

"So you overheard us, yes?" 

The advisor rubbed thumb and forefinger over the gold trim of his sleeve. "I'd be a stupid advisor if I headed into a situation unknowing of the circumstance."

"Sure would be."

Reven's magnified gaze scanned the hallway. "I take it our ben'nessren is no longer among us?"

"Gone." Lucy gritted his teeth. "Same with Margo and Abby. Fell through some shadow puddle, if you can believe it."

"I hope you won't mind my inquiring as to why the prisoner was outside of her prison?"

"Of course not." With a smile, Lucy added, "It's because the prisoner, unlike a certain advisor, enjoys a midnight stroll down a deserted corridor, no reason required."

Reven's tail stiffened. "I see." He eyed Kit, who jumped to his feet and saluted. "Kit, what happened here?"

"Axion happened here," Lucy interjected.

The advisor shot him a sideways glance. "And what's an Axion?"

"Lo-o-rd of the Shadow Realm." Kit's gaze flitted between Lucy and Reven.

The older cat-man nodded. "The Evernight." He stalked past Lucy and over to where the shadow pool was. "And they fell, into a shadow?" He tapped the ground. Kit nodded.

"It is as you say, Kit. Our people will seek justice through bloodshed." He stared down another hallway, frowning. "We should get back to his highness's quarters. I'm afraid there're more things listening to us than the shadows." He rounded and started toward Sebbi's rooms, grunting at them a signal they should follow. Kit immediately fell in line.

Lucy stayed behind, beside Crum.

Peeling Crum off the column, he pushed him forward. "W-h-h-y do I have to be a part of this?"

Lucy snickered, leaned in, and whispered, "Because you were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Crum glowered. "And more specifically," Lucy added, slapping his thigh, his smile taking on more malice than mirth. "Because you not-so-secretly love Abby."

At this, Crum's entire head burst into flames. Had it been under any other circumstance, Lucy would have applauded his triumph and fallen over with laughter paid for by Crum's expense.

Instead, he wrapped an arm over the red-faced boy and took a step forward. "Come on. We've been invited to conspire in my brother's quarters." He sighed again. "And given the stone-facedness of that advisor, I'd warrant any tardiness would give him ample reason to send us to the gallows." 

Crum gulped, his forehead thick with sweat as he and Lucy walked toward Sebbi's rooms, leaving the shadows behind to conduct their business in private. 

•

Reven had Kit lock the door and stand guard once they were all present and accounted for. Then, he scurried around the room, checking under the bed, peeling back the curtains. Opening up large closets to give each of them a quick glance.

Once secure there was no one else in the room, the cat advisor made for the chair near the hearth.

"Your highness," he said, slightly out of breath. Lucy planted himself on the corner of the bed, while Crum remained standing, his arms hugging a bedpost. "What do you know of your brother's situation?"

Lucy folded his arms over himself as he crossed his legs. He poked at a bundle of dried herbs hung overhead. The scent, medicinal and minty, lodged itself in his nostrils. "I know not everyone's happy with the way my brother rules."

"A gross oversimplification," Reven sniffed. "But yes. There is an alliance of Moonborn Houses that wishes to see him dethroned. Propaganda floods the capital daily. His enemies are calculated, instilling doubt in his followers and raising suspicion. Usually, such discontent is handled in a manner that affords more immediate results. Assassinations. Military coups. But they are seeing to your brother's downfall with a surprising amount of delicacy."

Lucy returned his hand to his lap. "Perhaps they're working with Axion's father."

At this, the fur over Reven's eyes crinkled. "And why would our nobility be working with a shadow?"

"Not a shadow," Lucy shook his head, blond hair falling all around him. He realized that at some point he had lost his ribbon. He stared at his hands, his last remaining connection to Abby severed. A sigh escaped his lips before he spoke again. "The shadow. Some head honcho."

"The Shadow King. King Gravious." Crum's voice echoed through the room, drawing the attention of all present.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "When in between bouts of cowering and crying were you able to absorb that pertinent bit of information?"

Crum straightened, his shoulders back, his eyes a smidge more lively. Rebellious. "I'll have you know, I'm as absorbent as a sea sponge."

Lucy gave him a half-grin as he reached up to pat the boy's head. He jerked away, but not before Lucy's fingertips had a chance to graze his hair. To Lucy's horror, it was just as Abby had said. Soft as velvet, fluffy as clouds, or candy floss.

He grew incensed at the notion, appalled even that Crum might have one over on his handsomeness. His hair wasn't that soft, but it wasn't like straw either.

Still, girls may prefer to run their fingers through Crum's crop of hair rather than his, and that made him bubble over with envy.

"Gravious, you say?" Reven asked, his question reminding Lucy of their current predicament.

Any and all impending doom loomed on the horizon. Now was not the time for envy, so Lucy stowed his away for later, post a saved world.

Crum nodded.

"Why would the Shadow King be interested in Aelurus?"

"Some kind of dragon?" Lucy shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. All I remember is that Abby got real excited like she does whenever she gets a new Wizard Kellog anything or she gets a plant to not die, or an alchemical experiment of hers didn't blow plant chunks in her face, and then she got sad again."

"Drygons," Reven muttered. He took the glasses from his nose and ran one of his sleeves over the lenses. "By the moon, he searches for Drygons on Aelurus?"

"Apparently they're buried here," Crum said, adding his collective sponge wisdom to the conversation.

Reven nodded slowly. Then, placing the cleaned glasses back on his nose, he whirled on Lucy. "We mustn't let the Houses know our ben'nessren is missing."

"And why not?"

"Because Sebastian must appear sick. If their allegiance is with Gravious, then it is likely the poisoning was part of their plan."

"Duh." Lucy flicked his hair over his shoulder flippantly. "I could have told you that. Our Miss Puffs is innocent."

Reven's eyes narrowed. "I see you share your brother's fondness for the Cloudian."

"Not exactly." Lucy leaned back on the bed, running his hands over the thick blankets, kneading his fingers against the supple weave.

"Furthermore," Reven steepled his hands at his back, "if they are trying to kill our king, to replace him as they had with Nocturnis, they must think their plan is working. And while they are misled we can investigate further."

"I don't know if you realize this, but--" Lucy got to his feet and moved toward the dresser opposite him. The top was covered in dirty parchment in a script he couldn't read, a brush that looked like new. Several silver bangles, an empty box. A slender glass bottle filled with red sludge. "--we're down one cat king and one Cloudian prisoner. I think our Moonborn conspirators will catch on to something being amiss."

"Is that what you see?" Reven cocked his head, his lips spreading into a smile so terrifying it could have convinced the sun to stay hidden.

Lucy whirled. "What?"

Reven stepped toward him. "I see an Aelurian king," he nodded Lucy's way, before turning, "and a Cloudian prisoner." His eyes landed on Crum.

At that moment, Lucy and Crum had something in common–an overwhelming fear and urge to run. They both gulped, perspiration soaking their foreheads. Crum speared his teeth into his lower lip.

"But I'm no—"

Reven reached behind Lucy, plucking the glass bottle from the table. "This is the potion the Cloudian made that would return Sebastian to his Aelurian form after he met up with you and the girl in Exul. Her magick turned you into a hemma?"

A light blush crept over Lucy's face as he remembered that day. Margo's cheek grazing his. The light brush of her lips on his ear as she whispered her spell. Her glowing skin. The smell of her. The way the world sang while she worked her magick. He nodded.

"It ought to work on you then, as well." He thrust the bottle into Lucy's hand. "Spells and potions work in tandem as long as it's the same magick user behind them."

Lucy stared at it and blinked. "But I'm not your king."

"No," Reven said. "But as this is a matter concerning your brother and your home, I imagine you'll do what you must to protect them." Lucy gulped. "Take the potion, pretend to be sick when any servants come into this room." He turned to focus on Crum, who withered under the attention as quickly as a plant under Abby's care, "I'll have Archmage Menna whip up a concealing spell. It'll give you Cloudian whiskers."

"But—" Crum fidgeted with the cuff of his coat. "But I don't want to be executed."

The advisor snorted. "I'll come up with an excuse so you won't face the executioner's noose. Perhaps," his fingers slid together like the puzzle pieces of a larger picture, "I'll say you've decided to talk. That you've told us you were ordered to deliver the potion. That ought to put those Moonborn collaborators on edge." He flashed a self-satisfied grin, yellowed fangs standing like slivers of moons against his purple mouth. "It'll buy you a week, but I cannot promise more." Crum shook his head, defeated.

"Good." Reven turned. "Come Kit, we must address the Houses." Kit nodded before he tore open the door. Reven left first, Kit eclipsed by the smaller cat-man's shadow as he fell in step behind him.

Lucy and Crum stewed in the silence. "I feel like we were just bullied into doing things we didn't want to..." Crum threw himself onto the bed. He sneezed as the sheets reared up around him, sending cat fur and dander into the air.

Lucy clamped a hand around his shoulder before uncorking the bottle of potion. The stench was rancid. "Ugh." Crum pinched his nostrils. "You really going to drink that?"

He brought the bottle to his lips while Crum watched him curiously from the bed. "Well, Vic," he put the bottle to his lips, a large waft of the draft's stench flying up his nostrils. "Welcome to Aelurus."

Lucy tossed the potion back, swallowing every drop of its contents.