Asa recognized the Radiant—the brightest of constellations—shining silver even as storm clouds blocked out the setting sun and the other stars. She took the shape of a woman holding a torch and Asa could not help but feel a connection to those stars as she walked through the encampment with her boys, her light shining a dull silver, for what would probably be the last time in many days. If ever.

The forecast was grey and everyone knew it. Zander was somber, his fists already clenched as if marching to battle against a Zamaelic evil. Kenneth kept his eyes up at the Radiant, his lips in a flat line.

This could be the last them she ever saw them. Iceheart would want them dead, out of the way like Rella's husband. While he treated her like she was worth less than the manure he fell into, and she was a fool, she wasn't foolish enough to believe that Iceheart would send a cognitive-affectomancer into such danger. This was the end. Unless they fought to stay together. And she couldn't find the hope to see that story having a happy ending.

Asa lowered her eyes, sighing. Her whole life she'd looked for a place to belong. Too magical. Too dark. Too poor. Too naive. A father more in love with the bottle, a roommate incapable of love, lovers who were never more than users. She glanced aside at Zander and Kenneth, feeling like she finally belonged. Like she'd finally found love. And it would be stolen by Werner fucking Iceheart Bearbreaker.

This was her life. Nothing good would ever last. She almost regretted opening up again, knowing that this parting would tear her apart.

The Radiant shone above, surrounded by storm clouds, trying to peek through and guide people through the night. But Asa knew how it would end. The storm would swallow the Radiant too, leaving her in darkness.

But she didn't want the light to fade. Asa patted Kenneth's back, offering her most impish grin, silently praying that he would do what he did best: lighten her mood with his booming voice.

Thunder raised his eyebrow, his lips rising before he said, "What did the Iceheart say when he walked into the tavern?"

"Git yer cooooold bear here!" Asa said, chuckling at her own joke, feeling the light shine brighter around her as she smiled at him.

Kenneth laughed. "That's actually better than mine. The point goes to Shiny."

Though he wasn't a giant like Zander—Kenneth would best be described as stout—he was still a hand taller than she was. That hadn't stopped her from looking down on him in the beginning. What a fool she had been. Beyond his vulgarity, he was one of the most wonderful people she'd ever known. In those first few days, he'd gone out of his way to be kind, to find ways to make her laugh, to make her shine. She wanted to see him shine too.

She nudged his elbow with her shoulder, pushing him forth. "That remains to be seen, Thunder. Let us hear it."

"I'm stealing yours, Shiny!" Kenneth claimed, dramatically massaging his wounded elbow.

Asa shook her head. "You're not getting out of this one, Thunder."

Kenneth beamed and it seemed the Radiant shined brighter above, as if the thunder clouds were pulling back, letting more of the constellation shine through. Or perhaps Asa's aura had just expanded? As always, both were probably true.

He lit up each time she called him 'Thunder.' Though it was initially a way to heckle him for his obnoxious snoring.

Kenneth fought his smile, trying to speak as if Asa were a particularly slow child far behind in her understanding of the world. Perhaps that was true too. "Icehearts don't go to taverns. He might smile and he can't have that, can he?"

Laughing, Asa grabbed Zander's hand. "What say you, Zander? What did the Iceheart say when he walked into the tavern?"

Zander gave her a gentle squeeze. That simple gesture made her feel strong enough to take on the world. Then again, seeing her sworn shield smush one of Leveria's most renowned warriors into mushy shite had helped add to her sensation of security. She doubted that any man alive could beat Zander in a head-on duel. Unless they were dueling with naught but the bite of words, apparently.

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"I could never compete with you comedic savants," he said, clear that his mind was elsewhere. "You two deserve the stage all to yourselves."

"Zander will sell the tickets and ensure full payment," Kenneth said.

Asa let go of Zander's hand she did a dramatic flourish. "Shiny and Thunder. We'd be a splendor."

Asa's rhyme made her heart sink. She'd gotten used to speaking in rhymes with Alfread and couldn't not think of him and how she had ruined that. Pulled back into darkness, her eyes went down. Until Kenneth brought them back up again.

He did a cartwheel that kicked her internal audience right in its self-critical mouth. "Thunder and Shiny. Iceheart is tiny. Zander has tickets. We don't like crickets."

Asa clapped. Her aura lightened the grinning faces of people they passed on the road. Zander's words earlier that day came back to her. Talented, loyal, and true. Kenneth made her a better woman too. She promised herself she would never judge a book by its cover again.

But nothing good ever lasted. She saw the end staring straight at her in the shape of her former dwellings. Iceheart's pavilion. Zander took her hand and Kenneth claimed the other.

"We stay together," Zander promised, his voice so powerful that he was everything she wished she could be: confident and sure of himself.

"Together," Kenneth echoed.

"Together," she said, squeezing both their palms. This isn't the end.

Iceheart sat alone at the head of his command table, armored in his meladonite plate. His face was clean, immaculately so, and a smile curved her lips wondering how much effort it had taken to cleanse away the evidence of his arsebeating. He wasn't an ugly man, but his nose was crooked, his ears too big, and his permanent arsehole face didn't help.

His first barb was predictable, if hurtful. "I don't recall inviting your little brown meat purse, Sir Bastard."

Asa wished she hadn't shrunk at his words. She wished the attacks on her size, her skin tone, and her gender didn't bother her. You'd think she'd gain a resistance to them, or even an immunity, by now. But she hid behind Zander, hand on his back as Kenneth held her other hand and stepped forward to shield her too.

"Where are you sending us, Iceheart?" Zander said, just as cold as Iceheart.

Werner pushed a piece of parchment to Zander. "Did your tavern maid momma teach you how to read, boy?"

Zander seized the sheet. Several times his eyes scanned the words, gripping the sheet with tightly restrained rage that escalated with each readthrough. Finally, his mystical blue eyes lingered on one line for several turns. Werner watched him, wearing the faintest of smirks.

He was such an arsehole she wished she could shoot an arrow through that divinedamned smirk. Instead, she imagined his face covered in shite. That wasn't too hard for some reason.

Grunting, Zander crinkled the parchment and tossed it aside.

"You might want to hold on to that," Werner said. "We don't want you to forget."

The tightly held rage in Zander's growl made Asa flinch. "I won't forget."

Werner's smirk broke his apathetic façade. Asa had long since ceased being surprised by the evil in people's hearts. The malice and hate underlining his softly spoken words made it feel like Zamael was in the room with them and not another human. "Good. Prove yourself to be the warrior you think you are. Leave at once."

"On that, we agree." Zander strode toward the exit, pulling Asa with him. She tried to match his pace.

"Hold!" Werner called. "What in Meladon's name do you think you are doing with my witch, boy? She stays."

The tent dimmed as her hope was siphoned by those two little words. Nothing good ever lasted. Not for Asa of Ferrickton. She clung to Kenneth and Zander, unwilling to let go, but knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold on for long.

Zander's words were delivered with such Wernerish coldness that they sent a shiver down Asa's spine. "She comes with me. I swore an oath to protect her."

Werner leaned forward on his elbows, folded his hands together, and sneered at Asa. "What makes you think you can protect your witch out there? Look at her, Sir Bastard." Werner's eyes went to her bust. "You know as well as I do what will happen when you can't be there for her."

Both her friends tightened their hold on her. Then, Kenneth slipped away. "Don't threaten her," he snapped, his hand going to his blade's hilt. He stepped toward Werner. Steel flashed as he started to draw.

Asa grabbed Kenneth from the back, around his arm and waist, and stopped him from finishing the motion.

Zander put his hand on her back. It shook with rage, gripping her robes too tightly.

Nothing good ever lasts, she thought.

Asa closed her eyes, the tent going dark as her aura turned from silver to gray to shadow, terrified at what her shield-brother would do.

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