Taika reached Queenstown in forty-five minutes. He sat in the car, scrolling through the work the spotters had shared—custom data, stills, and airport logs.

"Astra Elite." He rolled the name once on his tongue. Beautiful name, fitting for a beautiful young woman. A shame she had attracted the wrong eyes. The manifest confirmed she had travelled from Alchymia with another woman.

He opened the second file and stopped. An attractive face looked up at him from the photograph, dark hair, eyes the colour of amber that leaned toward gold.

Gold.

His fingers trembled. Old habit. He breathed once, gripping the wheel.

"I'm real, I am real," he said to himself again and again. The sound of his own voice calmed him. It made him feel… tangible.

He glanced at the falling snow and back to the screen. Astra's beauty could draw people the way flame draws moths. The other woman, Eydis, carried the kind of dangerous allure that kept moths circling at a distance.

The spotters flagged Eydis as anomalous but not Gifted. Astra was A-Class at St Kevin's, judging by the pin she wore in several school stills, though her ability fell under institutional protection.

"Who the hell are they?" On looks alone, they were anything but ordinary, especially when the third picture showed they knew Doctor Melissa Le Bleu.

Teenagers on a ski trip with a world-renowned doctor who had a close connection to the recently crowned King of England? Trouble.

At least this wasn't his call. His job was to assess the risks, report back, and let Orion and Ngū decide the next step.

Eliminate or capture.

"Astra is A-Class — proceed with caution. Eydis reads as a wild card. I will observe further," he said into the recorder. He didn't technically have to do this, but it was therapeutic. The spotters left a note saying they had contracted a hacker and hoped to learn Astra's ability soon.

"Doctor Le Bleu isn't the combative type. Travel records show frequent ski trips here. Not suspicious. We don't want trouble with the Le Bleu family. Which leaves…"

He flicked to the final image. The redhead was young and pretty, her smile brightening her face. She looked familiar, though he could not tell where he had seen her.

Taika zoomed in. "Natalia Ro—"

Robin? Lionel Robin? That brooding guy who's been shadowing Him?

Same shade of eyes. Same shade of hair. Maybe they were related. Interesting. He would pay her a visit first to confirm it.

"C-Class. Recommend recon on Natalia first to establish the reach of Astra's power," he finished.

Could Taika leverage her to pry information from Lionel? It was not part of the mission, but it felt like too much of a coincidence. These anomalies appearing here, one with a connection to Lionel, looked suspicious.

Killing the engine, he stepped into the snowfall. The fresh layer took no imprint. Flakes landed heavy yet passed through him. For now he was air and snow.

Taika slipped past the security fence without a stir, crossed the car park unseen, and drifted through the hotel's glass as if it were fog.

Inside, warmth gathered around him. He stepped into an empty staff room and came back to solid. He coughed hard enough to redden his face. Snow in the throat. He had forgotten that annoying thing about this weather.

Ghosting would not do then. He adjusted, raising a thin, invisible envelope and then collapsing it to skin-close so the room would not so much as rustle. Snow and dust would now slide around him. He could remain invisible without letting the world into his lungs.

There was a trade-off. In heavy weather the diverted flakes could sketch a faint outline of his body. Huka's weatherwork had restored the flow, though, and the squall would burn itself out within half an hour.

Until then he would pick the easy door. At least their room numbers were already in his file.

This town, this island, belonged to them.

Eydis lingered by the lake, the winter air and snow flakes brushing her skin. She pulled her coat tighter around her. The first snow in Queenstown had come in gentle, then heavier than rain. They had wanted to stay out in it.

Eydis had, at least.

She marvelled, palm up to catch the flakes. They felt real, though the moment was spoiled by the same sensation she'd felt in Astra's dream. Lust's illusion came close to real, and she, with renewed admiration, was glad that Astra could see through every one of them.

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She had expected the snow itself to steal her breath, to leave her in awe. The geometries fascinated her: six-fold stars, branching spines, mathematics.

Just not as fascinating as the woman beside her.

The thought troubled her. Now she wanted to paint Astra's skin with her own touch, to make something no illusion could ever match.

"You are staring," Astra said.

"I am admiring."

"The snow?"

"Hmm. That too." Eydis grinned and nudged Astra with her shoulder.

Astra looked away, cheeks pinking. She reached for Eydis's hand and then withdrew as another voice sounded behind them.

"Apparently Mount Aspiring is under a white-out," Melissa said, eyes on her phone. Her other hand stayed raised. The flakes slowed and hung around them in a halo without soaking them.

Astra's sudden shyness confused Eydis; earlier she had been openly possessive. Eydis raised a brow, but Astra did not look at her. She sighed and stepped inside Melissa's invisible umbrella.

"So this is a knock-on effect, right?" Natalia called from behind, already rid of the cake box.

"If nature behaves like nature, it will not stop for some time," Melissa said.

"I think we should head back. No need to waste your mana on this," Natalia said, unexpectedly protective.

"I suppose we call it a night," Eydis agreed. As much as she enjoyed being with her… friends, she had other urgent matters to attend to.

The door had barely clicked shut before Eydis moved. She slipped off her leather belt and let her long, wrapped coat settle itself on a hanger.

"I thought public displays of affection," she said, backing Astra against the floor-to-ceiling window until there was no escape, "weren't your thing."

Astra's back met the cold glass, and the metal buckle on her blue jacket clicked against the window. The glass fogged around her shoulders. The room stayed dark and cold as Eydis hadn't slotted the key card.

"They're not," Astra said. Amber light from the balcony found her eyes, turning the red to something almost crystalline.

"Mm." Eydis fitted herself along Astra's front, hip to hip, thigh to thigh, one arm braced flat against the glass. Breath tangled with breath, misting the air. Snow clung to the other side and melted, dragging downward under gravity.

Gravity.

She felt that same inexorable pull whenever Astra was near. And she'd already forgotten what she'd meant to do.

In this room, there were only the two of them. Outside, the resort ticked and dripped with melt. It sounded almost like rain, insolent enough to interrupt the drum of their shared heart.

"Then what, exactly, was that little display about?" Eydis asked.

"She was looking at you." Astra's hands curved to Eydis's waist, pulling her closer. Closer still.

Fabric rasped. Eydis realised her shirt was in the way and loosened it at the collar. "Was she?"

The buttons parted, and Astra's eyes followed. Her fingers travelled up Eydis's spine, found the collar of her cashmere shirt, and tore.

The last few buttons scattered across the dark carpet.

Eydis lifted a brow, melting when Astra drew back and stared, openly, at the skin she had bared.

She eased the ruined cashmere from Eydis's shoulder, then let her hand settle at the warm curve of Eydis's neck. "And you were smiling at her. You've got a talent for attracting beautiful women."

Something in her tone made Eydis pause. "It was not me she watched, babe."

"It was." Astra was being stubborn now. How charming.

"Are you jealous, Your Holiness?"

"Yes," Astra admitted instantly. "Shouldn't I be?"

"No. You have no reason to be." Eydis took Astra's hand and kissed her knuckles. They were still cold from the snow, so she interlocked their fingers and held on.

Astra's lashes fluttered. She leaned closer, posture more relaxed.

Satisfied, Eydis lowered her voice. "I want you to know even if she were a goddess in silk and diamonds, I would still choose you even when you wear nothing but…" She trailed the length of Astra's slender throat with two fingers, found the leather choker and tugged. "This."

"Say that again," Astra breathed, mouth close but not close enough to taste.

"When you wear nothing."

Astra's look was unimpressed.

Eydis laughed, amended softly. "Ah, not that line. You meant the romantic one. Fine. I'd choose you again, even if you made me say it twice."

Astra's lips twitched, and the tension melted from her.

Eydis nibbled at her earlobe and felt the shiver that answered. "Again." A kiss below her ear. "And again. Every single time. For I am…"

The words slipped away as she followed the line of Astra's jaw with her tongue until their mouths met.

Winter clung to Astra's lips, and something sweeter, citrus and chocolate. She chased it patiently, tasting, teasing, from every curve of Astra's mouth to her tongue, to the edge of her teeth, and back again.

Astra's breath hitched against her cheek, that tiny sound she made when she forgot to be careful. She lifted a hand to hold Eydis's face, the other skimming down her bare back, a little cruel in how patient they were, until her bra came loose and fell away.

"Are you saying…" Astra's gaze flicked to Eydis's mouth, then to her eyes. She swallowed. "You're mine, Eydis?"

Eydis bit her lip, shy to her own surprise. "Shall I say it clearly, since you enjoy hearing it?"

"Absolutely." Astra caught her shoulder and pushed them from the window. They tumbled onto the wide white bed. She settled above, silver hair falling like light around them. "Tell me."

"I am…"

The words caught in Eydis's chest and pulled tight. She had never given them voice for Astra until now. Shivers ran through her as her heart quickened.

"I am yours, Astra." She cupped Astra's cheek with her palm. Saying it aloud felt liberating and terrifying at once.

Astra stilled above her. Silver hair slipped forward and tickled Eydis's flushed skin. Her knees bracketed Eydis's hips. She drew a quiet breath through her nose. The gloss in her eyes brightened.

Outside, the window fogged in the cold. The snow had stopped. A clear oval bloomed at the centre of the mist, vanished, and a draughty breath nudged through the frame.

Inside, neither of them noticed, as the confession landed and lodged, too deep, too honest.

Eydis wanted to say more. To tell her that the shape of her fear had changed since Astra. That wanting no longer felt like weakness. That the word I'm yours from her mouth felt less like possession and more like inevitability.

Like a promise that had always been waiting.

But thought dissolved when the Astra's lashes lifted. Crimson eyes, unguarded, met amber.

Astra kissed her deeply. Sandalwood and chocolate and the impossible taste that belonged only to her. Eydis felt it all the way down, a slow ache that asked to be believed.

"Then do not dare take it back," Astra whispered. The edge of her voice trembled, and in it lived relief. Her eyes darkened, and a smile touched one corner of her mouth.

"Say it again, Eydis."

The look in Astra's eyes said she'd prove Eydis right.

Tonight. Perhaps morning. Perhaps until morning.

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