The first time Nyx Archeron met her, she called him a rat.
He had been seven years old, small hand tucked firmly in his mother’s as they stepped through the shimmering portal that rippled between worlds. Magic hummed in the air like a living thing, the edges of the gateway glowing with power that had only been possible after a red-haired female had once torn open the barriers between realms.
Nyx hadn’t understood any of that.
He only knew his parents had told him to behave, to be nice.
Terrasen had smelled different the moment they arrived—cold pine, frost clinging to stone towers, the wind sharp and clean in a way Velaris never quite was. He had been staring around with wide curiosity when he noticed her standing beside her parents.
Silver hair. Pine-green eyes.
And the proud, solemn expression of someone who looked far too serious for a six-year-old.
“That’s her,” his father murmured quietly. “Be polite.”
Nyx blinked.
She was shorter than him. Small and delicate, like one of the porcelain dolls his aunt Nesta kept on a high shelf no one was allowed to touch. Pretty, too—though Nyx wouldn’t have admitted that aloud even then.
His wings twitched with excitement against his back as their parents nudged them toward the gardens.
“Why don’t you two play,” his mother suggested brightly.
The adults had things to discuss. Important things. Treaties and alliances and words Nyx only half understood. Something about the girl being his future wife someday. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. But he was excited to meet her.
They were left in the snow-dusted gardens with a nanny watching from a polite distance. Nyx shifted his wings, trying to look impressive the way Uncle Cassian did.
The girl stared at him. Not with admiration. With confusion. Her nose scrunched.
“You look like the rat that flies.”
Nyx’s mouth fell open. “I do not!”
She crossed her skinny arms. “You do.”
“That’s not a rat,” he snapped, puffing up indignantly. “It’s called a bat!”
“Well it looks like a rat.”
“It does not!”
She stepped closer, poking one wing with a finger.
“Rat.”
Nyx shoved her hand away. “Take it back!”
“Make me.”
The fight that followed had involved a surprising amount of elbowing. Hers were sharp. Pointy. Weaponized, really.
She’d won.
Nyx still insisted, years later, that he had let her.
—
Now, standing before the portal in Velaris, Nyx Archeron was thinking very seriously about that humiliating moment.
His wings were tight with tension behind him as he waited beside his parents, the rest of the Inner Circle scattered nearby with varying degrees of interest.
His mother looked thrilled. His father looked pleased. Nyx looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.
The arranged marriage had been discussed for years now—an alliance between two powerful bloodlines and two worlds that had only recently learned how to touch.
He still remembered the girl who had called him a rat. Skinny. Sharp-elbowed. Annoying. And very, very good at winning fights.
Part of him hoped she’d run away. She had always seemed like the type to do something rebellious like that. Maybe she’d snuck out of Terrasen entirely. Maybe she’d refused to come. Maybe this entire visit would collapse before it even began.
Nyx almost prayed for it.
The portal shimmered. Magic rippled through the air like a stone dropped into water. Figures began to appear.
Nyx barely paid attention at first. Until she stepped through. His breath caught.
Gone was the scruffy little girl with pointy elbows and judgmental green eyes. The female standing there was… stunning.
Silver hair spilled over her shoulders like moonlight. Her pine-green gaze was steady and bright, her posture proud in a way that reminded him very much of the her mother, the Queen.
Nyx’s lips parted. His jaw actually dropped. His wings, which had been tense moments ago, slowly relaxed behind him.
Because the female walking toward him now was easily the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
And judging by the unimpressed look she gave him—
She still seemed to think he looked like a rat.