Chapter 13

A hooded figure meets secretly with Princess Kyzari in a tavern booth in The Fade. Kyzari reveals she has been hearing the voice of Caelis, an entity trapped within the Aether Stone embedded in her diadem since birth, and confesses she has fallen in love with him and wants to find a way to free him without dying in the process.

The narrator, revealed to be Kyzari's uncle, sits alone in a tavern booth drinking poor-quality mead when Princess Kyzari arrives via a parchment lark message. She has smuggled herself out of Arithia after her unveiling ceremony using a carter to avoid detection by her father. The uncle deduces her deception and they discuss her escape; Kyzari mentions her devotion to the Creators and the Oath of Chastity she has taken. When the uncle probes, Kyzari reveals that her tutor punished her with a riding whip for writing errors, which infuriates him. She then discloses the true reason for their meeting: she can hear a voice emanating from her Aether Stone. She explains that since infancy she has heard screaming from the diadem, which is why she was given an iron necklace to suppress the sound. At nearly eighteen, she removed the necklace and discovered the voice belonged to someone speaking words she gradually learned to understand. After eighty phases of silence, she removed the necklace again and listened fully. The voice belongs to Caelis, and Kyzari has fallen in love with him. She asks her uncle to help her find a way to free him from the stone without dying, as the traditional removal method requires the wearer to be dead. The uncle refuses, insisting it is impossible and that there must be a reason Caelis is trapped there. Kyzari hints she knows something about this but refuses to explain, becomes defensive, and leaves abruptly. The uncle is left staring at an empty seat where a musician performs, feeling hollow.