“I’ll tell her.” Thomas’s voice warmed. “She’ll pretend to be casual about it and then spend the rest of the day smiling.”

  “That sounds like Rose.”

  “The network spans almost three kingdoms now, you know. The anchors you placed on the journey north connected to our existing nodes. We can reach from Millbrook to Valdmere with only two relay points.”

  I let that sink in. Three kingdoms connected by a communication system we had built piece by piece over the past year. Messages that once took weeks could now travel in minutes. Coordination that once required physical messengers could happen in real time.

  “We started something bigger than we realized,” I said.

  “You started something. Rose and I just helped maintain it.” Thomas chuckled. “But yes. Bigger than we realized. Erasmus has been talking to the capital about expanding the infrastructure. The king is interested.”

  “Of course he is. Real-time communication changes everything.”

  “It does.” Thomas paused. “Come home safe, Marcus. Everyone misses you.”

  “A few more days. We have farewells to make first.”

  The connection faded as I deactivated the chamber. I sat in the quiet alcove for a long moment and let the weight of what we had accomplished settle into my bones.

  I pulled out my journal without really thinking about it. The gesture had become automatic over the past weeks. Check the numbers. Track the progress. Understand how the work had changed me.

  The silver script gleamed in the alcove’s dim light.

  Marcus Fairwind Journeyman Glyphwright - Level 15

  Fairwind & Penwright: Innovative Wardwork

  Experience: 2,847/7,000

  The level had changed. Somewhere between the kidnapping and the rescue and the confrontation at Edmund Gray’s estate, I had crossed the threshold into mid-tier journeyman. The journal had updated without fanfare. No notification. No celebration. Just quiet recognition that I had grown.

  Core Skills: Ward Creation: 61 Ink Mixing: 41 Theory: 52 Copying: 36 Rune Carving: 34 Contract Writing: 28 Innovation: 16

  Ward Creation past sixty. The milestone that separated competent practitioners from genuine professionals. Innovation climbing steadily toward twenty. Skills that most journeymen never developed past single digits.

  New entries had appeared since Veldros:

  Crisis Management: 8 Alliance Coordination: 6 Threat Response: 7

  Cross-Trade Development: 9 Local Resource Adaptation: 10 Infrastructure Training: 8 Network Design: 12

  Background Skills: Negotiation: 28 Supply Chain Knowledge: 25 Merchant Skills: 31

  Arbitrator Class Potential: Conflict Resolution: 19 Faction Balancing: 15 Stakes Assessment: 18

  Leadership: 4 (New)

  Leadership. The journal must have acknowledged what the past weeks had demanded. Coordinating rescue efforts. Directing townspeople during the brigand attack. Making decisions that others followed without question.

  Four points. Barely enough to register. But the skill existed now where it hadn’t before.

  I thought about Felix’s warning on the balcony in Veldros. The pattern is accelerating. The conflicts kept getting bigger. Shopkeepers to towns to kingdoms. And now I had a Leadership skill that would only grow as the responsibilities increased.

  The Arbitrator numbers had jumped significantly. Conflict Resolution was nearly twenty. Stakes Assessment was close behind. The kidnapping and rescue had been a crucible. Every decision carried weight. Every choice mattered. The journal recognized that kind of pressure.

  Three kingdoms connected by a network we had built. A monopoly broken. A prince rescued. An enemy turned into an unlikely ally. The scope of what we had accomplished still felt unreal.

  But the numbers made it concrete. Level fifteen. Mid-tier journeyman. Skills that would have taken traditional practitioners years to develop.

  The Guild would have opinions about that. They always did.

  I closed the journal and tucked it away. The celebration would start soon. Friends who had become family over the course of an impossible month. Allies who had risked everything to help us succeed.

  Tomorrow we would begin the journey home. Back to Millbrook. Back to Sarah. Back to the shop that waited for us and the future we were building together.

  But tonight, we would celebrate.

  We had earned it.

  The celebration started that evening.

  Duncan knew a tavern in the merchant quarter that served food worth traveling for. It wasn’t the largest establishment in Valdmere, but the owner had been cooking for three generations and it showed in every dish.

  We took over the back room. The group that gathered there would have seemed impossible a month ago. Two princes from different kingdoms. A pair of royal guards. Two journeymen glyphwrights. A company of adventurers. A northern guide. And a Valdmere glyphwright who had become an unexpected ally.

  Kyle raised his glass first. “To contracts completed and enemies defeated.”

  “To friends who ride across kingdoms when you need them,” I added.

  “To locals who fight back,” Garrett said.

  “To glyphwrights who think like siege specialists,” Owen offered with a slight smile.

  The toasts continued around the table. Everyone had something to contribute. Something to celebrate. Something to be grateful for.

  Roderick and Henrick sat across from Felix and me. The guards had shed their formal demeanor along with their armor. Tonight they were just men sharing a meal with people they had fought beside.

  “Strange to think it’s almost over,” Henrick said. “A week to the capital, then you head home to Millbrook and we go back to normal duties.”

  “Will it feel normal after all this?” Roderick asked.

  “Probably not.” Henrick shrugged. “But that’s not necessarily bad.”

  “If you’re ever in Millbrook, you have a place to stay,” I said. “We owe you that much and more.”

  “We were doing our job,” Roderick said.

  “You were doing more than your job. You became friends.” Felix leaned forward. “Speaking of which, I have a question.”

  “Dangerous words from you,” Henrick said. “Your questions usually involve complicated ward theory.”

  “This one’s simpler.” Felix’s expression shifted to something between nervous and hopeful. “Katherine and I are getting married. You’ll be there with Adrian, but I’d like you to attend as guests, not guards. Formally invited.”

  The guards exchanged glances. Something passed between them that I couldn’t read.

  “You’re serious?” Roderick asked.

  “Completely serious. You’ve saved our lives more than once. You’ve become part of our story. It wouldn’t feel right to have you standing at the door watching.”

  Henrick’s face split into a genuine smile. “We’d be honored.”

  “Really?” Felix sat up straighter.

  “We’ll still keep an eye on Adrian,” Roderick said. His stern expression softened. “But we can do that from a seat at the table.”

  “Someone has to make sure he doesn’t trip over his own robes,” Henrick added.

  “I heard that,” Adrian called from across the room.

  “You were meant to, Your Highness.”

  Laughter rippled around our end of the table. Duncan leaned over from his conversation with Owen.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Felix just invited Roderick and Henrick to his wedding,” I said.

  “Excellent,” Adrian said as he joined us. “I’ll make sure they have leave.”

  “You’re all coming too, you know,” Felix said. He looked at Duncan and Owen. “If you want to, I mean.”

  “A royal wedding invitation.” Duncan pretended to consider. “I suppose I could clear my schedule.”

  “I haven’t attended a wedding in decades,” Owen said. “It might be interesting to see how they’ve changed.”

  Felix groaned. “It’s not a royal wedding. It’s just a wedding. A normal wedding. With normal people.”

  “Normal people who saved a prince and stopped a conspiracy,” Adrian said. “But yes, completely normal.”

  “Normal people and two princes,” I pointed out.

  “Katherine’s seating chart is going to be a nightmare,” Felix muttered.

  “Why?” Henrick asked.

  “Because now we have two princes, two royal guards, a company of adventurers, and half the glyphwrights in the two kingdoms all expecting to attend. Katherine had everything arranged perfectly. Names in columns. Tables organized by relationship. A beautiful, logical system.” Felix shook his head. “Then I went and made friends with royalty.”

  “You could always uninvite us,” Adrian suggested.

  “Katherine would kill me. She’s been looking forward to meeting you properly since the dungeon expedition.”

  “Then I suppose the seating chart will have to adapt.”

  “That’s what I told her. She’s still not speaking to me about it.”

  “Three, if you count Henrick’s appetite,” Roderick added.

  “I’m not a prince,” Henrick protested.

  “You eat like one.”

  The laughter continued and the ale kept flowing.

  Kyle’s group had claimed the other end of the table. Garrett and Elara debated something with their usual intensity. Shade sat quietly and observed everything with eyes that missed nothing. Kyle himself caught my gaze and raised his glass in silent acknowledgment. I nodded back.

  They had ridden across Keldrath to help us. Had fought beside townspeople they had never met. Had stood with us when the odds looked impossible. That kind of loyalty could not be bought. It could only be earned.

  Brennan sat near Duncan with the relaxed posture of a man who had finally stopped worrying. The guide had led us through a kingdom in crisis and kept us alive long enough to fix what was broken. His flask made the rounds of his end of the table. Even Duncan took a sip and only coughed twice.

  Hamish had joined us despite the late notice. The Valdmere glyphwright had become more than a professional contact over the past weeks. He had become a colleague. An ally. Someone who would carry our methods forward long after we returned home.

  “One more night in Valdmere,” Felix said quietly. “Tomorrow the farewells begin.”

  “Tonight we celebrate,” I replied. “Tomorrow can wait.”

  The food kept coming. The conversation kept flowing. And for one evening, we were not journeymen or princes or guards or adventurers. We were just people who had survived something together and found friendship in the process.

  The fire burned warm. The company was good. And somewhere in the back of my mind, the thoughts of our shop grew healthier with every passing day.

  Chapter 43

  Royal Treatment

  As always, morning arrived too soon.

  The celebration had stretched late into the night. Good food and better company and the particular warmth that came from shared survival. Now the consequences of that warmth pressed against my temples as sunlight streamed through the inn window.

  Felix looked worse than I felt. He sat on the edge of his bed and stared at his boots like they had personally offended him.

  “We have to say goodbye today,” he said.

  “I know.”

  “I hate goodbyes.”

  “I know that too.”

  We gathered our things in silence. The satchels felt heavier than they should. Weeks of work and danger and unexpected friendship all packed into worn leather bags. The weight seemed insufficient for everything we had gained.

  Duncan met us in the castle courtyard.

  The prince of Keldrath looked tired but satisfied. The work of dismantling Edmund’s monopoly had consumed his nights, but the progress showed in the easier set of his shoulders. Behind him, wagons loaded with supplies rolled toward the merchant quarter. Trade routes reopening. Commerce flowing again. A kingdom beginning to heal.

  “I wish you could stay longer,” Duncan said. “There’s more work to do. More systems to redesign. More villages that need what you taught us.”

  “Hamish can handle it,” I said. “And the glyphwrights he’s trained. The methods spread faster than we expected. You don’t need us anymore.”

  “Need and want are different things.” Duncan extended his hand. “Keldrath owes you more than payment can cover. If you ever need anything, you have only to ask.”

  I clasped his hand. “We’ll hold you to that.”

  “Please do.” He turned to Felix and repeated the gesture. “Both of you. The invitation stands. Anytime you want to return, there will be a place for you here.”

  “Katherine might have opinions about extended trips,” Felix said. “But thank you. Truly.”

  Duncan stepped back and let his gaze move across our group. Adrian stood nearby with Roderick and Henric. Kyle’s company had gathered near the gates with their gear packed and their expressions ready for the road.

  “Travel safely,” Duncan said. “All of you.”

  Brennan waited near the stables.

  The guide leaned against a fence post with his worn leather coat hanging loose despite the morning chill. His slight limp showed more than usual. The past weeks had cost him something. But his eyes held the same sharp assessment I remembered from our first meeting.

  “So you’re leaving,” he said.

  “Heading to the capital first. Then home.”

  “The capital.” Brennan grunted approval. “Good road. Easy travel. Should take a week if you don’t dawdle.”

  “We try not to dawdle.”

  “You do all right.” He pushed off from the fence and walked toward me. His gait evened out with each step as if the limp knew better than to show weakness. “You lads did good.”

  The words hit harder than I expected. Brennan was not a man who offered praise lightly. Every compliment he gave was earned. Every acknowledgment was genuine.

  “We had help,” I said. “Your help. We couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

  “You could have done it. Would have taken longer. Made more mistakes.” He shrugged. “That’s what guides are for. Shortening the path.”

  He reached into his coat and withdrew the flask I had seen so many times. The metal gleamed in the morning light.

  “For the road,” he said. He pressed the flask into my hands. “Don’t drink it all at once.”

  “Brennan, I can’t take this.”

  “I’ve got another.” He looked almost embarrassed. “The land remembers those who help her people. So do I.”

  I turned the flask over in my hands. The metal was warm from his body heat. The weight felt significant in ways that had nothing to do with the liquid inside.

  “Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”

  “There’s always a faster way.” Brennan shook my hand with a grip that surprised me with its strength. “If you ever need to find it, you know where I am.”

  He shook Felix’s hand next, then he stepped back. “Safe travels, lads.”

  I raised the flask in salute. He nodded once, then he turned and walked toward the city with the steady pace of a man who had work to do.

  Hamish found us before we reached the gates.

  The Valdmere glyphwright looked different from the skeptical craftsman who had greeted us weeks ago. The doubt had given way to confidence. The professional rivalry had transformed into genuine respect.

  “I wanted to catch you before you left,” he said. “To say thank you. And to make a promise.”

  “What kind of promise?”

  “The methods you taught us. The cross-trade systems. The local material adaptations.” Hamish met my eyes. “I’ll make sure they spread. Every village that needs them. Every town that’s struggling. I’ll teach what you taught me.”

  “That was always the goal,” Felix said. “The solutions don’t belong to us. They belong to the people who need them.”

  “But you could have kept them secret. Could have made yourselves indispensable.” Hamish shook his head. “You didn’t. You gave away everything and trained us to continue without you. That’s not how most glyphwrights think.”

  I glanced at Felix. He nodded.

  “Actually,” Felix said as he reached into his saddlebag, “we have something for you.”

  He pulled out one of the resonance chambers we’d brought and handed it down to Hamish. The senior journeyman turned it over in his hands and his eyes went wide.

  “Is this what I think it is?”

  “It connects to our network,” I said. “We gave one to Prince Duncan as well. You’ll both have direct access to every glyphwright we’ve linked in. Millbrook, the capital, and everyone we add along the way.”

  Hamish stared at the chamber. “You’re serious.”

  “You stood up for us when no one else would,” Felix said. “This is how we stand with you.”

  “Do you have any idea what this means?” Hamish’s voice had gone quiet. “Real-time communication with glyphwrights across three kingdoms. The techniques we could share. The problems we could solve together.”

  “We have some idea,” I said. “That’s why we’re doing it.”

  He shook his head slowly. “You two really are going to change everything.”

  “We’re going to try.”

  He tucked the chamber carefully into his coat and clasped my forearm again, tighter this time. “Safe travels. And thank you. For everything.”

  We rode through the gates and left Valdmere behind.

  The road to the capital stretched through a countryside that had started to recover.

  Farms showed signs of renewed activity. Villages displayed the careful maintenance of people who had hope again. Ward anchors glowed steadily along the routes where they had flickered and failed just weeks before.

  We traveled as a group. Adrian rode at the center with Roderick and Henrick flanking him. Kyle’s company spread out in their practiced formation. Felix and I kept pace near Adrian.