“Helvetti! No air?” Alexis’s expression swiftly changes. “Incredible; I think raw magic is taking the place of a breathable atmosphere.” He scoops up a handful of the bleached grit, letting it sift through his fingers. Instead of falling straight down, the dust drifts in slow, spiraling loops. “The physics here are completely rewritten.”
Suddenly, he drops the sand and grabs my face between his hands, his thumbs brushing over my cheekbones. “AreyouOK? This energy is intense, pulu.” He scans me from head to toe. "Tell me you aren't hurting. Tell me you can handle this."
"I'm fine, Alexis. I promise," I assure him, covering his hands with mine.
He pulls me into a hard, brief hug. “If that changes, you inform me immediately,” he commands against my hair. "Immediately."
When I murmur my agreement, he lets out a breathless sigh. “Good. Now, Maximus?”
Shit. I hadn’t even thought of Alexis’s cousin.
“Max isn’t here,” Donovan replies, coming over to stand next to me again.
“And nor is Wes,” I add, “but this is Donovan.”
Alexis looks around some more, brow furrowing deeply. “This is where we arrived after we went through the portal?”
Cosmo kicks a rock. “Yep, after your special student got us dragged into the light, we ended up in this fucking airless desert. So get your shit together and contribute something helpful, professor,” he growls. “I thought you were supposed to be a genius or something.”
Alexis straightens and turns his attention to Donovan. “If Maximus and Wes are not with you, where are they?”
When Donovan rakes a hand across his face, looking wrecked, I stand and quickly wrap my arms around him. “Donovan hasn’t had the chance to fill us in on everything yet, we all just woke up.”
“Well, if you’d stop pawing your little harem for a moment,” Cosmo tries and fails to take a deep breath, “maybe he’d have a chance to share some pertinent information.”
Alexis is immediately in Cosmo’s face. “Drakeward,” he snarls, twisting the collar of Cosmo’s stupid cashmere sweater in his grip. “Watch your mouth.”
Ludo steps in front of me, like he’s worried I’ll get tangled up in a brawl.
“Yeah, Cos, cut it the fuck out,” Donovan adds, shaking his head. “Aren’t you over that bullshit by now?”
Alexis releases his hold while Donovan stares Cosmo down.
After a minute, the tension eases.
Cosmo doesn’t apologize, of course, but he does soften his tone. "I just want to know where Wes is. And where the fuck we are.” His usual arrogant mask drops and for once I see sharp, naked worry on his perfect features. “Look, Dono, putting aside the horse body thing, can you start from the beginning?"
Horse thing?
My beautiful Donovan pushes the long hair out of his face, and my heart cracks as the usual sparkle doesn’t show in his eyes.
“It’s a long, but mostly boring story,” he says, squatting down onto his haunches, looking like an exhausted caveman. “So get comfortable.”
2
Everyone is staring at me, but all I see is Theo.
My girl. My soulmate. My everything.
She meets my gaze, her silver eyes wide with shock and worry. It makes my chest ache. I know what she sees: the torn clothes, the scrapes, the beard that probably has its own ecosystem by now.
I want to tell her I'm fine.
I want to scoop her up and spin her around until we're both dizzy. But my limbs feel heavy, and my brain is static.
She's real. She's actually here.For four years—or maybe five minutes, time is weird here—I’ve dreamed of this moment. I’ve built sand-Theos. I’ve talked to rock-Theos. But the real thing?
She’s stunning. "Tee-Tee," I croak. My voice sounds like a ten-pack a day smoker. She laughs and reaches for me. But when she does, I flinch, just a tiny bit. Shit.
