Is he implying what I think he’s implying?
“Yes.” Ziven chuckles. “He also said that he’d rather have his eye poked out than leave you with Zorwal. Now excuse me. I’ll find Mirella.”
A strange buzz fills my chest as I try to process his words, to understand what he means.
Ziven leaves, and Renel rushes after him and stops at the door. “You gossipy piece of shit!”
“Talk to Tarlia, not to me.” Ziven’s voice fades in the distance.
Renel remains still, his back to me, staring at the space where Ziven was.
It feels like an eternity until he turns to me and chuckles. “Your friend thinks he’s quite hilarious, doesn’t he?”
That coldness, that distance is back. This is not the same Renel from the Desert Keep, not the same Renel… He’s not the same—and yet Ziven’s words…
“Is it true?” I ask. “What he said?”
ASTRA
Idon’t like to leave Marlak, but I’m glad he didn’t make a fuss about me escaping without him. Nelsin walks before me, his steps silent, and I try to match him as much as possible, but twigs and leaves crack under my boots, and I hope the sound is too soft for distant giant ears. Among threes, I glimpse some wood and stone buildings and some patches lit by torches, but we’re walking in what I assume must be the forest at the city border.
Chills run through my spine as I wonder if this place is truly protected against the monsters in the Shadow Lands.
Nelsin leads me to a circular hut with stone walls and a hay ceiling, with no windows, big enough only for fae or humans, which is odd.
“This is our circle,” he whispers.
Strangely, the thought of transcending scares me. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
He tilts his head. “Feels like it. Ready?”
Not at all.
A rush of anxiety climbs from my gut to my chest.
The image of the Witch King disappearing won’t leave my mind. And then I think about the Heart of Magic. Could he have found it? I swallow. There’s one way to find out.
“Can you transcend only to places you know?”
His lips form a line. “Yes. Why?”
I keep thinking about the Heart of Magic. “There’s… the Amethyst Palace. I went there with Ferer. It had a circle from where we transcended to the Crystal Castle.”
“Inside the palace? Those circles usually never allow anyone in—only out. It’s what I would guess. Either way… You could go there tomorrow, with Ferer.”
“You think he’ll escape? Shouldn’t you be loyal to the giants?”
“Shush. And let’s go.”
He extends his hand to me, and I hesitate, dread taking over my heart. Something’s wrong. I don’t know where the Witch King is, and I’m worried about the Heart of Magic. At the same time, escaping the giants is the best I can do for now. I just hope Marlak follows me.
I take Nelsin’s hand and then feel as if wind surrounds me. In a second, we emerge in a forest, but we’re so deep in it that I can’t glimpse any signs that we’re on the outskirts of a Giant city.
Beside me, Nelsin tenses and his cat ears perk up.
A shiver climbs up my spine. “What?” I whisper.
He takes my hand again, but this time I sense no wind, no transcending.
