Not from humans.
Not from magic.
Not even from him.
She kept her head down, the ground blurring beneath her. Moving her hooves mechanically, her body ached with the effort it took to pretend she was still whole. Each step forward felt like dragging herself through broken glass, barefoot, bleeding, with nowhere left to go but forward.
She swallowed down the rising panic, tasting blood where she had bitten the inside of her cheek, and somehow forced her legs to keep moving.
She didn’t trust herself to speak. If she cracked—even a little—he might hear it. Might realize she knew about his plans with the Darkened One and lock her away before she ever reached freedom.
The day wore on, fading into dusk.
The river, once a steady guide, had grown treacherous as the land changed. Its banks were badly eroded, crumbling into the churning current. Cold grey water slammed against rocks, carving the earth away bit by bit. They were forced to veer inland, skirting the worst of the broken terrain in search of a safer place to cross.
As they walked, Luna’s thoughts drifted.
She missed the simplicity of her life before magic—before unicorns, kings, and betrayal. What she wouldn’t give to return to her family: to her sister’s laughter, her father’s advice, her mother’s gentle hands. Back to palace routines, where the worst thing she had to fear was a scraped knee.
But there was no going back. That life was gone.
She needed to look ahead.
When she reached Eloria and was finally freed from Damien’s shadow, she would have a chance at something new.
At least, that was the hope she clung to.
A small, fraying hope—because deep down, a colder voice whispered:What if there was no real freedom waiting for her at all?
The river’s roar gradually faded as they pressed on. The wild current broke apart, branching into smaller, quieter streams that wove through the valley.
They crossed where the water ran shallow, stepping carefully over the slick stones, the cold soaking into their hooves with every step.
For what felt like hours, they followed a narrow brook, the terrain softening around them, until at last a wide, empty meadow opened before them—the place where the barrier’s hole awaited.
The entrance to the hole was barely noticeable. It lay tucked between two flat, half-buried stones, camouflaged by the waving grass and bursts of wildflowers. Even though Damien and Gregory knew roughly where to look, it still took them nearly half an hour to find it.
“It’s over here!” Damien called, scraping away the dirt and grass with his hooves to reveal dark charcoal-grey stone beneath. As Luna approached, she felt the air shift—dense, like a storm about to break, but also stifling, like standing too close to a roaring fire. It wasn’t heat from the sun or the weight of humidity pressing against her; it was magic. Thick, heavy, and electric, it clung to her coat, pulling her towards the stones.
The closer she moved, the stronger it grew. Magic seemed to radiate from the very ground beneath her hooves, as if Eloria itself had been waiting for them to find its hidden entrance—and now that they had, it couldn’t contain itself.
“See you on the other side,” Gregory announced, striding forward between the two stones without so much as a glance over his shoulder. The barrier rippled around him, his form blurring like a mirage, then he faded entirely, leaving only the low hum of magic in the air.
Damien lingered nearby, the wind tossing his black mane and tail. “Are you ready?” His voice was low, as if he wasn’t sure she would follow if he went first.
Luna looked down at the stones, where faded writing had been etched into the surface. The letters were curved in rough cursive, barely legible in some places.
Do not pass. Returning not guaranteed.
Damien caught her glance. “It’s a warning,” he said, answering the question Luna hadn’t yet asked, “for any humans who find the realm’s entrance.”
A warning she could easily dismiss—there would be no need to return here.
Yes, she’d miss her family, but the only future Grythorn offered her was as a magic reservoir for King Hendrix. She would rather die than let him have her.
An ache tightened in her chest, but she pushed it aside. Without hesitation, Luna nodded.
“I wish I had gotten to you sooner,” Damien said, his voice breaking through her thoughts. “I’m sorry.”
