“The full moon,” Zyla whispers.
Kari presses the rune, and it lights up, turning a pale, electric blue akin to lightning.
I release a breath. “It’s right. What next?”
“Lightning,” Zyla says, then points to the maze. “Then the Labyrinth. And then… a house.”
One by one the runes light up, until we’re left with the final one. The whip.
Kari clears her throat as she presses it. “Let us hope this is right.”
All twelve runes light up, the door grinding from within. Suddenly there’s a click.
“We did it!” Kari gasps, and Zyla grabs her hands and jumps up and down.
I set my weight into the handle, forcing it to turn. The internal cogs whirl with a rusted squeal and then momentum sets it going. The door swings wide, revealing a stunning garden filled with vivid blue and purple butterflies, and dozy bees. It’s so unnatural it has to be a mirage and I wonder what this place truly looks like.
I slam the door shut behind us, spinning the wheel to lock it. The circular door is set into a hedge on this side, and the hedge runs in a circle around us. There’s no other way in. Or out.
“We did it,” I tell them. “We’re at the end of the maze.”
Three circular doors are set into a low stone wall across from us, ivy dripping over them. They weren’t there mere seconds ago.
“What now?” Kari asks.
“I’ve only ever encountered one door,” I reply. “Though if a bride wishes to go home, I call upon Kasaros and barter for a second door to lead her home.”
“There’s three doors. One for each of us,” Zyla says, crossing toward them. “Did you already barter with Kasaros?”
I shake my head.
“Then there are three choices to be made.”
The first is a stone arch, inscribed with silvery writings—the language of my people.
Through the arch I see the forests of home, and the stark, imposing mountain that makes up the highest peak of the Shadowfall Ranges, which overlooks Blackfyre Keep. Little figures whirl in the sky over the distant mountains, and my heart twists as I make out the familiar figures of my brothers.Home. Everything yearns within me to step through that door.
But that is not my choice.
I glance toward Zyla as she stares longingly at the middle door. This one is made of wood and painted green. Red roses climb the arch, filling the air with their gorgeous scent. Through it stretches more forests, these ones carved of tall timbers that tower over the forest canopy, and a pair of grazing deer that look up, as if sensing danger.
I don’t need to see her expression to know this is her world.
“Oh,” says Kari, peering through the third door. It is made of ivory and glass, with roses blooming on each side. Beyond lies a chamber stacked high with scrolls. A steaming tea pot sits on a silver tray as if awaiting her.
“Home,” she breathes, her cheeks flushing.
“I offer you a choice,” I tell her. “I intended to claim you for my brother, Flynt. He is the last of my unmated brothers, and seeks a bride of his own. I won’t pretend there aren’t challenges in my kingdom—my people know little more than clan warfare—but you would be protected at all times, and cherished as one of us. If you step through this door with me, then my brother could offer you a new world, a new life. One filled with children—hopefully—and a home. But more than that, a family.”
Kari nibbles on a piece of her hair. Despite the fact she’s been considerably out of her depths since she arrived, she’s handled each challenge with aplomb. Hope stirs. Flynt is wild and chaotic, a joker who always has a smile on his face. I could see them together, his adventurousness drawing her out of her shell, and her sensible nature reining his in.
“We have a library,” I add.
Kari glances at Zyla, then back at her doorway. “Ever since I arrived in this world I have hoped and prayed for a chance to go home. I’ve rarely been outside my father’s keep, and the only adventures I ever yearned for were the ones I could read in my books. My father used to say I was useless to him as a spinster, that my only worth lay in what I could translate for him. That I owed him that.” A shuddering breath escapes her. “But then I met you, Zyla. And you showed me there was more to this life than the safety I had previously known. You showed me Idohave more to give this world. I am not useless. I am not a coward.” She swallows hard and meets my gaze. “And I’m terrified right now, but I also know that if I don’t take this risk, then I will never know if there is more to me.”
Relief floods through me. “Then you’ll come with me?”
“Do I have to mate with him if I don’t like him?” she blurts.
