“I never thought much about it until I saw you in the club that night. And when Faron took you, I knew then that you would only be safe in that city. So I started hunting for it. I took what I knew from Grier and combined that with what Adriel shared from when his brother became Chosen. I mapped things out and went searching.” Sorik pauses for a minute, and it’s all I can do not to shake him and make him keep going.
“I found it,” he tells me, and his tone and gaze are filled with the same shock and awe that mine are. “I didn’t know if I ever would, but I did. As soon as I saw the barrier, I knew what it protected, and I immediately turned around to go get you. I came here to let Siah know, but you were already here. That was when we came up with the plan to break you out. I was going to take you home.”
Home.
The word moves through me like a warm breeze, and I try to reach out and touch it, but it flutters just out of reach.I’m not the last, I tell myself, and the words feel hopeful on my tongue, but my chest is heavy with uncertainty and nervous hesitation. I lean into Siah and he wraps an arm around me as I bringing my shocked gaze back to Sorik’s.
“Holy shit,” I finally squeak out, and an understanding smile breaks out over his face.
“You, of course, don’t have to go now that Adriel isn’t a threat to you, but if you want to, I’d be honored to show you the way.”
I activate the runes on my ring finger, and Siah jerks a little from the jolt it gives him. I shoot him an apologetic smile and realize we need to start working with him right away on his runes. In less than a minute, I’m surrounded by the rest of my Chosen. They loom over us, looking at me and my still shocked face, and wait patiently to be filled in on whatever is going on. I clear my throat and look up at each of them.
“If everyone is cool with it, I’d like to leave first thing tomorrow and follow Sorik to the city of Sentinels that he found.”
Their faces light up with surprise and they look from me to Sorik and back. There’s a moment of pause, and then emotion makes my chest tight as they swallow down the millions of questions I see in their eyes and each of them voice a resounding, “We’ll follow you anywhere.”
The End of Book 3
