I turned toward Remy. His expression was unreadable.
“You can read the fae maps.”
He exhaled slowly, silver gaze heavy with something that looked a lot like regret. “You need Wraith’s Caress to interpret them, and Phantom Step, is part of it.”
“Convenient,” Jax muttered under his breath.
Remy didn’t rise to the bait. He just looked at me. “I never wanted this power. But I have it. So if you want to find the Blood King’s vault and whatever secrets he left behind... you’re going to need me.”
My fingers curled around the map.
The one person I trusted the least might be the only one who could lead us into hell, and get us back out again. I knew it, but I didn’t like it.
Zander motioned for us to leave.
We mounted our dragons beneath a moonless sky, shadows draping the land in silence. The cold air rushed against my skin as Kaelith lifted off, her wings slicing through the dark like blades of lightless violet. One by one, our squad joined her in the air. Hein, Temil, Kass, Narvea, and the rest, our silhouettes nothing but ghosts drifting across the stars.
I leaned forward, resting against Kaelith’s warm neck, letting the soft rhythm of her flight lull me. I wasn’t alone. Around me, others dozed in their saddles, bodies slack with exhaustion but tethered to the air by the bond we shared with these magnificent beasts. Naia’s head rested against Temil’s horns. Riven clutched Zola’s reins loosely, red hair tangled by wind and sleep. Even Jax looked half-conscious, Koddos holding steady beneath him.
The sun hadn’t yet peeked over the horizon when we finally landed, a soft thump of wings and claws as the dragons touched down in formation. Kaelith lowered herself to the ground and huffed as I slid from the saddle. She turned her head to nudge me gently, and I reached up to touch her snout before unfastening the last strap.
One by one, the dragons cast off their burdens and took to the air again, silent, graceful shadows against the pale predawn sky. Hein flew beside Kaelith, his silver body close enough that their scales brushed. The others followed in their wake, rising toward the unseen boundary of the Dragon Isle.
Sleep well,I whispered into the bond.
But Kaelith didn’t answer.
My chest tightened as I watched her wings vanish into the mist.
Zander turned to the squad. “Get some sleep while our dragon’s hunt. One hour. That’s all you get.”
He looked at me, then at Remy. “We’re heading to the castle vault to retrieve the rest of the fae maps.”
Remy nodded without looking my way. I watched them go, boots crunching against stone, their long shadows disappearing between buildings as the sky lightened to gray.
We returned to the barracks silently.
We’d barely stripped off our armor and collapsed onto the barracks cots before Riven was shaking my shoulder. Her red hair was loose around her face, cheeks flushed from sleep.
“They’re back,” she whispered. “Remy and Zander.”
I groaned but sat up, rubbing my eyes before slipping on my boots and following her to the common room.
The map was already spread across the long table, parchment edges curling like they had a life of their own. Zander stood with his arms crossed, eyes shadowed, while Remy leaned over the table, one hand braced on the wood, the other pointing at a spot near the map’s corner. Cordelle sat on the edge of the bench beside him, blinking hard like he was trying to focus through exhaustion.
“You can read this?” Cordy asked, his voice still rough from sleep.
Remy nodded once, fingers brushing lightly over the glowing script. “The fae are tricky. They layer their maps with information. It’s not just one set of directions… it’s several, one on top of the other. Different timelines, different routes depending on the magic you can access.”
He tapped a portion near the bottom corner, where silvery ink bled through gold-etched symbols.
Cordelle leaned closer. “How do you separate the layers so you can read it?”
“It works the same way as when I Phantom Step,” Remy said. “It’s about manipulating space, not just around you, but within the object. The fae don’t think linearly. They collapse space, time, memory, and then stack it.”
Cordelle frowned. “I still don’t get how compacting distance works on paper.”
Remy’s eyes darted to him. “Because you’re thinking in terms of two dimensions. You don’t just collapse the distance. You reverse the process when reading to elongate the layers instead of shortening them. It’s like peeling back the folds of a letter written in shadow.”
