My throat tightened. “Thanks. But maybe let’s keep the whole ‘princess of the enemy’ thing within the squad?”
“Agreed,” Riven said instantly, and behind her, the others nodded as if it had never been a question.
I looked around at them. Tae, smirking with that glint of mischief in his eyes, Remy with his eyes on me, Ferrula and Jax walking side by side like they’d always belonged that way.
Family. Not by blood. But by fire.
By bond.
Dormeal led us through the winding paths of the sanctuary, his long robes trailing like mist behind him. The grove shimmered behind us, soft grass, light-dappled trees, and the memory of power still pulsing faintly beneath our skin. None of us spoke, the weight of what we carried, literal and otherwise, settling heavily in our silence.
He stopped at the place where we had first entered, where the tunnel had split the stone and reality had unraveled into something else entirely.
Dormeal turned to face us, eyes catching the morning light like glass. “The sanctuary has accepted you. That does not mean the world will.”
Then he lifted his hand and whispered something in a tongue older than the wind. The air bent around his words. The veil shimmered—first silver, then violet—and parted soundlessly down the center like a ripple on still water.
“You will take the tunnel back,” he said, voice softer now. “But it will not affect you. The dreamscape recognizes your magic.”
I nodded once. “Thank you, Dormeal. For everything.”
He inclined his head in a motion so regal, it made me wonder again just how old he was.
We stepped into the rift.
The moment our boots crossed the threshold, the world folded. Light spiraled. The tunnel warped around us, but this time, there was no pressure, no hallucination, no pull. Just a pulse of light and the feeling of wind in my hair.
And then we were there.
The monolith loomed beside us once more, silent and unmoving, the stones underfoot cool and real.
Behind us, the barrier whispered closed with a muted chime, like distant windchimes caught on a salt breeze.
We had made it out.
And now, the real journey would begin.
The wind from the ocean greeted us as we stepped onto the black sand, the roar of waves crashing against the jagged shoreline pulling us back into the world we’d left behind. Luthias and Teren were already moving toward us, the tension clear in the set of their shoulders.
“You couldn’t find the opening?” Luthias asked, glancing past us at the solid cliffside where the tunnel entrance had been.
Zander and I exchanged a look, something wordless passing between us before he turned back. “How long were we gone?” he asked, tone carefully neutral.
Teren frowned. “A minute. Maybe two.”
I blinked. “We spent the night in the fae sanctuary.”
“What?” Teren asked, stunned.
I nodded and quickly explained. Dormeal, the elder council, the trial, the vial now tucked beneath my armor, and the key strung around my neck. Teren just stared, then exhaled, as if the weight of it all had struck him too hard and too fast.
“That place bends time,” Zander said, brushing sand from his gloves. “We didn’t dream it.”
Remy stepped up behind us, his voice low. “We shouldn’t linger here.”
For once, we all agreed. No argument. No debate.
One by one, we mounted our dragons. Kaelith’s wings shimmered as she unfurled them, the sky above her soft with light from the rising sun. Hein was already airborne, circling once before dipping down as if urging us to follow.
