“Are you sure?” he whispered. “You understand that just passing through the rift could kill you, right?”
I licked my lips and slowly breathed as I shook, my eyes still staring into the folding and rippling layers.
“I do,” I whispered.
There was a moment of pause, a deep hesitation and it washed over me like a crushing tidal wave. It was fear. Blake’s fear.
Of losing me.
Then, his everi, warm and familiar, encased my body like plate armor.
“I will take you,” he said, “but only with my everi fully surrounding you.”
I nodded.
“And Anna,” he said.
I looked at him, my heart racing.
“You must do exactly what I say, no matter what, even if I tell you to leave me,” he said.
I swallowed hard and nodded less enthusiastically.
His oft-guarded features watched me without the usual stoicism.Was he worried?A shiver ran down my spine. Fear? Excitement? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t concerned. Not as long as he was by my side.
He was even more handsome when his mask slipped and his emotions were etched into his expression.
If I were going to die, at least I’d have him as my last image. I cursed internally. What was I doing? My only focus should be crossing the rift and here I was admiring this man beside me. It was as if a God had spent a lifetime carving him from marble before bringing him to life.
Melanie was right.
I was a fool.
It didn’t matter what lay ahead, because he was here with me.
I needed him.
Deep within my soul, I needed him.
He would keep me safe.
Warmth surrounded me.
I squeezed Blake's hand, the swirling black molten substance consuming me.
While the portal was only a thin veil within the archway, the world we entered became dark. There was no light but the energy was pulling at every part of my body and the strangest sensation overtook me. It was as if I’d lost Blake for a moment but there was a blinding light the next. I couldn’t see anything but I felt his hand in mine again. The floor was beneath my feet again but a weight hit me that I’d never experienced before. I nearly collapsed but Blake caught me against his chest, holding me against him.
“You are alright,” he murmured.
I took an unsteady breath. My body was in shock. The air was different, purer, as if pollution didn’t exist here. It felt like I’d breathed in life as I held onto him, my eyes still shut tight.
Everything was different.
My everi was ripping through my veins as if caught in a violent storm. Blake’s energy cloaked me like a shield. The intensity of my surroundings lessened enough that I could open my eyes again.
Blake was watching me, his expression soft with concern. His energy was soothing and there was no way he could ever convince me that he was a threat to me. I’d never felt safer than I did here with him, in a strange place where the air I breathed was foreign.
He eased me forward, encouraging me to stand and I let him guide me as I stood on my own. The light was coming into focus more and more as I looked around. We were in an enormous room with a glass dome ceiling. Gold columns braced textured walls of white stone. The portal was at the center. The same black swirling substance was contained within, but this portal was far more significant. It was no longer a thin sheet of black within an archway but a black mass twice my height and the same length across. Around it, two golden arches crossed over at the top and contained the portal like a cage, creating four quadrants as points of entry. The arches seemed to radiate energy.
