The shifter nodded, a tear streaking down her face before she could dash it away.Iyana was with her in a second, holding Kaz close.
“You’ll see her again,” she whispered.
“I know,” Kaz mumbled.“It’s silly to miss her.I’ve only ever spent an hour with her, and it wasn’t like it was quality time.”
“It’s not silly at all.I know there’s a lot of history there.”
Altair narrowed his eyes at the comment.There was something involving the Nyr princess that he wasn’t privy to.He glanced over to Okab at his side, but his brother only shrugged.
Okab cleared his throat.“How are we supposed to travel to the Everlands?”
Iyana let go of Kaz to fiddle with her fingers, refusing to look at anyone and being frustratingly silent.
“Iyana,” Altair growled.Her head snapped up, guilt etched into her features.“What are you planning?”
Her gaze traveled to Sullane, where it stayed.“I need to die.”
“No,” Sullane said immediately.
“Not forever!”Iyana added.“Just for long enough that I can ask them the question and then I can come back.I can mix a potion that’s reversible with an antidote.”
Sullane shook his head.“What if it goes wrong?”He wrapped his hand around the back of Iyana’s neck and leaned his brow against hers.“I can’t lose you.Not when we’ve barely found each other.”
Altair glanced away from the sight, his stomach souring.Okab was looking at him with a mixture of pride and pity, and that was almost worse than seeing his starheart in love with someone else.
“I’ll come back,” Iyana was murmuring.“I need you, Em.Please.I can’t do this without you.”
“I can help,” Kaz said.
Altair tilted his head back and sighed loud enough that the chatter stopped and everyone stared at him.“I don’t think there’s any getting around it.”
Sullane frowned at him.“You’re that eager to try to kill her again, are you?”
Anger made his golden eyes spark.“I’m as against this plan as you are.But you do know that if you refuse to help, she’s going to do it anyway, right?So the question really is, are you going to be by her side when she dies, or not?”
The Kanaliza opened his mouth, then closed it again.They both knew Altair was right.Iyana was a stubborn little thing, and if any of them absolutely forbade her from doing this, she and Kaz would simply run off and do it, regardless.
“Let me do it, then,” Emmeric said, a desperate edge to his voice.
Iyana shook her head.“It has to be me.I’m the one with magic, and I’ll need it to find my way back.But I need you here as my anchor, so I have something to latch onto in case something does go wrong.But Altair is right”—her gaze flicked to him—“I’ll do this with or without you.We need answers.”
“So send this asshole.”Sullane waved his hand at Altair.
“There’s multiple problems with that plan,” said Iyana.“One, do you actually trust him to get the information we need?”Ouch.“And, two, he may not—” She paused.Altair knew what she was about to say.
“I may not end up in the Everlands when I die.”
Sullane pursed his lips, appraising Altair like he’d still ask him to try in place of Iyana.And he would, without hesitation, if he thought for one second that he would go to the Everlands.No, when he died, his soul was bound for the Nine Hells, if not Phaedros’ pit.Sullane seemed to realize this, too.
“Fine,” he sighed, defeated.
Chapter 48
Emmeric
WatchingIyanamixthepotion that would kill her was the hardest thing Emmeric had ever done in his life.Every instinct was screaming at him to slap it out of her hands.Once again, he attempted to persuade her to let him do this.Iyana reiterated that because he didn’t have his own magic, he’d be more likely to actually die than if she did it.
Emmeric still wasn’t against the idea of trying to send Altair.Even if he ended up in the Nine Hells, would it be so bad if the star died?But Iyana was insistent that she only had enough ingredients for one person to try, and because she had the best chance of returning, it would be her taking the risk.
