She turned to Reeve, finding him just as stunned as she was,but then he gave an amused shake of his head and drawled, “You couldn’t have tried thatbeforewe were chased by a wraith, attacked by a lake monster, and had to hike for hours through a diabolicalforest?”
Despite his sarcasm, she could see the pride clear in his eyes. But there was something else there, too. Something that made her stomach flip and her knees weaken.
Reaper, monster, killer—she said the words in her mind, desperate for anything to stifle what she could no longer deny was growing between them. The moment she’d seen his unconscious form go under the water, the terror she’d felt had exposed what she’d been refusing to acknowledge: that she cared for him, much more than she should. For all his teasing, for all her indignation and embarrassment, she wasn’t fooling either of them. She wanted him, they both knew it. And yet—
Reaper.
Monster.
Killer.
That was what Reeve was, and regardless of anything else, she couldn’t afford to forget it. He might not siphon anymore, but he also held no remorse for his past actions. He’d killed a girl, and by his own admission, he didn’t regret her death. Viri couldn’t ignore that—even if her heart was beginning to wish she could.
Summoning every scrap of self-respect she had, Viri stomped down her emotions and cleared her throat to answer, “Only one of us knows anything about magic, so excuse me if I didn’t think to experiment with an ancient map and a wayportal thatmoves.”
Reeve’s lips twitched at her attitude, with him blissfully unaware of everything that had just passed through her mind—including her resolve to smother anything she felt toward him.
“At least we won’t have to retrace our steps through the Mistwood after we’re done with the Guardian,” he said, looking thoughtfully at the wayportal. “No wonder the husband was able to get his magewish—not to mention his wife was able to return for hers, and then both of them a third time with their dying babe. It makes so much more sense now.” He spoke the last part under his breath, his eyes oddly unfocused, but Viri was stuck on his mention of the Guardian, her insides swooping as she realized they were only steps away from discovering whether or not the legend she’d grown up hearing was true. If the Guardian of Elverdine Isle really did exist, if he was just on the other side of the portal…
Uncertainty barreled into her. “What’s our plan here?”
Reeve shook off whatever musings had gripped him. “The same as it’s always been: to beat Braedan to the Guardian and stop him from being granted a magewish.”
“Right.” Viri nodded mechanically. “We stop him from destroying the obelisks.”
An unreadable look crossed Reeve’s face before he wiped it clear. “We stop him from dooming the city, yes.”
“What if we’re too late?” Viri worried aloud.
“We’d know if we were.”
“How? We’ve been out here for hours. What if he made it to the tower while we—”
“Viri,” Reeve said firmly, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Take a breath. Everything is going to be all right.”
Holding his eyes, she asked, her voice wobbling slightly, “How do you know that?”
He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Because we’re going to make sure of it.”
His steely determination silenced Viri’s fears. It was still daunting, the idea of traveling blindly through the portal and trusting it would deliver them to the Guardian, let alone having to convince him to refuse her brother should Braedan reach the tower on his own. But Reeve’s confidence was the balm Viri needed to face what was ahead, along with his reminder that they would do whatever it took to succeed in their task—mostly because, if they didn’t, everyone they knew would die.
“Come on, Little Shadow,” Reeve said, watching with approval as she straightened her spine and indicated she was ready. “Let’s go finish what we started.”
With a fortifying inhale, Viri strode toward the wayportal with him, her heart fluttering nervously as she wondered what they would find on the other side. If she’d spared a moment to think about it, she might have assumed they would appear near a freestanding tower or fortress-like keep, or perhaps they’d arrive at the edge of the Mistwood overlooking an ancient castle. She might also have assumed they would need to go searching for the Guardian inside his expansive dwelling, and Elders knew how long that would take.
What shewouldn’thave assumed was that the wayportal might open right inside Nevarnost Tower, directly in the center of a large, warmly lit circular chamber reminiscent of Wynter’s laboratory, the walls covered in shelves full of books and potions and magical artifacts, the domed ceiling made of glass and revealing a moonlit sky full of stars.
Viri also wouldn’t have assumed that a middle-aged man who could only be the Guardian would be standing mere feet away from the portal, his eyes a luminous blue, his dark hair fleckedwith gray, his tall frame clad in unusual purple robes, and his handsome face wearing a serene smile, almost as if he’d been expecting them.
But the one thing Viridefinitelywouldn’t have assumed—but reallyshouldhave—was that the Guardian wouldn’t be alone, her palm suddenly searing as her hunter’s mark flared to life.
Because standing next to him—
Was the Reaper Priest.
The Journal of Celestial Mage Kadmus Castro
Fifty-Fourth Sun, Thirteenth Cycle, Twelfth Age
