Graylen’s breathing evens out, but even with the exhaustion weighing on my body, it’s hard to shut off my brain. I lift my hand into the air, calling on my Nocturna side and letting tendrils of shadows play around my fingers.
My stomach sinks.
It takes more concentration to continue calling on them, far more than it should. The sinking in my stomach gives way to fresh panic as sweat beads on my temple. The shadows waver, and I let them die out.
The shard of Nightfall… It did something to me. A part of me prays to the Divine that the magic is just spent, but a larger part of me knows how wrong that is.
I fall into a dreamless sleep with that question playing on a loop in my mind.
The ground beside me is empty when I wake up. Soft golden rays of sunlight peek through the trees, but the night still clings to the sky. At some point, someone draped a cloak over me—the one that was packed for Graylen.
Graylen.
My stomach sinks when I don’t see him. Adrian is lying across from me, his head resting on a balled-up cloak and his back facing me. Leda is in the same place she was when I fell asleep, but Graylen is nowhere to be seen.
I bolt to my feet, causing Leda to turn toward me with a brow raised. Zeph is curled just outside the cave, and she peeks one eye open, her gold iris glowing as she zeros in on me.
Breathless, I stammer, “Graylen?—”
“In the creek,” she says quickly. “He said he needed a minute alone.”
My shoulders sag with relief, but I can’t help the twinge in my gut at the thought that he wanted to be alone. Of course he needs a minute alone—probably a whole moon cycle. But a part of me still wishes he had woken me up.
Zeph grumbles and goes back to sleep, a soft growl rumbling from her chest as she settles back down.
“Just give him time,” Leda adds, rubbing at her eyes and stifling a yawn. “All you can do is be there when he’s ready to talk.”
Tears line my eyes. I know she’s right, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I’ve just gotten him back.
I clear my throat and walk over to her, pointing over my shoulder as I say, “Your turn to get some sleep.”
She hesitates, her gaze narrowed on me, but finally she nods and pats me on the shoulder as she passes by. “Don’t let me sleep past midday.” Her words end in a yawn, and soon, she’s settled against the cave wall and fast asleep.
I sit on a rock jutting out of the ground just beside Zeph, a soft purr emitting from her chest as she sleeps.
I strain to hear the forest around me. As my hearing adjusts to the quiet, I can make out the bubbling stream beside the cave. It’s partially hidden from the thick trees, but there’s a soft splashing every few breaths.
My chest warms knowing Graylen is there. As much as I want to see him—need to have my eyes on him to know that he’s okay—I force myself to stay seated.
With my body still and sitting here alone, it’s hard to keep worries of the future at bay. Soon, we’ll be going back to the one place I never thought I’d step foot in again. Leda will go her separate way, taking Zeph with her.
My gaze falls to the enormous creature beside me. It’s hard to imagine being so far away from her. She isnotgoing to be pleased when I have to send her off with Leda, but it’s the only choice we have.
Sending a wyvern to a realm that’s convinced its people all magic is evil—all while the true evil rests within the one who runs their kingdom—wouldn’t go over well. Still…she isn’t going to be happy about it.
Going back to Crea without her—without Leda or any of the friends I’ve come to care for since being here—hurts more than I thought it would. When my only motivation was to getGraylen back, it was easy to focus on that.
But now…
Now, he’s safe. And that leaves room for my mind to drift, going to a place I never truly called home. A place that I was never supposed to be in to begin with. I left with no magic, and now I’m returning with no magic.
I may not be Amira anymore, but I have to pretend to be. In Crea, I can’t be Lunaria, daughter of Queen Evelina, wyvern Rider, and goddess-forged. And without those things, whatcanI be?
The soft rustle of leaves shifting pulls my attention to my right, my heart speeding up when the footfalls grow closer.
All of my thoughts vanish from my mind as Graylen emerges from behind the cave.
My mouth dries when his blazing eyes meet mine. He freezes, our gazes colliding in a storm of hesitation that’s never been between us before. I want to say something—anything—but my lips are fused together, the words trapped in my throat as I take in the man before me.
