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Leo tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear, entrancing me, while his whispered voice grew delightfully deeper. “But if it were nighttime, I’d cut a piece of the black sky and use its darkness to conceal us.” His lips were so close I could barely breathe. “It’s the darkness I enjoy most.”

My body sang with desire.

On a shortened breath, I asked, “What is this?”

He smiled, running his hands up and down my arms in comfort. “Magic.”

“I see,” I said, silently screaming at myself to stay calm.

“I come from a long line of night-wielders, night being one of the six elements a human can tap into on One. There are other Earths that make up the nine, that have similar power you can draw from.”

I gawked at Leo, jaw slack. I should’ve anticipated something like this, seeing as I dropped through a portal to get here. But up until now, I hadn’t fully believed what I’d experienced had been real.

I touched Leo’s cloak again—feeling it.

This was all really happening.

Leo squeezed my arms gently. “Do you still want to come with me?”

I felt outside of myself, like I stood above my body looking down at it, watching as my mouth answered yes. The adrenaline I chased in the line of duty finding me now in this surreal moment.

Leo nodded, his eyebrows drawn together. “Stay close, and be as quiet as you can until we get outside. Noise is muted in here, but it isn’t completely soundproof.”

“Okay,” I whispered, mystified.

He took my hand, making quick work of leading me down the halls, past the row of windows, and down the stairwell to the first-floor landing.

It felt like only seconds passed, then we were outside beneath the midday sun. The castle looming behind us, six stories of immaculate stone with a tall battlement running along the top.

If I thought the fields of green were bright from my window, to be outside in them was blinding. The color more vivid than anything I’d ever seen.

I had to use my hand as a visor to shade my eyes.

“I can help with that,” Leo said. Our translucent cloak darkening faintly.

It felt like I was wearing sunglasses now.

“You’ll get used to it, the brightness. Everything is more alive here from the magic. Even the gravity is greater from One’s enchantment.”

That explained the heaviness I felt.

I didn’t feel this way on Six, because magic didn’t exist in my world. “That’s how you scaled the wall of my base so easily . . .”

Leo chuckled, the vibration of it carrying from his hand to mine, still clasped in his. “I love going to Six. Feels like I can fly there.”

I snorted, partially from the shock of it all. “I’m surprised you can’t fly here, with magic.”

He considered this, then shook his head. “Not a power you would find here on One. Although, there are those who can control the wind. But I’ve never seen anyone fly, at least not on One.”

The possibility of someone being able to fly somewhere in the universe silenced me. My mind too simple to dream up something as grand as people with wings, or where I was now, standing with Leo, shrouded in stars.

I followed as he led me through the fields toward the outskirts of the castle grounds, determining it was summer here like it was back home based on the ripeness of the various vegetables tucked within the green.

“Do you travel to my world a lot?” I asked, sorting through all the things I wanted to ask him.

He shook his head. “Only if The Nine commands it, which isn’t often. We meet there sometimes, but our meetings are usually held here on One.”

We.