Word came at dawn, via a holographic message that flickered to life in our chambers. I was already awake, not having been able to sleep after Brisha’s unexpected visit. After the news, neither Navan nor I had felt like resuming what we’d been up to before she interrupted. Instead, we curled up in each other’s arms and struggled to drift off. Eventually, I had given up, choosing to just lie there with his arms around me, enjoying the closeness while I had the chance. I was getting better in training, but I was nowhere near ready to enter a real-life mission. If it came to blows, I just hoped I could keep up—and not get Navan killed.

The message told us to meet around the back of the palace in an hour’s time, at the tunnel entrance where we had first entered Brisha’s queendom. It added that we should wear civilian clothes beneath our military fatigues, though it didn’t go into detail as to why. With that, it cut off, leaving me to the turmoil of my own thoughts.

I had gotten so used to this part of Vysanthe that it felt strange to be going back to the South. Plus, the circumstances of our return weren’t exactly great. All I could think about were the civilians who might lose their lives because of us. This was not what I’d signed up for. I didn’t want to kill anyone. I didn’t want anyone to die because of me.

All through the night, I’d wondered if there was a way we might prevent people from dying, but I hadn’t managed to come up with anything. It seemed too vast a task for one person, or even two people to undertake, without alerting suspicion. And, right now, we couldn’t risk crossing Brisha or Pandora, for fear of what they might do in retribution. Pandora in particular. She seemed to fully support Brisha’s decision, for whatever reason, which had to mean Orion did, too.

“You want something to eat?” Navan asked groggily, wandering into the kitchen. I knew he hadn’t gotten much sleep either.

I shook my head. “I’m not hungry,” I said quietly.

“You should get your strength up. You’ll need it. There’s no telling when you might get the chance to eat again,” he said, slicing up some fruit and putting it into a bowl. He took down a vial for himself, drinking the fluid in one gulp before handing the bowl to me.

I took it from him, grimacing at the sight. My stomach was in knots, my mouth dry, my eyes tired. The last thing I wanted to do was force breakfast down my throat, but I could see the sense in his advice. Reluctantly, I worked through the slices, chewing slowly, gulping the sweet fruit down before my body could reject it.

After breakfast, I dressed in black military fatigues, with my civilian clothes underneath, and laced up my combat boots, pulling my hair back into a ponytail before splashing cold water on my face. I looked at Navan’s reflection in the mirror. He stood in the doorway of the bathroom, a worried expression on his face.

“You know, vampires aren’t supposed to have a reflection,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “In all the stories, you’re invisible in mirrors. I’ve seen enough Dracula remakes to know.”

A hint of a smile pulled at the corners of his lips. “Your vampire stories get a lot wrong,” he said. “We’re supposed to be immortal already, in those tales. A stake through the heart is the only way to kill us, right?”

“That’s right,” I replied, coming up to him and curving my hand into a fist, as if I were holding a stake. I raised it above his heart, play-acting, while he put his arms around me. As I plunged down the invisible stake, he made a face, but we didn’t laugh. It only reminded me of what we were about to do. It might not be a stake pressed to his chest, but Navan’s mortality was definitely on the line. Mine, too.

Reaching up, I kissed him tentatively on the lips, wanting to freeze the moment. I longed to rewind to the night before, or even the day before, when we were happy in our false bubble of security. I didn’t want this. The moment had come for me to act, and I wanted it to go away.

“We should get going,” he murmured.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall in the living room. How had an hour passed so quickly? Feeling panic begin to course through my veins, I held his face in my hands, kissing him with everything I had, and he returned my kiss with desperate passion. Only when he pulled away did I stop, knowing the time had come. There was no putting it off any longer.

“Navan, will you promise me something?” I asked, snatching up my knives and attaching them to my chest and waist. From the table, I grabbed the quarter-full vial and the last full one, and slipped them into my pocket, the glass clinking together.

He looked at me curiously. “What?”

“Promise me you won’t be a hero,” I urged. “Promise me you won’t put yourself in danger for me, okay? If I put you in harm’s way, I’d never forgive myself.”

He smiled. “I’ll try,” he said, but I didn’t believe him. It wasn’t in his nature to stand by and do nothing if I got into trouble. Still, I had to ask him, just to comfort my own fears, if nothing else. “Will you promise me something, too?” he asked, strapping two blades onto his back.

“It depends,” I murmured, knowing I couldn’t make promises I wasn’t willing to keep.

“Promise me you won’t leave my sight throughout this mission,” he replied, his expression serious.

“I’ll try.”

“I mean it, Riley. Don’t leave my sight,” he warned, all humor gone from his voice.

With a sigh, I nodded. “I’ll do my very best not to leave your side, unless something tears me from it.” It was the only compromise I could make, since I had no idea what would meet us when we got to the Observatory. There hadn’t been many guards the last time we’d visited, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t have heightened their security in the wake of Gianne’s attack on her sister. Perhaps they would be expecting a counterattack.

We left the apartment together and headed for the tunnel entrance, my nerves building with every step. On the ground floor, I froze, realizing I hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye to Angie and Lauren. It had all happened so quickly, with my mind so confused that I hadn’t told them I was going, or when I might be back. If I died, they would never know what had happened to me. I mean, someone would fill them in, but they would wonder why I’d gone without saying a word. I didn’t want to listen to it, but a small voice inside my head reminded me that, for all I knew, this could be the last chance I’d ever have to see them again.

“I have to go and say goodbye to Angie and Lauren,” I said desperately, backing away from the palace entrance.

“There’s no time,” Navan said, reaching out to pull me back. “If we’re late, or we don’t show, you know what the consequences are. You heard the queen lay them out for us, plain and simple. Do you think she won’t extend that vengeance to your friends?” His eyes were sorrowful.

“But I need to let them know where I’ve gone. They won’t forgive me, if I don’t,” I said, my heart and head torn in two directions.

“They’ll understand, Riley. Come on, we have to go,” Navan insisted, his pull on my arm increasing, until I was helpless to do anything but stagger after him. I looked back over my shoulder, my thoughts with my friends, as his arm slipped around my shoulders, comforting me. Holding me tight, he led me out of the palace, into the driving rain. Each icy pellet stung my skin as it landed, but I lifted my face to the downpour regardless, wanting the cold water to calm me.

We made our way up to the tunnel entrance where a group of soldiers was already waiting. I recognized most of them as fellow trainees, but there were one or two unfamiliar faces. They looked older, their features grizzled, a darkness glinting in their eyes that suggested they had witnessed the horrors of war. Pandora was there, too, though Queen Brisha was nowhere to be seen.

“Navan, Riley, how good of you to grace us with your presence,” Pandora announced tartly as we approached. Glancing down at her watch, she pulled a face. “On time, with three minutes to spare. I hope you won’t be cutting it quite so close when it comes to laying explosives,” she mocked, prompting a snicker from the assembled group.

Navan leveled his gaze at her. “Apologies, Pandora. We’re here now, and that’s what counts, right?” he remarked, his tone cold.

“Indeed,” Pandora muttered, before turning back to the rest of the group. “Now, please take a belt each and strap them firmly to your waists,” she instructed, handing out several straps that each held a row of small black orbs. These were the explosives, I supposed, taking my own belt and strapping it over the set of knives I already had, resting just above my hips.

“Do not touch this button before you are instructed to, unless you wish to blow yourselves out of the sky,” Pandora warned, gesturing toward a small blue button on the side of the black orbs.

A few of the meatheads in our group chuckled among themselves, pretending to push the blue button, much to the evident disdain of Pandora, who flashed them a threatening look. Instantly, they stopped, looking down at the ground in shame.

Pandora cleared her throat. “We will be flying into enemy territory. Ships will be too conspicuous, so you’re all going to have to rely on your own strength and stamina. Don’t waste your energy on speed. Stealth is what we need here, on the way in,” she began. “All of you will follow Commander Korbin here, who will be your ranking officer on this mission,” she added, gesturing to one of the grizzled, older coldbloods who had joined us. His dark hair was streaked with white, shorn close at the sides, with jagged tattoos coiling beneath the remaining bristles. His eyes were a pale blue, his face broad and stern. I felt anxious at the very sight of him; he did not look like the kind of guy anyone would want to meet in a dark alley.

Korbin nodded, the movement tugging at a long, silvery scar that shot up his neck, curving all the way up his skull, where it stopped just shy of his eyebrow. “In the air, now!” he yelled, startling me. The other trainees sent out their wings, taking to the skies in a rush of wind and a cacophony of leathery flapping.

Padding around my pockets for my wing serum, I quickly took out the stopper and downed the remainder of the second vial. I only had one left now. After it was finished, I would have to ask for more. Navan grabbed me under the arms, lifting me up into the air so I wouldn’t be left behind. I flushed, feeling humiliated at having to be carried in front of my fellow soldiers. Still, I knew I would rather be carried than fall behind, uncertain whether I’d be able to catch up.

Navan clutched me to his chest as my face twisted in agony, the serum leaving no muscle free of pain. I gritted my teeth against it, unwilling to show weakness in front of the others. I felt the familiar razorblade sensation of the wings forcing their way out from under my scapula, before they stretched out behind me, catching a current of air beneath their silky tension.

“You good?” Navan asked.

“You’d think it would get easier at some point,” I gasped.

Navan released me, letting me fly solo with the rest of the flock. He flew beside me, his wings beating steadily, my own wings copying his almost mechanical motions as we soared up the side of the jagged mountain range, the cold air whipping our faces. We came down the other side ten minutes later, flying over the spot where our Snapper still rested, forgotten about in the secret glade that stood before the tunnel entrance. It was strange to see it sitting there, abandoned, especially as we were about to reenter the domain it had come from.

Feeling the twist of fear in my stomach, I focused my eyes forward, taking in the impressive sight of the soldiers flying in formation ahead of me. Off to the sides, I could make out the glitter of Northern Vysanthe’s frozen lakes, and the fanged horizon of far-off mountain ranges. In the driving rain, it looked remarkably bleak, though there was a certain type of beauty to it.

A savage beauty, I thought, reminded of Lazar’s words. It had been a long time since I’d thought about Navan’s uncle and what might have befallen him. As much as I resented him for keeping the tracker in my neck, I couldn’t help wondering if he was okay. He had helped Navan and me escape Queen Gianne’s soldiers, after all.

In the distance, the shimmering wall of the barrier between nations came into view. It was like catching the silk of a spider’s web in the right light, only seen in glimpses. As we neared, however, I could hear the steady thrum of it, the energy crackling upon our approach. How we were supposed to get through it without being noticed or destroyed, I had no clue. We’d managed to get through in the Snapper, but even that had been a rocky entrance. Without anything to shield us from the barrier’s energy, I worried we might explode.

Korbin came to a halt a few yards from the first patch of barrier, urging us all to hide behind a parapet of rock that jutted out from the jagged mountains. We did so, keeping our eyes on him as he took something out of the backpack he wore between his wings. I squinted for a better look, seeing that he carried a large, peculiar, net-like square in his hands.

He approached the thrumming barrier with the square, the crosshatched surface bursting into life as he placed it against the sheen of raw energy. A small explosion crackled through the air, and my eyes darted toward the Southern side of the wall, expecting ships to approach at any moment. When they didn’t, I turned my attention back to the square, suddenly realizing what it was for.

It worked like a circuit breaker, as far as I could tell, the square cutting out a section of the barrier so we could all filter through without setting off the border patrol alarms. A genius move, and one we definitely couldn’t have achieved in the Vysanthean ships.

“Get going!” Korbin hissed, ushering the first of us through the gap.

I brought up the tail end of the soldiers, with Navan the only one to follow. When it came to me, however, Korbin shoved me roughly between the shoulders, aggravating the tender spot between my scapula. With the sting of it searing through my chest, I glared at him, knowing he hadn’t laid a finger on anyone else. He glared back, letting me know he didn’t want me on this mission any more than I wanted to be on it.

Navan looked furious at what Korbin had done, but I silenced his anger with a warning look. I didn’t need him starting a fight. It would only get us in trouble. I’d grown used to coldbloods looking down on me, and as long as Korbin didn’t try to blow me up with the rest of the Observatory, I could handle whatever derogatory behavior he threw at me.

As I reached the other side, coming through the barrier unscathed, a thought dawned on me. What was the real reason Brisha had changed her mind all of a sudden? Why had she decided to send me on this mission? A shiver of dread ran up my spine as I began to doubt that she had solely been acting under the influence of her broken heart. Thinking on it more clearly, I realized that if anything happened to me, Navan would do whatever Brisha asked to get me back—including more attacks against innocent civilians.

This was her way of showing her power over him, with the perk of making him suffer for what his brother had done. I could see it now. It was important to her that he bend to her will, with no doubt as to his loyalty. Considering his knowledge of the South and who his father was, he was a valuable asset, but only as long as he was malleable to her requirements.

I knew he would do anything to save me. And I had no doubts now that she knew he would, too.