The run out of the castle was a blur.

Dean kept talking through the whole thing, but Cyrene didn’t hear any of it. She was sure he was trying to use it as a distraction. If she was overwhelmed with everything that had happened, she didn’t doubt that Dean was, too. That everyone who had been in that room was.

Magic was out.

No longer a fairy tale.

The entire Byern court had seen that she and Kael had it. One or two people could have tried to push the thought away as a hallucination but not hundreds of people. This changed the fabric of their world. She was sure there would be repercussions, but she didn’t want to be here to find out.

“Cyrene, this way!” Dean said as he nearly slammed into a body.

“Took you long enough,” Ahlvie said. “Hello again.”

Cyrene grinned. “I told you not to come back.”

“Then, you sent my brother. Decided to ignore your first request and listen to your second.”

“Of course you did.”

“Weren’t you supposed to wait for us on the perimeter?” Dean asked Ahlvie.

Ahlvie shot him a disbelieving look. “You think I’m going to trust you?”

Dean breathed heavily out through his nose. “I was taking all the risks. You could have at least given me the benefit of the doubt.”

“Not a chance.”

“Stop. Both of you,” Cyrene snapped. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Ahlvie and Dean fell silent and hurried along. They burst out a side entrance and sprinted through darkened gardens.

“This way,” Ahlvie said, running ahead through the maze, as if he could see the twists and turns perfectly in the dark.

She was panting as she tried to keep up. And then, out of nowhere, they rushed out of the hedges and ran straight toward an open gate. The handful of guards lay like knocked over dominoes as they passed. Cyrene felt a tug as she stepped through the exit. It was as if she were passing through an invisible barrier that didn’t want to release her. She pressed forward, and it let her go with a pop.

“Creator!” she breathed, leaning over with her hands on her knees. “What was that?”

“That’s whatever has been keeping you from your bond with Avoca,” Ahlvie said.

Cyrene’s mouth fell open. “She’s here?”

“We all are, but we should hurry.”

No wonder she could never sense Avoca. She could feel the bond, but she had assumed Avoca was too far away, still in Eleysia, and that Cyrene couldn’t pinpoint where Avoca was because of that. But no. She reached down within herself and felt that bond snap back into place.

She gasped as the familiar sense radiated through her body.

Avoca.

She tugged on that bond and immediately felt a response. She placed a hand on her heart and was near to tears. After all this time of feeling so abandoned, it had been this invisible barrier blocking her from Avoca. Her friend had been here, waiting for her.

“Enough crying over some barrier thing,” Ahlvie said with a laugh. “You’ll get to see her in a minute.”

“Yes, of course. You’re right.”

“Oh, I love the way those words sound out of your mouth.”

She smacked him on the shoulder as she passed, moving in Avoca’s direction. “Don’t count on hearing it again.”

Their trek was longer than she’d anticipated. Up, up, up they went through the Taken Mountains until she thought her legs were going to fall off. Her energy was waning. She could feel the last dregs of adrenaline leaving her body, and all that she had to hold her up was sheer force of will. But, when they came to the mouth of a cave, it was all worth it.

Avoca stood at the entrance, dressed for battle in fighting leathers. Her long blonde hair waved in the mountain breeze. Her features angular and pensive. Her ice-white blade held loosely in her hand. Her body tensed for a fight.

“Ava,” Cyrene whispered.

Avoca’s blue eyes slanted to her, and then a smile ripped across her stunning face. She dashed down the rest of the mountain and pulled Cyrene into her. “Do not ever leave my side again.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

“How can I protect you when you are away? When I cannot even feel you?”

“I missed you, too.”

“I know.”

Cyrene laughed, the first soft and buoyant thing she’d had in so long.

“I see you’ve finally decided to join us,” Matilde said from the doorway. “Do you think we could do the hugging inside? We’re in a bit of a hurry.”

Cyrene’s eyes rounded. “You’re here! You…you came from Eleysia?”

“No, I’m still in the southern islands, and you’re imagining things. Step one, two, girl. Let’s get this moving.”

Avoca and Cyrene released each other and hurried into the mountain cave. She gaped at the high ceilings and spacious living area. This must have been here a long time to accommodate so many people.

“What she means to say is, welcome back,” Vera said as she appeared around a bend, carrying two oversize packs.

“What is this place?”

“A remnant from a time long past,” Vera told her. “An old Doma retreat. The entrance was still sealed off to us, so we knew that no one had been here. We’ll do the same when we leave.”

“Which is now,” Matilde told her.

“Yes,” Vera agreed. “Please take a pack, all of you. The remaining supplies are down with the horses.”

“We’re leaving now?” Cyrene asked.

“In quite a bit of a hurry,” Vera said with an easy smile as she handed her a bag. “You might want to change. I think your ball gown might be recognizable.”

Cyrene had completely forgotten that she was even wearing it. Another gorgeous dress in tatters. Just like her life.

Vera stepped forward and placed a warm and comforting hand on her shoulder. “We’ll explain everything once we’re on our way.”

She nodded, grateful that her hesitation was understood. Avoca led her to a room in the back. There were straw mats on the ground and little else. Cyrene attempted to undo all the tiny buttons that Rhea had done up earlier.

“Let me,” Avoca said.

She took her blade and sliced up the back of the dress. It fell away in pieces.

“Well, that’s one way to do it.”

Cyrene balked at the matching fighting leathers that she pulled from her pack. “Someone expects me to wear these?”

“There will be a time for gowns once more. That time is not now.”

She felt ridiculous once she had them on. They hugged her frame in all the right places. Her butt in particular was on full display. Her legs were thin but muscular—a fact she never noticed in her dresses. All in all, she felt exposed.

“You’ll get used to it,” Avoca said with a wave of her hand.

Cyrene added the precious Dremylon red ruby necklace into her bag, and then she was trailing the others down a different path through the mountain. From her vantage point, she could see the Nit Decus castle below. She wondered what was going on in there and if they would recover from what she had done.

Soon, they reached the base of the mountain on the Keylani River and found a pack of horses clustered together in an alcove. Cyrene’s eyes darted between the people in attendance—Orden, Reeve, and Aubron.

Her heart sank.

“Where is Elea?” she asked frantically.

Reeve glanced up at her with panic on his face. “I thought she was with you.”

Cyrene shook her head. “No, no, no. We have to go back for her. That was the deal. My entire family out.”

“You cannot go back there,” Dean said in anguish.

“Do not tell me what I can and cannot do.”

“Dean is right,” Avoca said, as if it pained her. “We cannot risk you.”

“The king said that he would kill my family if I tried to leave. If I leave, I’m signing Elea’s death warrant.”

“An empty threat,” Reeve said.

“You did not see his face when he said it.”

“I think they have some recovering to do before they think of hurting anyone else,” Dean added.

“What happened in there that you are not telling us?” Ahlvie asked.

“Nothing,” she said at once. Her eyes cut to Dean to tell him not to reveal a thing. “I won’t leave her.”

“I’ll go with you,” Reeve said at once.

“No,” Aubron said. He put his hand on Reeve’s sleeve. “They’ll kill you, too.”

“Who was responsible for her?” Cyrene demanded.

Everyone glanced around. No one wanted to assume responsibility, but then Aubron stepped forward. His head was tilted up, and though he was small in comparison to the rest of her party, she saw he had fire in him.

“I attempted to corral her out of the party, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Then, I asked her to meet us in the gardens. She refused. When I went to collect her, I was barred from access to the ballroom.”

Cyrene sighed. Kael’s barrier. Of course. Not Aubron’s fault.

“She likely wouldn’t have come with me anyway. Not when…” She trailed off and glanced down at her hands.

“I understand that you fear for her,” Vera said very quietly, “but if we are to save all of our lives, we must go.”

Cyrene nodded. Sacrifice one for the many. Just like they had with Maelia. Her heart constricted, and she sent up a prayer to the Creator to keep her sister safe.

Their party hastened to the horses. All of her friends were together again. It felt too good to be true…except that she’d kept losing people along the way. First Rhea, then Maelia, and now Elea.

Dean placed a hand on her sleeve. “Come with me.”

She snatched her hand away and sent him a venomous glare. “Don’t touch me.”

He held his hands up in defense. “My apologies. I wanted to show you to your horse.”

“I can do it myself.”

“Cyrene, please,” he muttered. “I was wrong. Everything that I did after my parents’ deaths was wrong.”

“Yes, well, I know exactly how that feels, and I didn’t go off and try to ruin someone’s life.”

“But you teamed up with your enemy,” he countered.

“An enemy you threw me at,” she hissed.

“I’m trying to make things right.”

She shoved her finger in his chest. “Start by keeping your mouth shut about everything you saw in that ballroom.”

“If that’s what you wish.”

Orden appeared then with her horse. “Here you are. I think she’ll remember you.”

Cyrene’s mouth dropped open as her prized dapple, Ceffy, appeared before her. “Oh Creator! How? How is this possible?”

“I had her brought back for you,” Dean said softly. His eyes were open and unguarded. “I knew what she meant to you.”

“You brought my horse back, all the way from Eleysia?”

“I thought it was the least I could do.”

She averted her gaze at the heat coming from him and attached her pack to the saddle. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” he said.

Then, as if realizing that was all she was going to give, he went to hop on his own horse.

She patted Ceffy twice and hugged her before hauling herself up into her saddle and departing, leaving the rest of her life behind her.