Cyrene screamed and fell backward to get away from whatever was happening. One second, she had been staring at the other side of the room where Matilde, Vera, and Avoca were standing. Now, she was looking down a long hallway. It was made of dark stone, and at the end, she could see a closed door.

She had split the fabric of space.

The coin had taken her…somewhere else.

Of course, she didn’t know if the hallway was of this world or if she was staring at the mystical bridge that Matilde and Vera had mentioned.

“Cyrene!” Avoca yelled. The noise sounded muffled, as if coming from a long way off.

“I’m here!” she shouted back.

She tugged on her bond and felt an immediate response. Avoca was fine. They were all fine.

“Do you see this?” Cyrene asked.

“Yes! We’re working to fix it!” Avoca called back.

Cyrene finally rose to her feet. Nothing was coming out of the hallway. In fact, there wasn’t even anything in the strange hallway, except for some bracketed lanterns. She kept expecting for something to crawl out of the space at any minute. For the darkness she’d had in her dreams to seep into her world and take over. For that hand to reach out and snatch her.

But, besides the crackling of the edges of the space, it was empty. Whatever the coin did, it didn’t seem to be inherently dangerous. Perhaps it would have been had she been holding it when the hallway opened. Maybe it would have sliced her body in half as easily as it had popped open in the room.

She had no idea.

But she wondered why Serafina had told her to use the coin to get to this strange hallway. Were the dragons on the other side of that door? Could it possibly be that easy?

Her life was never that easy.

She trembled as she neared the strange doorway. When she had first glimpsed it, she had been too afraid to really see what she was looking at. She frowned as she got closer, careful not to touch anything in case it made the vision do something else…like suck her in or kill her. Then, she watched the image ripple before her.

Something about the rock that had built the hallway felt familiar. In fact, the brackets even felt familiar. She narrowed her eyes to look at the door at the end of the hall.

Have I seen that door before?

Then, the handle turned, and she jumped backward.

“Hurry! There’s someone at the door!” Cyrene shrieked.

Then, as the door opened and a figure dressed in all black with midnight hair appeared, the vision shook and then vanished. Cyrene gasped, falling backward at the sudden loss of the barrier between her and the other side of the room. She had just been about to see the person in the door, to identify who was there, but it was gone.

“What in the Creator’s name was that?” Cyrene gasped. Her eyes were wide with wonder and terror. She felt both excited and sick to her stomach. Whatever she had witnessed was beyond anything she could have ever thought possible.

Matilde grasped the coin between her fingers and shook her head in disbelief. “A portal.”

“A…a portal? What does that do?” Her hands were shaking, and she tucked them into the folds of her dress.

“The talisman opens up a passage to a portal.”

“It can take you anywhere?”

“No,” Vera said. “Talismans are limited. Each portal has its own talisman that allows people to move from one portal to the next. From Eleysia to Eldora, for instance. But this one is an independent talisman, though they were few and far between, even in the magical heyday. It can transport you from a portal to anywhere in the world and then back to any portal you choose.”

Cyrene was gaping at them. “You mean, wherever that hallway is…it’s a real place?”

“Very,” Matilde said.

Avoca looked shaken. “I’ve seen the portal at Eldora. Mother said all the portal doors were closed after the fall of magic.”

Vera nodded. “Yes, that was my understanding. It seems…someone has opened them again.”

“Who?” Cyrene gasped. “Who could do that?”

“Did you not recognize the hallway?” Vera asked.

Cyrene racked her brain. It had looked familiar, but she didn’t know where it was. But, now that she realized she had been looking at a real place, she knew why it had looked familiar.

“Byern,”

“Yes,” Matilde said. “That was the portal door in the Nit Decus castle.”

“So…someone opened the portal in Byern,” Avoca said.

“Kael,” Cyrene said at once. “Kael opened the portal. That was who was in the doorway. But why?”

Matilde and Vera were silent. Their eyes were sad, as if they had already put the pieces together and she was too far behind.

Cyrene glanced from one to the other and then Avoca. What am I missing?

“Maelia had the coin, Cyrene,” Avoca whispered.

Cyrene stumbled back and took a seat. Her chest ached. “No, you don’t think…” She trailed off, unable to say the words clouding her mind. It couldn’t be true. It just…couldn’t.

“Kael gave the coin to Maelia. He used it to reach her,” Cyrene said.

Matilde nodded.

“Do you think he…controlled her? Do you think he’s the reason she killed the Eleysian monarchs?”

Vera stood and placed a gentle hand on Cyrene’s shoulder. “If it fits together that easily, it is likely the truth.”

Cyrene thought of all the times that she had seen Maelia and Kael together. In the gardens back in Byern when she had come across them, unexpected. Maelia had said that she could handle herself. That wasn’t true. Then, Maelia had spent all that time with him in Aurum. He’d collected her at Strat, and she’d been in the Aurum capital with him for so long before Cyrene rescued her.

Creator, had any of it been real? Had Kael planted Maelia there that next morning in the Vines to direct me to see Kaliana? Had she been there, waiting for me to get there, knowing I would need directions? She didn’t want to believe their friendship was false, but it could have started on false terms. And ended because of him, too.

“He’s the reason for her death,” Cyrene gasped. “He forced her hand. Made her kill them. Who knows his reasoning for it all? How could he do something so horrible and then take me back to Byern and pretend to be my ally? My friend? To love me?”

Avoca reached for her in the bond, and Cyrene felt so connected to all of them at once that it was almost too much. She shoved to her feet and pushed away from everyone. Her anger grew and grew and grew. All the pain that she had felt all those months. All the anguish.

And she had been content to be around the one person who had caused it all. The person who had shattered her happy life. Who had demanded her return and then made her feel as if she was somehow responsible for what had occurred.

Her fingers and hands twitched as magic burned and ignited through them. All she felt was the rage and betrayal. She had actually felt bad for leaving Kael behind in Byern. She had thought that, deep down, he always really wanted her for her. He was the only one who never really feared her magic. Who had embraced her as she was.

But she was wrong.

So wrong.

Utterly and unequivocally wrong.

She had sung to his tune. Fallen right into his trap. And been perfectly fine to stay in that state. To even learn magic from him.

“Cyrene!” Avoca called out to her.

She glanced up and realized that they were all trying to reach her, but she had erected some kind of involuntary barrier between her and them. She had shrouded herself in silence and anger.

It hurt that much worse from Kael because he had tricked her. Tricked her into feeling for him. Tricked her into believing in him.

How could she have thought for one minute that she was a child of darkness? There might be darkness in her soul that rattled around like a caged bird. But she was a child of the light.

So, perhaps Kael was right.

They were a matched set.

The Heir of the Light and the Heir of the Darkness, drawn to each other like magnets. Destined to battle at the end.

And she was going to make damn sure that she won.

Cyrene dropped her barrier. She felt a considerable drain on her powers. She had been using anger, the remnants of her blood magic.

“Are you quite through?” Matilde asked.

“You’re only going to hurt yourself if you continue to use your energy in that way,” Vera said softly.

“I’m fine. I realized why the prophecy is a prophecy,” she muttered. “Destiny has a way of catching up with you.”

Just then, the door flew open, and Ahlvie and Orden traipsed into the room. They both stopped when they saw all of them standing in a circle around Cyrene with the room a disaster area.

“Uh…did I miss the party?” Ahlvie asked.

“Something like that,” Cyrene said.

“We’ve found a way out of Tahne,” Matilde said, straightening her skirts.

“The front door?” Orden asked.

Vera sent him a disapproving look. “We’ll need to leave as soon as possible.”

And that ended the conversation.

Their bags were swiftly packed, and their horses were removed from the stables.

Cyrene was still in a mood when they rode out of the gate and left the city of Tahne behind. She had barely seen anything in the city itself, and for once, she was grateful. Staying any longer than necessary in a city usually meant trouble. She’d had enough of that for one day. Between being awoken from bed by an Indres and finding out that Kael had sent Maelia to her death, she was glad to not run into any more trouble.

It was leagues of silent seething before Matilde and Vera gestured for them to move off the road. Cyrene had been so lost in her own head that, if Ceffy hadn’t been doing all the work for her, she never would have followed in line with everyone else.

“Can someone explain what is going on?” Ahlvie asked finally.

“Oh, you want answers?” Avoca snapped. “Perhaps you would get them if you gave them.”

“Avoca,” he murmured, “please.”

“No!” She held her hand up.

“We’re going to use the coin,” Vera said to end the argument.

“You figured out its use?” Orden asked in surprise.

“Quite by mistake.”

Matilde held the coin in her palm. “I think I’ve corrected it.”

“Corrected it?” Avoca asked.

“Rerouted the end destination,” Matilde said.

“Everyone stand back,” Vera directed.

They all moved into a single file line, facing an open field.

Matilde took a deep breath and then channeled her energy into the coin. Cyrene could see it flare to life before her eyes, burning red hot. Then, Matilde directed its energy at the open field. Out of nowhere, the field disappeared, and in its place was an empty nothingness.

“What the…” Ahlvie demanded.

“What kind of magic is this?” Orden asked. He didn’t sound frightened, just interested.

“Portaling. The talisman allows us to move to any portal in Emporia,” Vera explained.

“And from any portal to anywhere we choose as long as we know our destination,” Matilde added.

“That looks like we’re walking into darkness,” Ahlvie said.

“Thank you for pointing out the obvious,” Avoca muttered.

“It’s dark because the place we are traveling to was destroyed long before we were born,” Matilde said. “Now, move through before I break the connection.”

Vera used her magic to light a Doma Fire and then moved her horse through the open portal. As soon as she was through, the portal revealed a large moss-covered room.

“It appears deserted,” she called to them.

One by one, they moved through the portal. Cyrene lit her own Doma Fire and then went in second to last. As she stepped through, she expected some resistance, like a barrier, but there was nothing. It felt exactly the same as if she had just stepped into the field beyond.

Finally, Matilde entered through the portal, whispered a few words, and then closed her fist over the coin. The open field with Tahne off in the distance disappeared from view, as if they hadn’t even been there.

Cyrene glanced around the room. It was even worse than what she had witnessed in Aonia. The place was caved in and had been in such a manner for so long that nature took back over the ruins. The room smelled moldy and stagnant, and she could hear water drip, drip, dripping in the corner.

“This way,” Vera whispered, guiding their horses to a closed doorway.

She didn’t bother trying to wrench it open. She pried it open with her magic and guided her horse out into the sunlight. They moved out into the open and found themselves at the crest of a hill, surrounded on all sides by an unruly forest. Even in daylight, the trees and forest creatures seemed to lean in to see who their unwelcome visitors were.

“Where are we?” Cyrene whispered.

But it was Avoca who responded with awe in her voice, “The lost Leif city of Isola.”