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Landers’s fingers curled into a fist at his words as the vein in his neck began to rapidly pump.

“Keep her in the dark about what?” Wren interjected, his words sharp as his gaze bounced between Dukovich and Landers.

“My ancestors are the Fallen Ones; I will bring the dragon fire,” Landers said, his jaw tightening with every word.

Wren’s eyes widened as his lips parted, readying to voice the shock that I could see bleed into his features, but before the words could slip out, I grasped his wrist and squeezed it gently. I shook my head, silently pleading for him to stay quiet as understanding dawned on his face. He closed his mouth and nodded in agreement as I turned back to Dukovich.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I said, slipping my hand into Landers’s and shooting Dukovich a warning glance. I was not going to spend this whole trip with him working tirelessly to rile all of us up.

“Tether to The Silliands realm passage but do not step foot out of the bounds of Ithia until I can glamour us. Once we get there, we will have to walk over the border or else they will be alerted that someone has just tethered into their territory and an army will be on us before we can catch our breath,” Dukovich said as he fastened his sword to his back. There was a bite in his tone, and as I watched him I could sense the current of nervous energy running just under the surface of his composed exterior.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Landers asked me quietly. I met his gaze, and for the first time since making this decision, fear shot down my spine.

“Yes.” I pushed as much confidence as I could into the answer but it fell woefully short as my voice cracked. I nodded up at him as I gripped his hand and before I could give myself any more time to hesitate, pulled us into the tether.

Landers pulled me against his body as we whirled through the ether. The oxygen started to thin the longer we stayed inside its force, and the familiar sensation of my limbs being pulled from my body began to creep into my muscles. Panic began to trickle into my blood. It was taking too long; we should have been there by now. I had never tethered such a long distance myself, I had always been pulled in someone else’s.

I shouldn’t have been the one to do this, should not have pulled us into the tether so quickly. I didn’t even know how to land in the correct place. Bile began to rise up my throat as my heart started thumping against my ribcage like an ominous drum.

Light crashed into my vision as our feet hit solid ground. The force from the tether pushed me onto my knees as I sucked in the fresh air. My palms connected with the rocky ground and the sting of their jagged edges rippled up my arms as I slowly lifted my head. An audible gasp flung itself from my lungs as I started into the towering black opening in front of me. If I had tethered us even an inch further, The Silliands would have been alerted.

Relief poured through my veins as Landers’s hand slipped under my arm and pulled me from the ground.

“Next time, I think I will do the tethering,” he said, smirking at me as I brushed the dirt from my knees.

“I got us here, didn’t I?” I responded as I pulled my hair onto the top of my head.

“You did.Barely.” He winked, chuckling to himself as Dukovich and Wren materialized beside us.

I had never actually seen the realm passage between The Silliands and Ithia. Last time I’d been here, I’d been dying, flying over it on Nithra’s back. It was beautiful, carved into the base of the Elmmere Mountains with symbols and words in the dead language etched along the edges of its opening. Vines and flowers blossomed around the giant, round cavern that we were about to walk into, hanging over the edges like a beautiful curtain. The allure of it made it almost eerie, considering what depravity laid just beyond it.

A bird flew overhead, singing its melody across the skies as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, knowing it would be the last of the fresh oxygen I would inhale in the next few days. Just the memory of the stench-filled air of The Silliands made me want to vomit.

A tingle pricked over the surface of my skin and I looked down at my hands to see a slight shimmer. I turned my hand over, examining it as I flipped my palm toward the ground.

“Is this the glamour?” I asked, not pulling my eyes away from my skin.

“Yes, you are now invisible,” Dukovich responded and I grinned up at him.

“You are definitely going to have to teach me to do this,” I said as he chuckled at the awe surely shining on my face.

“Let’s just get through the next few days without being murdered,” Dukovich responded, blowing out a huff of air as he took in the passage that seemed to beckon us into it.

“Well, shall we do this?” Wren asked, eying the opening cautiously as he ran a hand over his jaw. He took a step toward it and I grabbed his wrist.

“Wait.” All three pairs of eyes snapped to me and something akin to hope flashed behind Landers’s irises, like he had beenwaiting for this moment, for me to change my mind. “Please promise me, no matter what threat they spit at us, that none of you will act out. I need them alive.” The three of them stared blankly back at me. “Promise me,” I snapped again and in unison they all nodded their heads in my direction as I let out a harsh breath. “Let’s go.”

Chapter twenty-three

ATALIIA

Mylimbsfeltheavyas I stirred from sleep and stretched my fingers across the sheets, searching for Andrues’s warmth to shield me from the freezing air that flowed through the open window.

But they did not find him.

My throat tightened as shame and embarrassment flooded my body. After what I’d done last night, after the cruelty I’ve shown—I would not have stayed with me either. He had done his job, mended me and pulled the toxins from my body to keep me from slipping into death’s lair.

That was all he had been here to do.