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I saw Asher’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Asher

We had arrived.

The first stirrings of adrenaline spread through my veins at the thought of the portal and the creatures that waited for us.

I parked the Kia Picanto out of view behind a rocky outcrop and sat for a moment, lungs heaving painfully. My heart pounded like a jackhammer, reminding me what I was about to do.

I’d never hated myself more than I did right now.

Next to me, Lana had been oddly quiet. Fidgety.

She knew.

She had to know.

I glanced at her—all doe-eyed innocence—and guilt stabbed my chest like a hot spike. My coldness was torturing her.

I could see it in her eyes, the way they darted between mine, searching desperately for something that wasn’t there.

Something I’d locked away.

I could sense her fear, her mortification, her shame... as it slowly dawned on her.

That she had given herself to a monster.

That she had chosen a mate who was neither demon nor man, but something else.

A remorseless killing machine.

A betrayer.

That was what I had become.

“There’s an island on Abyssos we can go to,” she said softly. “It’s like Earth, it’s cool and green and there’s a spring of clean water. It’s to be my inheritance, and I think... I think you would like it there...” She trailed off and tucked her hair behind her ear, looking unsure of herself. “You will come to Abyssos, right? Even though I don’t have your blood to bind you, anymore?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded.

“I will,” I lied.

Outside, the wind whistled up the barren volcanic slope. It blew right through me, chilling me to the bone. We were nowhere near the snow-capped peak of the mountain, but even this far up the air was icy.

I stepped to the edge of the crevice Lana had led us to and peered down. Jagged rock twisted down into inky blackness. The portal lay somewhere deep inside there. Warm, sulfuric fumes vented up from its depths. My nose scrunched at the smell.

I wedged my fingers into cracks and began to ease myself down, wincing on my bad leg, which hadn’t recovered much since the car accident.

Much more nimble, Lana hopped down to the bottom and waited patiently, and when I reached her, she ducked into the mouth of the cave, shimmying sideways until she vanished. I crawled after her, jaw locked against the sickening claustrophobia setting in.

To my relief, the cave opened up the other side. I stood up, marveling at the sight beyond.

Lined with flickering torches, a broad staircase spiraled down into the earth, carved right into the rock.

The entrance to the underworld.

Unlike the portal at White Sulfur Springs, this one looked like it was meant for kings, the walls and floor intricately carved.

As we started down the stairs, Lana reached for my hand, her grasp timid at first. I squeezed her palm before I remembered and my stomach knotted up.