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I have no game plan, no grand knowledge that could be the Thief of Souls’ undoing. All I have is determination and a few weapons.

I hope that’s good enough.

Taking a deep breath, I pass under the archway and officially enter the Kingdom of Death and Deep Earth.

Chapter 41

I wasn’t expectinggardens. Gardens filled with plants that probably have names like Bloodroot and Devil’s Bane, but gardens nonetheless. They extend to either side of me, boarding the stone pathway I stand on.

Galleghar is twenty feet ahead of me, walking up the pathway, and he doesn’t even bother looking back. Far ahead of us a palace made from pale stone reaches up towards the night sky, its towers and spires looking like the bones of a monster. The castle sits perched at the edge of an ocean.

The afterlife has anocean. My siren stirs at that.

The air is still icy and motionless, but this place, it looks like any other place in the Otherworld, with its manicured gardens and the night sky overhead. This is not at all how I’d imagine the afterlife.

I follow Galleghar up the stone path to the palace. The entire time we don’t see another soul.

The Thief is somewhere in this place. I can feel his dark magic pressing in on all sides, and I sense unseen eyes on me. But if he’s near, he’s not making himself known.

Galleghar steps up to two enormous doors. I stop alongside him.

“What now?” I ask.

In response, the massive double doors begin to groan open.

Galleghar gives me a chilling smile.

“After you,” he says, gesturing forward.

And have him at my back? I don’t think so.

“You lead the way,” I command.

The fallen king gives me a long look, then steps into the castle with me following at his back.

Inside, our footsteps echo. There’s an entryway, and side tables, tapestries, and strange plants growing up the castle’s walls. Basically, the kingdom of the dead’s castle looks like every other fae palace I’ve been to, which makes the whole experience frighteningly real.

I’ve never been more certain of my own mortality than this moment, stepping inside the palace of the King of Death and Deep Earth. It feels like I’ve moved too far from the land of the living.

But then, my heart throbs, my bond with Des giving a soft tug, and I nearly fall to my knees. Letting out a soft gasp, I press my hand to my chest.

I feel him. It’s weak, but Ifeelhim.

My Bargainer. The world stopped turning the moment he disappeared. Now, I can imagine it moving once more.

Desperation like I’ve never known, takes over. Turning inward, I try to use the pull of our bond to track where my mate is.

I’ve done this once before and it didn’t work, but now I move with my instincts, leaving Galleghar’s side and wandering through the castle, unaware of the rooms I’m moving through, focusing on that magical tether that’s reawakened now that I’m in the Land of Death and Deep Earth.

Wonder of wonders, I canfeelmy connection to Des subtly strengthening.

I’m doing it.I’m actually tracking my mate through our bond. The thought nearly takes my breath away.

My footsteps echo around me. Getting closer. I can feel it.

The next room I enter is covered from floor to ceiling with shelves upon shelves, each one crammed with jars and potions, books with gilded titles and instruments whose use I couldn’t possibly guess. Right in the middle of the room is an intricately carved marble slab, and lying on a slab is—

“Des.” His name, unbidden, spills out from my lips.