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So this is how Des’s final ally defeated the enemy. They simply killed them all off.

My eyes sweep over the landscape again. Des and I have arrived at the edge of a large floating island. Here, where the land gives way to sky, the pyres sit like grim sentinels. Beyond them, I can only make out the hazy outline of a tangle of flora what appears to be a looming mountain range.

The sun glares down at us through the haze, and on any other day, I’m sure this kingdom is a glorious sight, but right now, the place is like spoiled wine.

Next to me, the Bargainer squints up at the sun, which now burns blood red through the haze of smoke.

“I’ve always hated this place,” he says. “Too bright for my taste. But this …” He shakes his head. “This makes me wish for those insufferably bright days.” He takes my hand, and with that, the two of us head towards the looming mountains.

“We’re not walkingthe entire way, are we?” I glance above us as we pass under a bright green tree, violet flowers growing from its branches. Around us, the vegetation presses in from all sides. I can only see about fifty feet ahead, and it’salljungle.

“Cheer up, cherub, you have me as company, and I am anexcellentconversationalist.”

Crap, we are totally walking the entire way. That sucks extra balls when the air smells like a graveyard.

I wince. “The smell might legit kill me first.”

Des plucks a deep blue flower from a nearby vine, sliding it behind my ear. “We can’t have that now,” he says.

He leads us to a stairway I almost miss because it blends in with its surroundings so well. It’s woven from vines and leaves and it winds up a tree trunk and ascends high into the air. Once we’re level with the canopies of trees, the stairway levels, turning into a bridge that sways as we walk along it.

“What’s with the bridge?” I ask.

“What about it?” Des asks, disappearing only to reappear yards away at the end of the bridge, arms crossed.

“Ugh, you never ‘walk’ to the palace, do you? You simply pop into existence there.”

Des’s eyes twinkle. “Sometimes—okay,mostof the time, but that’s because Janus hates it so much.”

Just as I reach him, he disappears, winking into existence farther along the bridge, where it twists between trees.

“Are you going to do this the entire way?” I complain.

“Maybe.”

“Well, can you make me disappear with you at least?” I ask, waving away some of the hazy smoke that’s hanging in the air.

“It doesn’t work like that—not unless we cobound our power.”

“But I thought that being bonded meant we shared magic.” As I speak, I reach down our bond and tug on Des’s power.

“We do, cherub, but it doesn’t quite work the same way and—” I see his teeth set on edge even as he lets out a little laugh, “you’re trying to use my magic.”

Can you blame me? I mean, the dude can teleport. I want to do that. The rope bridge is cool and all, but I don’t want towalk.

I pull on our bond one final time, feeling Des’s magic slip into my veins and travel down to my fingertips. For the briefest of moments, the air subtly darkens. Then it dissipates, along with my mate’s powers.

“Fine,” I say. “I’ll stop, but I’m not thrilled to be walking.”

“Duly noted.”

“We could fly.”

“We could,” Des agrees, which is fairy speak foryeah, no. Since I don’t know where our destination precisely is, I’m stuck following his ass. On foot.

Boo.

I toe the woven walkway. “I still don’t understand this bridge,” I mutter.