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Aneirin was in Strio.

And not new Strio: the extravagant cluster of country manors the nobility had built farther inland so they could spend their summers hunting the forests and vacationing by the sea. He was inoldStrio. The Strio located at the southeastern tip of the island that most people generally avoided.

Once a major port, it had fallen to ruin in the years after the Schism. The land wasn’t good for farming—water runoff from the mines had poisoned the soil. And with harpies to the north, nesting grendels to the east, and kelpies roaming the beaches, the area was inhospitable, to say the least. And hard to access, even by sea. The three Gates that used to line the coastline, each of them large enough to allow ocean freighters to pass between worlds, had shattered and now jutted up from the waves like the bones of a carcass, forming a wall of sharp, jagged points ready to pierce a ship’s hull.

In short, it made sense why Aneirin had based his enclave there.

“I’ve suspected now for a while that’s where the bastard was holed up,” Ivain said, sweeping his hand over the map set up in the corner of his study. “The old mines are a perfect breeding ground for shades.”

“So, what’s the problem?” Sarina asked.

“The problem is you’ve got magical beasts cutting off access by land and shattered shipping Gates by sea,” Ivain said. “Getting to him is impossible, unless you’re prepared to die trying.”

Arms folded, Taly leaned forward, her gaze scanning the map’s carefully drawn lines and marked positions. Skye watchedher, the places where her eyes darted. Through the bond, he could feel the gears in her head turning.

“What is it?” he asked.

She pointed to a place on the map. He recognized it. He and Kato had left a small crater in that part of the woods with a failed riftway repair. Her finger dragged straight east, then north, before zigzagging southwest.

“That’s it,” she murmured. “Yeah… I think that’ll work.” She looked up at them, all huddled around Ivain’s war map. “I know how to get to him.”

“How?” Sarina demanded.

Taly opened her mouth to explain, then shook her head. “Come with me.”

She led them to the fifth floor, her desk in the common area. For months now, Skye had watched her scry. Then he’d watched her retreat here, where she’d sit for hours hunched by the window trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle only she could see.

The desktop was organized chaos—a carefully curated jumble of maps, texts, and scribbled notes. At the center was the map they’d received from Grizzlethorn, now marked with the riftways they’d identified, the keys they’d secured, and any other information she’d collected meticulously noted alongside.

“It’ll take a few jumps, but we have a route,” she said.

Skye followed the trail her fingers traced—the connection of lines, marks, and, most importantly,keys. She was right. It would be dangerous. Some of the riftways were too far to scout, and they couldn’t be sure if they were still intact. But it was… possible.And in moments like this, possible felt like a battle half-won.

Something unfamiliar stirred in his chest. Something that almost felt like…hope.

Ivain stood with his arms crossed, one finger idly grazing his chin as he studied the riftway map. The afternoon sun cut a swathe across the floor, dust dancing in its path.

“Taly?” he said after a moment.

“Yes?”

“How many of those—what did you call them again? Infants? Kindlings?”

“BABIES.”

“Right. How many do you have left?”

Skye had tried to limit how much explosive power Taly had stored away, not because he didn’t trust her—he didn’t trust herrestraint. Her version of subtlety was the kind that left rubble in its wake.

So, it did nothing to help his nerves when she smiled like that, sharp and full of trouble.

It helped even less when Ivain mirrored it.

Chapter 79

“This isn’t going to work,” Skye said into the chill morning air.

“I agree. We’ll get blown to bits long before we get to the riftway,” Kato replied. The brothers were dressed for battle, both in armor with black cloaks, the same as Ivain and Eula following behind them.