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The engine roared to life as Kato kicked on the accelerator, tearing across the battlefield to catch up with Eula’s rapidly retreating form.

Behind them, the ground trembled as the entire army surged forward, a tide of bodies giving chase.

Chapter 85

The Gate Watchers were dead. Aneirin’s army had repurposed their camp.

From where he hid in the shadow of one of those towering piles of metal and scrap, Skye could see the Aion Gate rising over the chaotic maze of tents, guards, and arcane wards crackling with dark energy.

That’s where he needed to be. He knew it in his bones.

Breathing deep, Skye focused. His form shimmered, the edges blurring as though dissolving into smoke. A heartbeat later, his body fractured into countless particles, each one vanishing into the shadows like drops of ink in water.

The shadow essence held him together, preventing the pieces from scattering beyond his ability to pull back.

The world looked different in this form. Muted. Light existed in patches, diffuse and distant, while darkness stretched endlessly. Everything else was reduced to faint outlines.

Moving wasn’t walking or running—it was slipping, gliding from one pool of shadow to the next. If anyone were to look, they might catch a flicker, a cloud of black smoke threading across the spaces between patches of darkness. Not a shape so much as a suggestion, elusive enough to leave them questioning if they’d seen anything at all.

Guards patrolled the area, but Skye was unseen, unheard. He could feel Taly’s presence, a faint, lingering echo of the bond. It called to him. Each step brought him closer, the Aion Gate looming ever larger. He could feel its pull on his aether, how it made the amorphous haze of his form stretch and distort.

One of the guards shifted. Skye froze, holding his breath.

And then something else slipped out of the shadows behind him.

A black, four-footed something that Skye reached for but failed to pull back.

Calcifer!

Just what he needed—the obnoxious little beast deciding it was part of the rescue team.

The mimic slinked by as a lanky cat, weaving through the legs of the stocky guard with a beard like tangled roots. “Hey there, kitty.” He reached down a hand— “Ow.”

Calcifer bit him and ran.

“Why you little—”

It was just enough of a distraction for Skye to slip by unnoticed. He made a mental note to thank the little beast.

Finally, he made it through the camp. Skye coalesced from the surrounding shadows, the darkness pooling and thickening until it solidified into flesh. His breath returned first, sharp and ragged, followed by the weight of his body, then the wild drumming of his heart as he looked up.

At the top of a long set of stone stairs that led to its base, Taly stood silhouetted in the brilliance of the Aion Gate. Her gown flowed around her. Her hair whipped in the gusting wind. The crown upon her head gleamed like molten gold, radiant against the flood of light behind her.

“Taly!” His voice was rough, barely carrying over the roar of the Gate and the swirling winds.

She turned slowly, her gaze cool and detached. As if she were seeing him from a great distance.

Her eyes were no longer solely gray. They burned like twin, incandescent suns. He could sense the power rolling off her.

The warm water lapped gently against their bodies, the scent of lavender and steam rising in the air.

Taly’s voice trembled as she finally said it. “The Time Shard… Skye, I… I think she’s chosen me.”

The words dropped like a stone between them.

Skye stilled, keeping his gaze steady on her, watching the uncertainty on her face. He felt a thousand things at once—fear, shock, maybe even a little resentment. Understanding. No wonder she’d seemed so shell-shocked this week.

But none of it showed on his face. That wasn’t what she needed from him right now.