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Jessamine offered him a glare and nothing more.

None of them stopped as Hadeon ran beside them.

“Do you feel guilty for not trying to rescue Prince Arden sooner?” Arabella dared, her voice sharp. “Oh wait, you don’tfeelguilt. Do you? Or else, you wouldn’t be leaving them to this fate a second time.”

He sighed heavily. “I thought Arden was dead until the moment I met you.”

“What?”

“Before my mother’s ball, I’d thought the shadow fae were dead. I’d forgotten of Arden’s map and talks of the Abyss. There had been so much going on during the fae wars with most of the courts preparing for war that it wasn’t at the top of my mind.” Pausing, he eyed her with that strange, knowing look of his. “Then I laid eyes on you. And you looked just likeher.”

“My mother,” she said, bitterness evident in her tone.

“It was you who made me recall my discussions with Arden,” he said. “I wondered where the map might be. Because if Arden had it, surely, he would have returned by now.”

Understanding clicked inside her, bringing with it a tide of fury.

“You made a bargain with me, knowing I was a shadow fae.”

“Suspecting,” he corrected. “But yes.”

“Are you trying to give us more reasons to hate you?” Jessamine spat.

“Myla was kinder to me than my own mother,” Hadeon said, surprising Arabella as true sorrow filled his voice. “I didn’t help her escape, but I wish I had.”

“If you had, the Everdark wouldn’t have killed her and my father,” Arabella said.

His brows rose. “I’d always wondered what happened to them. One day, they just… disappeared. My father never explained what happened to her. I had assumed she’d died on one of his missions.”

Something in her chest twisted, and it was all she could do not to lash out with her magic. While she knew she should press Hadeon for answers, she was too fucking tired. Everything she’d learned from the Everdark and about the shadow fae had been… a lot. And she now had to figure out just what ramifications her new demon magic would have—and how she’d need to feed. She couldn’t raise a hand against Hadeon while her bargain hadn’t been fulfilled. That meant, if she becamehungry, she might be tempted to feed on Jessamine.

And she refused to let that happen.

She turned her focus back to the sands and moving one foot in front of another.

Unlike their previous trek, they didn’t encounter a demon in their days of travel—or at least what they estimated was the passing of days. They were also able to journey farther without the need to seek out an oasis since Hadeon had packed extra supplies.

As they journeyed, she wondered if the demons didn’t approach them because her demon magic had been unleashed. Maybe they wouldn’t encroach on the territory of another demon.

A foolish part of her hoped they’d come under attack if only to slow them down. It would give Arden and the warriors more time to catch up with them.

But they didn’t encounter any opposition.

Far too soon, a deeper darkness materialized on the horizon.

As they neared it, she realized it was a leafless forest. Hundreds of trees of varying heights clustered together in the sand. Some were taller than the Quarter in Shadowbank and others were twice the height of a man. The largest trees’ trunks had deep grooves as though a great beast had clawed them. But they weren’t dead. Instead, the trees appeared as though they’djust shaken the leaves loose in preparation for winter—that life would return in a few short months.

Frowning, she studied the line where the desert met the trees.

Unlike before, she didn’t need the Everdark’s magic to make the map work, which was fortunate for Hadeon since the greater demon had been scarce since awakening her magic. She wondered if it had done something to the Everdark—perhaps temporarily weakened him.

She gestured with the tilt of her chin. “The gateway is ahead.”

Hadeon motioned for her to walk forward, and she did, eyeing the trees’ twisting branches. But even as she tried to remain vigilant, she felt her limbs and eyelids grow heavy. They had traveled for days with little rest. Hadeon had pressed them to keep moving to ensure they stayed ahead of the shadow fae.

As she walked through the trees, she said over her shoulder to Jessamine, “If you feel sick, let me know.”

Jessamine made a sound of assent.