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She blinked.

She’d forgotten there was a fuckingsmellto fae when partners found their mates. Closing her eyes, she felt toward the tightness in her chest.

But… Hadeon was right.

Reaching toward where the bond should be, there was a tiny flower made of flickering flames within her chest. It hadn’t been snuffed out. Somehow, she knew the swaying of the flames was in time with Elias’ every breath.

He was alive.

Opening her eyes, she swiped a sleeve over her damp cheeks.

Hadeon extended a gloved hand toward her, and she belatedly realized he held the map. “Be more careful next time.”

Frowning, she nodded. She must have dropped the map when…

Just what had happened? One moment, there was that awful screeching sound in her mind, and then her thoughts weren’t entirely her own. It was like a presence, a strange drive, had filled her and willed her steps forward.

Like something wanted her here.

She shook her head. Whatever had caused her to go through the gateway—whether it was something or someone—was yet another question without an answer. And one she’d have to deal with later. For now, she needed to make sure Jessamine was okay.

Hurrying over to her friend, she felt for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a strong heartbeat.

Jessamine was fine.

The gateway had just been too much for her.

“You’re conscious.” Breckett gestured in Arabella’s general vicinity.

“Unfortunately for all of us, so are you,” she said halfheartedly as she brushed Jessamine’s hair out of her eyes.

He was right though. She hadn’t passed out from going through the gateway like she had the other times. Did repetition make traveling through it easier? Or did the destination impact the difficulty for enchantresses to travel by gateway? She suspected the reason gateways made enchantresses ill had something to do with the unnatural nature of the tear in the world. After all, enchantress magic was rooted in nature, and whatever magic had created the gateways was entirely different.

Although she’d been fine going through the gateway this time, Jessamine hadn’t been so fortunate. Perhaps the reason was something else entirely—something she had yet to consider.

Breckett made a sound that she was going to pretend was complimentary.

“Fortunately for me, you’re on your feet,” he said as he walked away from Jessamine’s unconscious form, his eyes on the distant horizon. “So, you can carry her.”

“And you can read the map.” Arabella scooped Jessamine off the ground and into her arms. When Breckett didn’t reply, she shifted her friend over her shoulder, holding her with one arm as she opened the map with the other.

To her utter shock, the once empty map flowed with dry ink as it spread across the parchment, filling it with illustrations and a distinct, thick black line across it that led toward a large X.

How…?

But she wasn’t about to question their sudden luck.

Hadeon appeared at her side. “I’ll be damned.”

She was about to say she had nothing to do with the map’s sudden agreeableness, but Breckett spoke first.

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re amongst thedamned,” the erox hissed from where he stood at the edge of a nearby hill of sand, overlooking stretches of a deep, fathomless desert. “We may very well become one of them if we remain for too long.”

Right.

It was time they were off.

Biting her lip, she looked at the surrounding desert and then glanced down at the map. There were a series of lines, which looked like waves at first glance. After a moment, she realized they were meant to be the rolling hills of sand. Across the top of the map was what appeared to be a massive mountain range. Then tiny clusters of trees were dotted throughout the desert.