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Slowly, she nodded.

A life on the run sounded exhausting. While she had every intention of looking for a way to kill Magnus, it was possible she’d share Breckett’s fate. But if spending her days fleeing from the sorcerer was the only way she could be with Elias, then so be it.

“Taking the syphen makes you no better than Hadeon,” Breckett said in a softer tone, the words seeped in an emotion she couldn’t quite identify. “When he calls in that favor, you’ll lose your free will, too. Likely only for a time, but you won’t be able to refuse.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” she said, filled with both sadness and determination. “Perhaps I’m no better than the fae prince. I will do whatever is necessary to protect those I love. In this world, we either fight to protect those we love, or we lose them.”

The idea of being compared to Hadeon had something twisting inside her, but she didn’t disagree entirely with what Breckett said. She forcibly pushed the guilt back.

I’ll become whatever I must to protect Elias and Shadowbank.

“The ambiance of this place sucks,” a female voice said from behind her. “It’s so fucking dark, I can hardly see anything.”

Turning, Arabella sheathed the syphen and smiled. “Did you have a nice nap?”

Jessamine spat into the sand. “No. My head aches like a gargoyle sat on it.”

Her eyes fixed on something above, and Arabella followed her gaze.

Dark wings filled the sky as something descended toward them. In a burst of wind, the prince landed, sending sand flying in every direction.

Spitting into the sand again, Jessamine rose to her feet. “I think I have sand inside my skull.”

“The oasis is about ten or fifteen miles from here,” Hadeon said. “It’s small—hardly more than a cluster of trees.”

“Did you spot any life?” Arabella asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing I can see. But there’s… something nearby. A presence has been lingering at the edge of my senses.”

“Whatever it is will show its face before long,” Jessamine said as she shook her jacket. “Demons always do. That’s when things will get interesting.”

“Don’t instigate the undead,” Breckett hissed. “It’s best to avoid the notice of anything that walks these lands. Or maybe whatever it is will think we're too insignificant to bother coming after. Because,” he pointed to Hadeon, “even the prince may not be strong enough to fend off what lives here.”

Jessamine tied her leather jacket around her waist, crossing her arms before turning to Arabella. “Do all demons have his temperament?”

Arabella bit her lip. She’d likely just pissed Breckett off by refusing to return the syphen to him and didn’t want to rub sand in his wound. And his caution wasn’t unwarranted.

“Let’s head to the oasis,” she said. “We’ll need water no matter what comes next.”

“Erox don’t need to drink or eat,” Breckett said helpfully.

Groaning, she glared up at the starless sky before leveling her gaze on the erox. “Then you’ll drag our parched asses across the sand if we become too dehydrated to walk on our own.”

He muttered something in response, which she chose to ignore.

Studying the map, she eyed the line that led west—or what she was going to assume was west. As she looked closely, she spotted a marking with a cluster of trees. The oasis. The next similar marking was at least five times the distance on the map from the first one. If the first oasis was ten miles away, would itbe another fifty miles until they came across water? If that was true, they’d be dead long before they reached the shadow fae on the opposite end of the map.

The opposite end of Abyss.

Hadeon came to stand next to her, gesturing to the map. “May I?”

Nodding, she passed it to him. When his gloved hands enclosed around the parchment, the ink sunk back into the map. The markings disappeared as though they never were, leaving behind a blank document.

“Fascinating,” he said before handing the map back to her.

Instantly, it filled with dry ink, and markings flowed across the parchment until it was illustrated once more. Her eyes lingered on Hadeon’s gloved hands and how he was careful to remain just out of reach.

Without another word, she continued westward, and the others followed.