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“Either that or they know where it is, but they don’t have the key to use it. Here’s to hoping the map can show us an exit after we’ve found the shadow fae.” Arabella patted Jessamine’s arm. “Get some rest.”

They settled into the coarse plants that were an unnaturally dark shade of green.

As Arabella drifted off to sleep, trying to ignore the feeling of eyes upon them, she thought about what Jessamine had said.

How would they get out of the Abyss? Would they be stuck here for all eternity like the shadow fae?

Ifthe shadow fae were even here.

Chapter Eleven

ARABELLA

Arabella blinked, finding herself in the center of a darkness quite unlike the Abyss.

She floated in a place void of light with no horizon, no sky, and no other sign of life. As her feet touched down where the ground should be, she glanced down at her hands, which glowed with a gray-white light.

The dream, she realized.This is the same dream I had about Elias.

Why had she returned to this place now?

Heart racing, she glanced around and scanned the surrounding darkness.

Empty.

He’s not here.

Something inside her chest twisted.

Even if the phantom Elias appeared, it was just a conjuring of her mind. It wouldn’t be her erox.

Instinctively, she reached for the bond in her chest. There was the faintest flicker of flames, but she still couldn’t tell what he was feeling. She wondered if Magnus was torturing him at that very moment.

While she needed to learn to control what she felt down the bond when they returned to the mortal and fae realms, she found herself missing the sensations, even the pain, because it served as a reminder that he was out there.

That he was alive.

Another thought struck her.

Would the Elias she rescued be the same male, or would these experiments forever change him?

Something tickled her cheek.

Reaching up, she was surprised to find a tear there.

Was it possible to cry in dreams? She wasn’t sure she ever had before.

As tears rolled down her cheeks, she succumbed to the deep sadness filling her—and a deeper regret for the time they’d wasted at odds with one another.

Please,she thought, reaching for the flickering flames in her chest.I need you.

The shadows around her twisted as though awakening from a deep slumber.

Suddenly, something strummed in her chest. It was as though a harp chord had been plucked, and a single, long note reverberated. The vibration rippled out from her, and then a gray-blue light shimmered on the distant horizon.

Brows drawing together, she stared at where she’d seen the flash of light.

“Elias!” she shouted.