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Cyrus flipped him off before turning to the High Witch. “Any chance Cass can Travel us out? It’s not like we ever plan to come back here, so it doesn’t matter if we set off some wards.”

“I can hold them open long enough for Cassius to Travel us out,” Hazel agreed.

“Great,” Cyrus said, intertwining his fingers with Cass’s. “Let’s do that.”

It took a moment for Hazel to signal there was a tear in the wards, but the moment she did, Cyrus blinked.

And he was home.

He was godsdamnhome.

They’d come to Solembra after getting the ring from Mikale, but after being gone for long? Not knowing if he’d even make it back? He breathed it in like he had the first time. The mountains. The river.

No fucking sea.

Eliza appeared a few moments later, no doubt alerted by the wards that newcomers had just appeared inside the Palace. They’d had their reunion. He was certain Eliza had even cried, though she would deny it until her last breath.

As she approached him now with Razik at her side, Cyrus dropped to a knee, bowing his head. “Princess,” he intoned with dramatic reverence.

“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered. “I cannot believe I actually missed you.”

“Where is the other royal pain in the ass?” Cyrus asked, getting back to his feet and stretching his arms over his head.

“They should be back soon. A group of them went to Avonleya. Rayner wanted to check in on Tula, and Cethin and Kailia needed to check on some matters of their own,” Eliza answered, folding her arms across her chest. “Did you get it?”

“Yep,” Cyrus answered, taking the ring from his pocket and tossing it to her. She caught it with one hand, holding it up to look at it in the light.

“To think Eliné had a piece of a portal key all this time,” she murmured.

“To thinkTalwynhad a piece of a portal key all this time,” Cyrus said.

They’d been informed what Scarlett had done for the Earth Prince and Talwyn after the Earth Court battle two days ago. It was odd to look back and think about how much had changed in a year. That they were all on the same side. That Scarlett hadsavedTalwyn after everything.

Fuck, after everything Scarlett had been through in her short life, they were lucky she didn’t just burn their world to nothing at this point. He didn’t think he would blame her if she had.

Her ringing laughter pulled him from his thoughts as the main doors opened behind them and a group strolled in. Cethin, Kailia, and Tybalt. Rayner and Sorin. And there was Scarlett, hand-in-hand with Tula while the child chattered on about something or other.

“You brought Tula back?” Eliza asked, her brow arching.

“She will be just as safe here as she would be across the Edria,” Rayner answered, tracking the child as she ran full speed to look at the Tana River. “Plus, I am pretty sure she would have found her own way back if I had left her behind again. This was the safer option.”

“Did you bring any of the other children back?” Cyrus asked.

“No,” Scarlett answered. “Only because it’s something we could not oversee right now. We need to get to Callan and figure out this life-binding thing. That is it?”

She took the ring from Eliza, and the obsidian crest seemed to pulse.

“What was that?” Cassius asked.

“The portal key. Talwyn’s ring did the same thing when I took it off Tarek’s corpse,” Scarlett answered. She looked at Hazel. “We can do this now?”

“Wait,” Cassius interjected, and Scarlett tilted her head in question. He glanced at his mother. “Hazel said there are some things we need to consider before destroying the portal key.”

Sorin had come to stand beside Scarlett, and he asked, “Such as?”

“Just that this could have repercussions we are unaware of. We might not know what they are right away,” Cass answered.

“That can be said about every move we make,” Scarlett argued. “The mortal kings are bound to Maraan Lords because we took down wards without knowing the full extent of those actions. We will face them like we do everything else.”