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“You actually bake,” Scarlett said, her eyes shining with amusement as Sorin and Rayner made their way to her.

“What do you need for this Mark?” Rayner asked, ignoring his High Queen.

“Just some blood from each of you,” Scarlett said, pulling a dagger from her shadows.

Sorin stood back and watched as Scarlett drew the Mark that would bind Rayner and Tula, and he smiled as their family grew a little more.

* * *

“Discover anything interesting?” Sorin asked when he walked into the chamber that housed the mirror gate in the Runic Lands.

Scarlett stood before the mirror in a simple amethyst gown, her hair loose around her shoulders and shadows drifting around her.

She huffed a sigh as she crossed her arms. “No. I wish I did. I would love to meet the female who could actually speak to us through these things.”

“She was interesting,” Sorin agreed.

“So I hear,” Scarlett murmured, still scrutinizing the mirror.

He had told her of the female with deep red hair who drank from a cup made of paper. The things she had said and how she had helped them call Scarlett back to this world. Scarlett had spent a few hours a day here whenever she could. The books she had hauled with her were scattered across the long table, scribbles and notes written on parchment.

“They are waiting for us,” Sorin said before she could get too lost in her thoughts again.

Her brows shot up. “Already? I did not realize so much time had passed.”

“You tend to lose track of time when you come here,” he answered, dropping a hand to her lower back to usher her out of the chamber.

When the doors were securely closed behind her, Sorin Traveled them to Shira Forest where Cethin, Kailia, and Saylah were waiting for them. Eliza was in Avonleya the most out of all of them, but Scarlett and Sorin had a standing dinner arrangement with Cethin every week. Scarlett made it a point to Travel over more often though, and he knew a few of those times she and Cethin had spent time at the Elshira Castle with their mother.

However, the goddess had finally regained enough strength back to be able to leave.

They had only had two of those weekly dinners, but it had been discussed at great length over those meals whether or not Saylah could remain in this world. Halaya. That’s what he’d learned their world was called in other realms. There was an argument to be made that she could stay. But in the end, the goddess had made the decision for them.

That didn’t stop Cethin from asking one last time, “Are you sure about this, Mother?”

“This world has faced enough because of my presence,” Saylah answered.

“Achaz will still come for us,” Cethin argued.

Saylah gave him a tight smile. “Perhaps someday, but I believe Temural and I are a higher priority at the moment. As for you two.” She turned, fixing her muted silver gaze on Scarlett. “He will not come for you until he is prepared to face an equal. He cannot fight both a World Walker and Arius. My leaving will draw his focus elsewhere for a time.”

Still trying to protect her children, even after all this, Sorin realized.

A panther stalked from the trees, coming to sit at Scarlett’s side, and she ran her fingers through her midnight coat. The spirit animals would be leaving as well. Saylah had explained she had bargained for their help to fight in the battle in Halaya. Now that it was over, they must return to the sides of the gods and goddesses they were bound to. But Sorin had seen Scarlett’s notes. He knew that someday she would come for them as their High Queen. Someday she would find a way to free them of the curse that bound them to gods and to their animal forms.

With a final scratch behind the panther’s ears, Scarlett moved forward, Chaos flowing from her and into the mirror gate, funneling into Temural’s symbol. The glass of the mirror swirled with darkness, embers of white light blurred as they whirled past until a male stood in the mirror.

Taller than any of them, he had long black hair that was tied back at the nape of his neck. Twin swords were at his waist, and a crown of gilded leaves and feathers sat atop his head. Pine green eyes narrowed on all of them before the cry of an eagle sounded and Altaria appeared, diving to Cethin’s shoulder. The male in the mirror tracked the eagle, before his gaze flicked to Saylah, and he gave a jerk of his chin.

Temural.

Saylah would be going to whatever world her brother currently inhabited.

“He and Altaria are very close,” Saylah said, the eagle clicking his beak. “Both are anxious to be reunited.”

“Are all the bonds with the spirit animals that way?” Scarlett asked. “With the gods and goddesses, I mean.”

“Many of them are, but there are others. There are those bound to Achaz and those who fight on his side of the Everlasting War,” Saylah answered, more of the spirit animals appearing. Scarlett started to ask something else, but Saylah held up her hand. “This was before my time, Scarlett. I do not have the answers you seek.”