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Tomorrow I will go to Valandria and Hecate. She’ll help me finish my training. But more than that, I want someone to tell me that it’s all going to be okay.

Even if it is a lie.

Chapter 5

What Would a Badass Do?

Imake a decision somewhere in the dark hours before dawn.

I didn’t sleep at all, there’s too much going on in my head. And spending time with Killian and his troop of wolf shifters has brought thoughts of Khaosti to the forefront of my brain.

What’s happened to him?

Where is he?

He betrayed me to his father and part of me hates him for that. But I sort of understand—he didn’t know me back then and of course his loyalty would lie with his own father. Even if Khronus is the biggest asshole ever. He might even be a bigger asshole than my own father and that’s saying something.

And in the end, Khaos chose me.

He defied his father and helped me escape.

I know he cares. I’m just not sure how much.

I have a flashback to the feel of him on me, in me. His hot skin and his touch and… Anyway, there’s no point in thinking about that. But I’m worried. My best guess is that he made it through a mirror—he was so close—but it took him somewhere else. Maybe Valandria.

Khaosti believes—erroneously—that all mirrors lead to the Chamber of Mirrors on Astrali. So say if you want to go from Earth to Valandria, you must pass through the chamber. And he—quite rightly—is probably very wary of going back there and encountering his father. So he’s stuck wherever he is.

That’s my best-case scenario.

But there’s also the possibility that he was injured and can’t get to me.

Or worse…but I won’t even go there.

But there is one place I might be able to get more information. When we were first attacked by the shadowguard, Zayne was seriously injured and Khaosti took us to a safe house. It was run by an ex-guardian called Brown. Apparently, all the ex-guardians who run safe houses are renamed Brown—how fucked up is that? More Khronus crap.

But if anyone might have knowledge of Khaosti’s whereabouts, it’s Brown.

I think we’ll do a little detour, pop in on Brown at the safe house, see if he has any news. Of course there is the chance that he might betray us, but I got the distinct impression that Brown wasn’t a big fan of Khronus. Or even Khaosti. So, on balance, I think it’s worth the risk.

Then we’ll head to Valandria.

I’m not sure how the logistics for the first part are going to work. We can’t all fit on Zayne’s bike, but I’ll worry about that later.

When the first light of dawn appears at the edges of the curtains, I ease out of bed. Josh mutters something in his sleep but then rolls over and settles. I drag on my jeans, grab my boots and tiptoe out, closing the door quietly behind me.

I pull on my boots and head toward the kitchen in search of coffee. I pass an open door into what looks like the living room. At least there’s a big couch with an unconscious Zayne sprawled across it. I creep in and crouch down. He looks younger when he’s asleep, with a sweetness totally lacking in his waking self.

A wave of guilt washes over me.

I’ve dragged him into this life.

Though to be honest, Zayne was always heading for some sort of trouble.

And anyway, only people with some Astrali blood survive the bite of the shadowguard. The rest die. So in some small way, he was always part of my world.

Zayne lets out a little snore that wakes him up, and he blinks at me, then groans.

“You want a coffee?” I ask.