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Finally, we reach the top of the mountain and pause in the shadow of the city walls. They’re over twenty feet high, split by a huge empty gateway in front of us. There’s no gate—it’s long gone, and the archway has fallen into ruin. I say a silent prayer to any god or goddess willing to listen.Please be there.

Thanouq leads the way through the empty gateway.

And I follow. On the other side I stop my horse and stare. And grin. And cry. Because she’s there and waiting for me.

And I slip off my horse and run into her arms.

Chapter 23

A Reunion

“Well, that was an impressive entrance,” Hecate murmurs in my ear. Her arms are wrapped around me, and my nostrils fill with the familiar smell of her—warmth, spices, and…home. My eyes prick, and I don’t want to let her go. I feel safe for the first time in…forever. I tighten my arms around her and feel her chuckle against me, but finally, she pushes me from her, holds me at arm’s length, and looks me over.

“I would have actually preferred something a little less conspicuous,” she says.

I presume she’s commenting on my “impressive” entrance. Not the word I would have used.

“A little less…dramatic perhaps,” she adds.

I sigh. “I didn’t have a lot of options at the time. It was that or…” Or let us all be slaughtered—or worse—by the shadowguard. But we weren’t. We’re still alive, against all the odds.

Then I’m grinning like an idiot, almost weak with relief. Part of me had thought that I would never see her again, that she’d perished somewhere between here and her village. And now, to see her standing there, in front of me… It’s amazing. And inspiring. Suddenly, I feel like there’s a chance. Maybe I’ll get through this.

Okay, a very, very small chance, obviously. I’m still not convinced I’msaving-the-worldmaterial. But at least I’ve got better odds now. And someone on my side. Someone who knows more than me. Someone stronger than me.

I hope.

“So, when did it happen?” she asks. She’s peering at me suspiciously, as though she can see the shiny gold horn on my forehead, the wings at my back.

“It was Khaosti’s father,” I reply. “He caught us in the Chamber of Mirrors and tried to make me shift. I didn’t even know I was a shifter. I thought it wasn’t supposed to be possible, and yet—obviously, it is.” It makes me wonder what else is possible. “I escaped through a mirror back to Earth and shifted immediately. It was a big surprise.”

“I have no doubt.” Something like wonder fills her eyes. “The first alicorn shifter since the goddess Selene. It has to be a good portent.”

Except I don’t want to be a freaking portent. I want to be a person. I swallow, then force my fears down. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities to wallow in my fears later. “How are you?” I ask, searching her face, then glancing down at her body. She looks completely different from the first time I met her—back then she looked exactly as the world knew her: the crone. An old woman, close to death. But then, she is over five thousand years old.

Now, she looks like she’s maybe in her mid-thirties, though in reality what she looks is—ageless. But then she’s a witch. Like me. Or maybe not quite like me. Her dark brown hair is glossy, her skin clear, her eyes bright. She’s wearing close-fitting suede pants, long boots, and a white shirt.

“I’m good now that you’re here,” she says. “I was beginning to worry. I was thinking I might have to venture out and go hunting for you.”

“I had things to do,” I reply.

Her eyes narrow. “Are those things anything to do with a certain Prince of Darkness?”

“He’s not a Prince of Darkness.” Okay, well, maybe he is. A little bit. He’s a prince, and his father’s pretty dark. “So, what happens now?” I ask.

“Now we get to work,” she replies. “I have a feeling we don’t have much time, that it’s running out. Which means there’s none to waste.” She peers at me, her gaze dropping from my face. “You have the stone?”

My hand reaches up and pulls the pendant from where it’s hidden beneath my shirt. “Of course.”

Her eyes settle on the glowing amber, and something flickers in them. Why do I get the impression she knows more than she’s letting on about my little keepsake? “Good,” is all she says, and I tuck it back away.

“Can I have a night off?” I wheedle. “I’ve come a long way, and I’m hungry, and I’m tired, and I just want you to tell me everything’s going to be all right.”

“Everything’s going to be all right,” she says, her face deadpan.

I grin. “Can I at least check that Josh is okay?”

“Josh is fine. I watched him eat and put him to bed myself. You can see him in the morning.”