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“We are saying the same thing.”

Pink flushed through her freckled cheeks. “Sure. Okay. What about sharks?”

“It’s merely curious that you were in a sea full of sharks. Were you abandoned in the tides while in this lost land?”

“Lost land?” Her slender fingers covered her lips. “Oh. It’s not Lost Vegas, it’s Las Vegas.”

Again, she was merely repeating what I’d said.

“And I didn’t mean shark literally,” she went on. “In the mortal realm, a shark can mean someone who sort of exploits and swindles to get money or make deals. Do you have sharks—the fish kind—in your sea?”

“A similar creature,” I said. “Shark, if I am translating correctly, are equivalent to arekin—brutal fish that swim deep in the coves near the Wildlands. Vicious, but quite sturdy meat.”

She looked at me like I’d sprouted another set of teeth, then slowly, a gentle grin split over her lips. “Tastes salty, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

Adira propped onto her elbows over the table, fingertips massaging the sides of her head. “Sometimes it feels like a memory is there, and I’ll just know a fact about this place.”

I took a drink of my own wine.

“But I would like you to answer my question,” she said.

“We’ve had such riveting conversation, I’ve forgotten your question.”

Adira frowned. “Are you going to keep being an ass?”

Unbidden, a grin tugged at my lips. “Guaranteed.”

“Well, reconsider and be a decent person.”

“That sounds horrid.”

She let out a huff of annoyance and slammed her palms on the table. “Who are those people, Kage?”

I hesitated. “My mother and stepfather.”

“The king and queen?” Adira wrung her hands in her lap. “I assumed they were . . . why are they sleeping?”

“I never knew until you revealed the last nightmare.” I tipped my horn toward the room. “I believe cruel ones did this.”

“Why keep them alive?”

“Ah, another fact about the delightfully missing crowns. If dark mages wanted the power of theskallkrönor, they need my mother and the king. Should they die before blood passes on the crown to the heir, the bones of the crowns will turn to nothing but dust, along with the amplified abilities they bring.”

Adira’s full lips parted. “In the dream, good hell, your mother was afraid. She knew something was going to happen.”

“Agreed.” I studied their sleeping faces. “They are more innocents who have been left to suffer cruel magic.”

Adira looked away, discomposed for a few breaths. I jolted when her hand slid over the top of my fist on my leg.

“No more books. No more reading in a library.” Her eyes burned like verdant flames. “Something has connected us, and I think it’s time we work together to figure this out. There must be a way.”

Moments faded, long, silent, until I unfurled my fist and, instead, curled my fingers around hers. “There could be a way, but it might be difficult.”

“This entire thing has been difficult.”

“Long ago, high mages created the Well of Urd. The properties of the well are almost like the glass star, only the Well has truly powerful magic. Folk go to the waters with a trouble, a question, animpossible task, and with a drop of blood, the Well offers a gift in return. Whether it is to heal, provide guidance, or even reveal how a trouble might be overcome.”