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I next stirred with Ayla snoozing in my arms, full daylight slipping into the cabin’s small window. My mind flooded with memories of the night before, recalling the ravenous way we had devoured one another.

I held her close, all too aware of my hardening cock pressing against her butt. The tether tugged at my chest, an increasingly comfortable ache, so long as she was close.

Ayla will be my undoing.

And last night, I had her in so many ways.

Still, I needed more—and not just the embrace of her sweet heat—I longed to know that she was destroyed the same way I was ruined. To learn I was not alone in this obsession. It was impossible to turn away from this unscathed. We were bound, and I’d be torn asunder if she left my side.

In her sleep, she made a soft moan and wiggled deeper into the nook of my body, further constricting my cock. Lifting onto my forearm, I kissed her cheek, admiring the wisps of red hair that framed her face. For someone so fierce, she could be so soft.

Regret tugging at my heart, I wrapped the blanket tight around her. We were still on a mission, and I needed to check our bearings.

Silently, I slid down the bed toward the cabin’s tiny standing space. I dressed quickly, bracing for the cold morning with my cloak wrapped around my shoulders. I patted the pocket with the shards, both reassured and concerned by their weight.

I set a refilled water skin next to Ayla and turned to the door. It squeaked slightly, and I turned to study Ayla’s sleeping form one final second, reassured that she slumbered so deeply she wasn’t disturbed.

I shielded my eyes and faced the morning light. Striding to the bow of the boat, I examined the vast sea before me as I brought forth my sense of the Underworld, confirming that Vanessa had steered true through the night.

The sun had risen high enough to cast the Isle of Dusk in a harsh, mountainous silhouette against the morning sky. This close, the shard at Dusk glowed brighter still, an imprint of undead purple light splashing over the Living Realm.

My hunch was right. Last night, the Starlit King had been looking toward the final shard. It was as reassuring as it was alarming. In his youth, he had built a reputation for uncovering countless fae relics. His personal collection filled half of the palace museum, and it should have been no surprise he carried not only a dragon blade but three black diamond shards.

So the fact that he hadn’t yet claimed this shard, only looking to it wistfully, was informative. I knew of a few places he could never go, places I’d only read about in my ancient necromancy texts. Truthfully, I knew little of my craft. Everything I understood was gleaned from a few forbidden books, the rest coming through trial and error. There was no one to teach me—I myself had killed Inarus, the only other necromancer I’d ever known.

My instincts had to be enough.

I looked to Dusk anew.

The fugue of death overshadowed even the mountains, far stronger than it had any right to be, and my resolve wavered. Ayla and I were here on a mission that would not only end the Gloom’s expansion, but somethingmore.Something intangible that worried me.

“Why so broody, Shadow Prince?” a chipper voice asked. Vanessa had wandered down from her crow’s nest.

“I’m not brooding.”

“If you say so.” She settled her small frame on the railing before me, wetting my arm with the droplets that spiraled around her bright blue skin. “At this pace, we’ll reach the isle in an hour.”

“Perfect.”

“If you say so,” Vanessa quipped. “I thought you were brooding because you wanted more time with Ayla.”

I shook my head, somewhere between laughter and exasperation. “If my brooding annoys you so badly, why did you accept another job from me?”

“I never said it annoyed me. Though perhaps, it should. No sane sprite would keep you as a client, no matter how much coin was involved. You have a bad habit of saying,take me into danger,again and again.”

I arched a brow. “So why do you stay?”

“Because I’m hell-bent on mischief!” She cackled. “I’m increasingly convinced it’s a personality flaw.”

“Like the time you got trapped on Valterra?” I asked, leaning forward. “You never explained how that happened.”

“It’s impolite to ask a sprite personal questions.”

“I didn’t think you were the type to care about etiquette.”

She pursed her lips.

“So, how did it happen?” I pressed.