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“Sometimes those who appear kind are only acting,” I replied.

Zayne chewed his lip. He nodded. My mind spun, working to take it all in. Eleanor’s goal was to seize the Shadow Throne. Maybe she could influence Gloom, but only a necromancer could control the Shades.

And like Inarus, Zayne was a necromancer.

An heir, a throne, and a necromancer—this quest sounded like trouble.

I shivered, my hand wandering to my Brand. Inarus’s mark haunted my mind, taking up a different type of space than skin. The blemish threatened to overpower me and take command of my body. It wanted my soul contained, my body slain.

What if Zayne couldn’t contain it? It was uncomfortable to see him as someone with necromancy, yet my life now depended on his command of death.

“Land ahoy!” Vanessa shouted.

Zayne jumped, and I startled too. This quest wasn’t just about saving Eleanor. It was about the future of the Isles. The future of Valterra. The stakes were higher than I imagined.

I had no time to consider. Because there, beyond Heim the turtle, wasLeodoras,an impossibility.

15 | Jumping Headfirst

Zayne

Leodoras was a second turtle—so much larger than Heim that a forest grew upon her back, its heart dark and dense.

Countless trees sprouted from her shell, providing a canopy to the bushes and grasses and flowers beneath. Rabbits and squirrels ran across the forest floor as birds chirped from the higher branches.

As we approached, she lifted her gigantic head in acknowledgment. Her neck was as long as the boat and her bright, clear eyes as large as our cabin. Wrinkled skin marked her wise with age. Blinking slowly at us, she almost smiled, in a strange turtle-like grin, before dipping her head beneath the surface. She caused waves to crash against theUmbral Star.

“Heim says you need to board her shell,” Vanessa said. “The Firewolf is waiting for you.”

The shell seemed as inhabitable as a small isle—except for its strange, dark center.

“I’ll do it,” Ayla said without question.

She watched impatiently while Vanessa nestled theUmbral Staragainst the turtle’s flank, easily fitting in the ample space along her side. Nearby, Heim swam toward two other turtles his size.

Leodoras picked up speed, her long fins pushing through the water. Vanessa gasped. “We’re moving much faster than I can. She’s taking us to the Shadow Court.”

We were racing home.

My oath to follow the Firewolf’s directions had gone so much farther than I expected. I had worried this promise would become a wild goose chase—now we faced a giant turtle.

Until Eleanor insisted on claiming the Shadow Throne, I had only a theoretical interest in the true power of deities. They were ever present in our songs, but absent from our lives. My perspective had since changed—first with Teyr and then when the Firewolf surged my power—now I faced Leodoras.

I should have been intimidated.

Yet I trusted. Something bigger, something impossible, had guided us here. The Firewolf had bound my fate to Ayla’s, and while I didn’t understand, I saw that our momentum ran hand in hand. Belief was impossible to justify, but I knew my path. I saw my next step.

“I’m going too,” I said.

Ayla’s eyes widened.

I tapped the satchel of ashflower tied to my waist. “I’m responsible for your Brand.”

What I didn’t say—what I didn’t know how to explain—was that this was exactly where I was supposed to be. With Ayla. Boarding a giant turtle.

I offered her my hand. “I can shadow-step us over.”

Ayla laughed. “I’d rather jump.”