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“Can I come with her?” Zayne asked, lunging ahead of me before I could cross the archway. “I need to make sure she stays safe while she has the Brand.”

Ninti hummed. Her gaze darted between him and me. “You two are precarious. One of you could easily destroy the other. Or you could accomplish many things together.”

“What do you mean?” Zayne asked. “Teyr—You—Did you cause the Shades to attack Ayla instead of me? Did somedivinitybring us together?”

“Of course not.” She laughed, giving a short bark. “We don’t have that sort of power. We’re magic, but our inhabitants decide what that power does. Teyr dabbles in divination, but he doesn’t know the future. So whatever brought you two together, call it chance, call it luck, but it’s not destiny. Your fate is your own.”

She looked back at the doorway. “Leo says she’ll allow it. It’s Ayla’s trial, but Zayne, you can go through.”

“Thank you, Leo.” Zayne spoke to the turtle-shell-earth, his puzzled brows furrowed.

Ninti studied me with her big, beautiful green eyes. “Are you ready?” she asked.

A final doubt quivered in my heart. The night everything had gone to hell… why had she been in a haze? I needed to tell her about that night. I didn’t knowhowto do that.

I’d tell her about it later. Once this was done.

I stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

Before I lost my nerve, I crossed the first threshold, entering the stony atrium. I rushed forward.

Zayne chased after me. “Which door is first?”

I was already running toward it, moving toward the element I most understood. I kicked the door open. “Fire.”

Together, we fell into Leo’s realm.

17 | The Unwanted General

Zayne

We raced toward the ground. We fell.

Wind raced through my hair, and my stomach plummeting as we plunged to the distant earth below. The planet curved on the horizon, blanketed by layers of blues and purples. Stars and the moons framed the sky above. We fell toward a red desert.

I tried to shadow-step and failed. My power was missing. Like in Valterra, I was magicless. Not powerless.

I quelled my panic. This was another reality—like the Underworld or Divine Realm—falling could be different here. Hopefully, I was right. It was the best peace of mind I could find.

I surrendered to the drop. Bliss pulsed through me. Freedom found me. Insight pierced me.

The night before crossing the Rift, I had prepared to die. I had done so with cold resignation, surrendering my life before my quest started. For Eleanor, I would have laid down my life.

It was the same night I met Ayla—the night I gave her my handkerchief. What a mistake, what a blessing. Because of Ayla, I was no longer alone.

Death was easier to face with company.

Falling beside me, Ayla hadn’t hesitated. She laughed, hearty and hungry for life. Her hair went wild, caught by the wind. If she was afraid of gravity, the fear was nothing compared to the thrill.

Ayla knew she could survive this. Maybe I could believe that too.

“Woo!” I cried out, testing a shout.

“Whoop!” she cried back, much louder than me.

“Yeaaah!” I tried, loosening my stuck throat. I got it that time. “Yesss!”

We hooted and howled, celebrating and surrendering. Our shouts filled the sky, and I fell. For a moment, I let everything go. There was nothing to do but accept our fall.