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I didn't want to leave Tye behind — not when he hadn't come back to himself yet.

But I also couldn't let him be found by Frexin's people.

No.

I looked at him again — that pulsing cloud of life. I had to go back. I'd leave him in the cave, safely hidden while I reported to Frexin.

Then, once she was satisfied, I'd rush back.

It would only be a few hours …

"Tye," I whispered, pressing my eyes closed to keep the tears inside as I held my hand against that strange cloud. "If you wake up, just stay put. Please. It's safe here, and I'll be back tonight. We'll find some way to fix this mess together, but you need to wait for me. Okay?"

Chapter 55

Kaiya

The rising sun cast long shadows across the field outside Dragon's Peak as I emerged from the forest — the enormous fortress wall small in the distance.

So close, yet so far …

I urged Mae faster.

The sooner I finished with Frexin, the sooner I could return to Tye and find a way to help him.

I'd managed to seal the cave's entrance with rock and logs, enough to keep him safe and hidden — for now. But I still couldn't feel him through the bond.

I had no idea if he was awake or even safe …

Mae leaped over a puddle, and we landed hard. I winced as the scrapes and bruises from last night made themselves known.

It was a good kind of ache, though — a reminder thatlast night was real —that there might be something waiting for Tye and I after this was done.

I clung to that hope, reaching through the bond again.

Nothing.

He was going to be okay.Wasn't he?!

Movement ahead drew my attention, and my exhausted eyes went wide as a strange train of wagons rumbled down the road towards me.

Fleirals pulled a half-dozen wagons topped with the same massive ballistas that lined Dragon's Peak's walls. Another half-dozen pulled mech suits — enormous skeletal machines roughly in the shape of a man — but far more deadly.

Frexin was preparing the trap already?

Gods, had the monster attacked the base again last night? I'd thought we'd have more time …

I tugged up the collar of my shirt to hide Tye's mark, then slowed as we reached the wagons, examining the ballistas. Crates surrounded them, full of huge chains and harpoons, all using that strange metal that suppressed magic.

My skin prickled uncomfortably at the sight — so eerily similar to how Frexin had captured Rien.

"Find what you were looking for, Savior?" Holden's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I looked to find him and Korym on green mounts, ridingalongside the wagons.

They slowed to talk to me, and Mae snorted, stepping nervously. Evenshecould feel that wrongness emanating from Korym.

"Fuck off," I snapped, too exhausted and angry to play their stupid games. "Where is Frexin?"

They exchanged glances, then Holden leaned forward. "Last I saw, she was just inside the gate, talking with that mind mage asshole again."