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The sight of this wonder in such a wasteland sent him tumbling back in time to that momentous day when he’d been six. He’d followed a desert deer’s trail into the sands, far from home. Water pouch empty, he’d sworn that each hoof-marked dune he climbed would be his last. But he’d wanted to bag that game for his parents.

Picturing their relaxed smiles and the laughter that came only with a full belly, he’d pushed on with a mixture of excitement and wariness, kind of how he felt about this vampire.

Though he’d never caught that deer, he’d found an oasis filled with fruit trees. After he’d devoured his windfall and night had neared, he’d watched a wave of sand crest in front of the setting sun. In that moment, he’d first sensed his connection to it.I saw everything in the sand.

That oasis had been real; thiswasn’t. Feeling the magic thick in the air, he murmured, “Behold the lair of a very powerful Sorceri.”

Kosmina faced him. “A good one or an evil one?”

“Odds lie with evil. Nature of the beast and such. And yet we’re still going there.”

“You said you give others of your kind a wide berth. Beware the Sorceri, remember?”

He had, even when fully empowered. Was he now to enter another one’s domain at his weakest? He traced the tattoos on his chest.Never again.And the easiest way to make a sorcerer give up his power was to threaten something he valued. He glanced at Kosmina, his asset.I know this well.

Still . . . “We have no choice but to investigate. The food is there.”

“We can’t leap over an expanse of water that wide.”

“He or she will probably test us before dispatching a ferry of some kind. Just stay on guard.”

She quirked a brow. “What if we fail the test?”

“We can vow to the Lore that we mean them no harm. And the only thing Sorceri like more than isolation is carousing. New faces will be welcome.” Novelty could revive a stale scene.

“Very well.” She squared her shoulders. “Let’s meet this Sorceri.”

“Stay close to me?—”

A pair of scents hit him simultaneously, two things that wanted to steal his life.

Behind them: the stench of revenants.

And from the castle: the vinegary spice of . . .dragon’s breath.

Twenty-Two

“Stop.” The sorcerer swallowed audibly. “Maybe we should avoid that place.”

“Pardon?” His abrupt reversal baffled Mina. “You’re starving and exhausted, yet you don’t want to head to the one guarantee of food? Not to mention that even you must have smelled the foes that near.”

“Revenants. I know. It’s just . . .” His muscles coiled as tight as a bowstring. Had he started sweating? “There’s no bridge, and that water would boil us alive. If one place has food, others might.”

She sensed movement from all directions, didn’t have time to analyze him. Besides, her thinking about this sorcerer continued to prove faulty. “I need information. You can search elsewhere on your own, but I am going.” She’d just uttered the words when she recognized another scent, one relatively new to her. Guests at the Tree of Delight had smoked opium on occasion; the acidic smell of it trailed from the castle.

Ah. No wonder Silt hesitated. He feared a relapse; having lifted off the ground, he didn’t want to crash once more.

Pang.Empathy tightened her chest with an unexpected tenderness. She inwardly sighed,Complicated, shady sorcerer.

What if Silt Harea wanted to be better but didn’t know how? What if he regretted his vow?

She hardened herself against him, calling to mind how he’d looked as he’d threatened her brother.Of course I will murder Mirceo?—

The rocks suddenly shifted beneath their feet. She whirled around as stones flew up into the air; revenants clawed up from the ground! “This isn’t a hill—it’s a grave!”

The massive creatures appeared lumpen, as if they’d absorbed stones under their skin. They had wild black eyes. Their mouths were slack, tongues dangling as they roared.

“We can’t fight this many without swords!” Silt grabbed her wrist, and yet again they ran.