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“Enti told me the wendigos, revenants, and hellhounds are roaming farther afield. More danger would likely find me anyway.” Another quake vibrated beneath them. “They’re coming faster now.”

“Enti muted our perception of them, disguising them as if with a Sorceri’s mask. For whatever reason, she’s stopped affecting them. Without the promise of my vice to fuel her, she must be rethinking her decision to stay.”

Kosmina gazed in the direction of the castle. “They were only trying to survive. Do they deserve to die for their actions?”

“I urged her to come with us. She made her choice, and she made it for all of them.”

“I asked her too. Apparently, not everyone has the mettle to fight ghouls. I scent them already.” Kosmina drew her sword. “We’re not far from the hive entrance.”

“We’ll be ready for them.” He’d just drawn his own sword when she went still. “Kosmina?”

She raised her face and frowned. “Huh.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve caught something . . . another scent. An unexpected one.” She inhaled deeper. “Cold and sap?”

“Mina?”

Her lips parted. “I smell evergreen trees and snow!”

“Then you’ve picked up the mortal realm. Where is it coming from?”

“It’s faint, the tiniest thread, but it’s emerging from within the hive. The quakes may have opened a new rift. Adham, we’re so close.”

“Just like you said, our escape lies there. With your senses, we could find the exit—perhaps without even facing the primordial.” Would the other undead creatures throughout Nightside pick up that same thread? “But we need to hurry.”

She nodded breathlessly. “Let’s go home.”

As they sprinted toward the hive, another quake rocked the realm. He helped her along the shuddering path. “And where will home be? We’ll be safest from a recapture in Poly. Will you live with me there?”

She veered around a mini landslide and gave a warm laugh. “I’ll live anywhere with you, sorcerer.”

“Not to be the heart of the kingdom any longer?”

“I’ll be the heart of another kingdom.”

That earned her a brief but fierce kiss, their swords clinking against each other before they pressed on.

The path ended at a large plateau. The mountain rose on the far side, skirted by giant rock folds resembling draped cloths. He said, “Any one of those coves could conceal the entrance. What are your senses telling you?”

She scented the air. “It’s that one.” She pointed with her sword to an area at two o’clock.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” she said wryly as ghouls began to pour out of the opening like ants from a kicked mound, just as Xodin had described. Their green skin blazed in the blustery night, yellow eyes aglow. Their claws and fangs matched those eyes, and they bared them with menace, dribbling infection. “These sentries aremeeting us on advantageous ground? They underestimate their opponents.”

“They must not understand that they’re all that stands between us and our future.”

She grinned. “Let’s educate them!”

When those sentries charged, Adham and Kosmina met them with their swords flashing. He fought like a man possessed. Well-timed blocks helped him evade claws, while his blade felled one after another.

Between her own inspired sallies, she noticed his moves. “Motivated?” She used a shoulder to brush hair from her face, then skewered a ghoul in the eye. She’d been good with a length of crystal; with a sword she was a marvel.

“As never before. I suspect I can be very hardworking”—he mowed down a trio with one concentrated strike—“when I have the right incentive.” Green blood sprayed like a fountain.

“I believe it.” She finally could.