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I made my way back to the entrance of the large room.

“Hey!” a voice called from behind me.“What are you doing?”

Ice ran through my veins, andI froze. I knew that voice.

No.Anything but that.Anything but what it would cost me to believe Luka had been against me, too.I couldn’t face it. I couldn’t take another loss.

Slowly, I turned around to find my old friend jogging toward me.

I slowly pulled the cloth down from my face, and he skidded to a halt.

“Zaria?” he exclaimed, moving to throw his arms around me.

“Don’t.”I held my hand up to stop him.

He drew back. “Don’t?” Confusion tinged his voice. “Don’t what? I thought you were dead. They said you’d been taken by one of those dragons.”

“I was.” I studied him. He looked the same. A little dirty, but not undead.

“Don’t tell me you’re part of all this?”he accused.

“Part of what? Trying to save innocent fae?” I said against my better judgement.

“You’re not with the undead?”

“No! Are you?”

“Yes.” He threw up his hands when I reacted. “But it’s not what you think! I’m not dead.”

“Then, what are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Summarize, Luka,” I demanded. “Starting with how you escaped our compound.”

He exhaled heavily.“There were tunnels beneath the compound I never knew about. The elders were using them to get the herbs out before they all burned. Everyone who could carry sacks went. I looked for you, but they said you were dead.”

“My parents?”

“Yes. They said you were taken by one of those dragons. Goddess, Zaria, I can’t believe you’re here.”

“My family got out?”

“Yes.”

“Where are they now?”

His shoulders fell. “I don’t know. We fled to another village. They had a much smaller crop, but they took us in. I started helping with deliveries since we’d lost some workers, and we were making a delivery on the coast, like they had a hundred times, and we got ambushed. They took the lot of us hostage.”

“The lot of you?”

He nodded. “The three of us who were there making the delivery. Eliezer, Callan, and me. They put us on a ship and… Goddess, I don’t know how long ago that was or where we’ve been, but we’ve been with them since. They killed Eliezer because he put up too much of a fight but kept Callan and I alive to do work for them. We help with the herbs. They don’t like it. It makes them sick.”

Because it was poisoning them, but I didn’t have time to explain that to him.

He chewed his lip, stepping forward and holding out his arms.My heart hurt, but I stepped back, not letting him get near me. I wanted to run to him and hug him. But how could I be sure he wasn’t a Vivi Mortui himself? Could they fake being still alive? I hadn’t asked enough questions.

“Zaria.” His brows pulled, and sadness shone in his gaze. “I am not one of them.”