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I swallowed, saw Arran’s gaze trace the bob of my throat. “Even the kittens?”

“Ancestors, Veyka. You stabbed a dozen acolytes for an evening of entertainment, but you cringe at disposing of venomous beasts?”

I shot him a withering glance. “I know one beast I will gladly dispose of if he doesn’t learn to give me some space.”

Arran bared his teeth, the long canines flashing. “Try not to do anything stupid.”

“I am sure you’ll only be a few feet away when I do,” I said sweetly, not even looking his direction as he stomped away.

He granted me a whole two yards. Better than nothing, I supposed.

I knew it cost him. It cost me—the bond in my chest yawning in complaint at his departure.

I almost called him back, even after ordering him away. His presence at my side… it eased something within me. Maybe it was the bond. Which should have put me off. I didn’t want the bond to be making my decisions for me. I wanted some Ancestors-damned control over my own life.

Arran had been a protective pain in my ass before the mating bond. Now, it was a miracle he hadn’t chained me to his side. Maybe I should have mercy on him. And if it eased the burden within me just a little, I’d choose not to interrogate the meaning of that just now—

I felt it before I saw it.

It was like coming home but also fraying apart. Familiar, but uneasy.

The swirling darkness called to me, even as I physically recoiled, almost losing my footing in the gravel riverbed.

“There,” I gasped out.

Arran was at my side in an instant.

The others came slower, skirting around behind me, scanning to see what had ground me to such a sudden stop.

Ten yards ahead, where the water tapered off into nothing more than a stream before coalescing into a pool, the fabric of the world rippled.

“A shimmer,” Lyrena said in open-mouthed awe from my right.

Cyara hummed a tone that said ‘I told you so’ just as effectively as the words.

“We just walk through it?” Osheen said from behind, hand still tight around his ward.

“And then we’ll be in the human realm.” Cyara confirmed.

Just to the human realm. Passing through a rift was not the same as falling through the void. I would come out on the other side, like hundreds of others had done over thousands of years. I would not be thrown into some unknown realm. I would not go to that misty shore where my thoughts turned topsy-turvy. I would not be swallowed by cold death and darkness.

Anyone could pass through a rift. I could do it. I would be fine.

Arran’s hand closed around mine.

The surge of warmth gave me the strength. I stepped forward, knowing I should go first.

But before I could, Arran released my hand and broke into a run.

One second, he was there. Then he was gone.

29

ARRAN

It was fucking horrible.

In those few terrible seconds, I realized why Veyka had been so opposed to training her power. It felt like I was being ripped apart, limb by limb.