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Instead of focusing on their requests for information she didn’t have, her attention moved to Mayra, whose face had turned ashen at Alex’s mention of her brother. Her expression was enough for Alex to know word must have reached her about Niyx’s death—not surprising, with so much time having passed in Medora since then.

Over the questions still being thrown her way, Alex released Declan’s hand and leaned forward to grasp Mayra’s stiff fingers.

Ignoring everyone else, she whispered in the lyrical Meyarin language that only Mayra could understand, sharing Niyx’s final words from the summit of Mount Paedris. “He wanted me to tell you that he loved you. And that he was sorry.”

Mayra’s lips wobbled and her eyes filled with tears, only one of which dribbled over and down her cheek as she whispered back, also in Meyarin, “I only just got him back.”

Alex closed her eyes slowly, her heart aching for Mayra who, just like Niyx, had sacrificed her life for Alex, if in a different way. There was nothing Alex could offer the immortal to soothe her grief—a grief that had already lasted thousands ofyears up until her recent reunion with her brother. It wasn’t fair that they had been torn apart again, and with such finality this time.

But Mayra had learned long ago to forge her pain into strength, so while her stormy gaze remained dark with sorrow, she squeezed Alex’s hands before letting her go, all traces of tears vanishing as she steeled her spine in preparation for what was to come next.

Taking that as her cue, Alex turned back to the others and, in a hoarse voice that didn’t hide her worry for her friends or her impatience to go after them, asked, “Is there anything else we need to know?”

They looked warily between each other, before Darrius cleared his throat and said, “There is one last thing.”

“Then tell us,” she said. “And please, do it quickly. Because every minute we spend talking is another where Aven could be doing anything to Jordan, D.C. and Bear. We need to get to them before—before—” She couldn’t finish her sentence.

Quietly, Darrius said, “You can’t go to Meya, Alex. Surely you must realise that.”

Controlling her urge to lash out, she said, “If you think I’m going to leave them—”

“Why do you think they were abducted?” he interrupted, wearily rubbing his eyes. “They’re bait. Aven couldn’t reach you personally, so he’s trying to draw you out. Hewantsyou to attempt a rescue. It’s a trap.”

Alex threw her hands up in the air. “You think I don’t know that?”

“I think—”

“It doesn’t make any difference,” she cut in. “There’s nothing you can say that will stop me from going.”

“And just how do you plan on getting there?” Hunter asked, his tone curious rather than critical, like he genuinely wantedto hear her plan. “The moment you arrive in Raelia you’ll be ambushed, so you can’t go through the Library.” His gaze turned inward as he continued dismissing her options. “The wards surrounding Meya have been reinforced since you were last there to keep both Shadow Walkers and Dayriders from shadowing or flashing their way in, which means you can’t ask for help from one of them. Even if Soraya wasn’t injured, the same limitations would apply for her.”

Alex felt a pang at the thought of her wounded wolf lying in the Med Ward and prayed Fletcher was right about human medicines being able to heal her. She wished she could be by Soraya’s side right now, all her friends safely with her and doting on her loyal canine companion.

Soon, she promised herself. Soon her friends would be back and doing just that. They had to be. She wouldn’t accept any other outcome.

“And Bubbledoors won’t deliver you through the wards, either,” Hunter went on. “So the way I see it, your only option is to use the Eternal Path. But you’d need a willing Meyarin.”

“She has one,” Mayra said without hesitation, her secret— among others—apparently having been revealed during the past few weeks. But while Alex appreciated the offer, she shook her head, already knowing it wouldn’t work.

“If anyone other than me gets close to the city, Aven’s mind readers will know,” she said, mentally adding that perhaps even Aven himself, if he’d consumed the heart of someone with that particular mental gift recently. “If there’s to be any chance of a rescue, I’m the only one whose mind won’t be heard, the only one who can get in and out without detection.”

Alex wasn’t a fool—she knew the city of Meya was Ground Zero for Aven’s entire army. Facing him there would result in nothing but death. The only hope her friends had was a stealthy escape, something she alone could offer.

“That’s not entirely true,” Kaiden disagreed quietly, and his meaningful look had Alex gasping with the realisation that he was the exception. Relief washed over her at the knowledge that she wouldn’t have to go in alone, even as fear shook her bones at the risk they would both be taking.

“Kaiden’s right,” Hunter agreed. “He’s been trained since infancy to protect his mind from gift manipulation. Not even Signa Zu can get a read on him.”

Signa Zu—the strongest mind reader in Aven’s army. At the Soori Outpost and later at Sir Oswald’s dinner party, he hadn’t been able to read Kaiden’s thoughts—both places in which Hunter had been ghosting them during their overnight SAS trip.

“But he’s not the only one,” Hunter said, holding Alex’s gaze.

His pointed expression had her belatedly realising that the only way he would have been able to watch over them that weekend—while using his gift of perception and awareness to monitor their progress—was if he’d been near enough to jump in should things go wrong. That meant Signa should have noticed his presence, wherever he’d been hiding.

“Your mind is protected?” Alex asked, her eyes wide.

He answered with a single nod, but he didn’t give further details—not that Alex expected him to, since his whole life seemed to be shrouded in mystery.

“Then the three of us will go in together,” Kaiden said.