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Ignoring his feigned jubilation, Alex brought her gaze back to meet Bear’s and whispered, “You should be with your family.”

He stepped forward to take her hand as he looked around at them all. “I am with my family, Alex.” He squeezed her fingers. “And right now, you need me more than they do. They know I’m here—they all but pushed me out the door to come andfind you, because they knew that’s what Dad would’ve wanted. I’ll have time to grieve with them once this is over. We all will.” His throat bobbed, but he stood taller and held her gaze as he said, his voice now strong, “He was a protector—he gave his life protecting us, as you said. I’d only be dishonouring his memory if I wasn’t willing to do the same.”

Alex blinked back tears, prouder of her friend than she could say. He’d always been the steady one of the group. While he could easily match Jordan’s mischievous personality, Bear was still the most level-headed of them all. And now it seemed his nature was only working in his favour, helping him to focus and compartmentalise, just like Alex was doing with Niyx.

“Well, whatever brought you all here, it’s good that we’re together,” Kaiden said, as if aware that Alex needed a moment to gather herself. He offered them all a wry grin and added, “You’re all fools for coming, but you’re lovable fools all the same.”

Jordan chuckled, the sound genuine. “Put that on my tombstone if this doesn’t work out: ‘Jordan was a fool, but a lovable one. May he rest in foolish peace.’”

Alex blanched, and she wasn’t the only one. “Don’t even joke about that.”

Jordan eyed her carefully, ignoring the elbow D.C. shoved into his ribcage. He stood up again and approached her, leaning in to whisper in her ear, “Hey, I know it’s tough about Bear’s dad, but we’ll all get through this together, okay?” Moving back again, he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “If we give into our fear of what might happen to us, then Aven has already won.” He offered a morbid grin and finished, “The good news is, if we all end up dying here, at least he won’t have the pleasure of killing us himself. That’s a satisfying thought, right?”

Alex wasn’t able to say anything around the strangled feeling in her chest.

She knew Jordan was trying to help. Indeed, his words seemed to lighten the feeling in the room, as if everyone—even Bear—agreed that in order to defeat Aven, they first had to conquer their fears of the future and win the battles in their own minds. And it was true, Alex knew it was. But still…

Jordan didn’t know the real reason why she was so distressed by the mention of them dying. Ofanyoneelse dying. Because other than Kaiden, none of them knew. They thought she was upset about William, and while shewasheartbroken for Bear, she was also working her way through a much more crushing personal blow. Two, really, with the death of Lady Mystique. But it was Niyx—the Meyarin they thought to be little more than Aven’s merciless best friend—that they would never understand about. They had no idea who he was to Alex; they probably didn’t even know that hehaddied, let alone cared what his passing meant to her. And they couldn’t know. Not until she figured out how to tell the story. How to tellhisstory.

Until then, she had to stand strong. If Jordan could act like his normal self for the sake of Bear… ifBearcould continue on as he was… then Alex could, too.

Nothing was all right. But she could act as if it were for the sake of her friends. And maybe, just maybe, one day her emotions would catch up.

“All right, let’s focus,” D.C. jumped in, crossing her legs underneath her and patting the cushions around where she sat, a clear invitation for them to join her.

Determined to push past everything she was feeling and instead give her full attention to what lay ahead, Alex folded onto the ground with the others, the six of them forming a circle.

“What do we know about these people?” D.C. asked. “Other than that they have an amazing city and the gates pack one hell of a welcome headache?”

“Vardaesia,” Bear said. “When they dragged us in here, they told us the city is called Vardaesia.”

That was also what the empress had called it, Alex recalled.

“It’s a pretty name,” D.C. mused. “Var-day-see-uh. Sounds like a song.”

“It sounds like a city made of gold and diamonds,” Declan said dryly. “This place must be worth a mint.” He rapped his knuckles on the gold floor peeking out from beneath the cushions.

“It’s the royal palace of an otherworldly empress,” Jordan said, equally dry. “What did you expect? Sticks and pebbles?”

“Let’s start there,” D.C. cut in. “Who is this Empress Saefii? She came to see us before she did the appearing-and-disappearing trick with us in the throne room, but all she said was that if you didn’t answer her questions to her satisfaction, then we’d all be dead. I’m guessing since we’re still alive, you must have handled her interrogation okay. So, what did you learn?”

“I don’t think there’s much about this world and the people in it that we know and you don’t,” Alex said. She looked at Kaiden then back to the others. “We weren’t given a briefing before we came. We were just told not to fail.”

Silence met her statement.

“That Athora guy didn’t tell you anything?” Bear asked, his grip flexing as he held a cushion between his hands.

“He said the Tia Aurans and the Meyarins are mortal enemies,” Kaiden answered. “He said we need to convince them to fight with us, so that the prophecy given to Alex can be fulfilled. But that’s pretty much all he told us.”

When her friends looked at her in question, Alex quickly filled them in on the newest development with the prophecy— Athora’s interpretation about Tia Auras meaning ‘Day’ and Medora meaning ‘Night’, which was why the ancient manbelieved the two worlds needed to ‘combine and fight against one Enemy’.

“You can never trust prophecies,” D.C. said, her nose wrinkling. “They always have too many meanings and you never know what they refer to until it’s too late. Hindsight is the only way to see their full truth. And with yours, despite whatever Athora claimed, we might as well be searching for a specific grain of sand in the middle of a desert.”

That was what Alex feared. But all she had right now was hope.

“Speaking of deserts,” she said, “did any of you visit one on your way here?”

Blank looks and raised eyebrows met her question, so she quickly mumbled, “Never mind.”