Page 87

“If that Gate was any indication as to the kind of rules the Tia Aurans play by, then I say we’re better off without them,” Bear said.

He had a valid point. But still, Alex’s heart hurt with disappointment for all the time they’d wasted in Vardaesia, for all they’d suffered through—all for nothing.

“Let’s just get this stupid feast over with so we can finally go home,” Jordan said, holding D.C. close. “We’ll figure out the rest from there. But whatever we do, we’ll do it together.”

With nods all around, they descended into silence, at least until Jordan spoke again, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

“Who wants to go cause some mayhem in the city while we still can?”

“Saefiididgive us permission to do whatever we wanted until the feast,” Bear said contemplatively.

Declan crossed his arms, a smile playing at his lips. “I might have an idea or two for how we can leave our mortal mark on this world.”

Alex wondered if perhaps no race, immortal or otherwise, deserved the vengeful attention of Jordan, Bear and Declan combined. But at the same time, she wasn’t about to stop them from having one last hurrah out in the city. Even if she had other plans herself.

“You guys go ahead,” she said. “There’s someone I need to say goodbye to.”

“Xira’s not coming back with us?” D.C. asked, her face falling as she realised how upsetting that would be for Alex.

Truthfully, Alex didn’t know the answer. And while seeing Xira was certainly at the top of her checklist for the rest of the day, it wasn’t him who she had been referring to.

Still, she answered, if vaguely, “That’s something I still need to find out.”

Shifting Alex until they were facing each other, Kaiden carefully read her expression, aware that she was being deliberately reticent. With his freakish ability to know her better than she sometimes knew herself, whatever he saw caused hiseyes to widen before they softened with understanding. “Want some company?”

She smiled lightly with appreciation but said, “I think it’s best if I do this alone.”

He nodded slowly, then leaned in to touch his lips gently to hers, whispering there low enough that only she could hear, “Tell him ‘thanks’, and ‘sorry’. He’ll know what that means.”

Intrigued, Alex looked at Kaiden in question. But when he only smiled secretively at her, she rolled her eyes and leaned up for another kiss, before she moved from his arms and told the group that she’d be back in time for the feast.

Then, at her mental summons, a Library doorway appeared, and she stepped through it—straight back to the stadium and to the one final Gate that she needed to visit before returning home.

Twenty-Six

Standing on the dais, Alex was alonein the stadium, the silence eerie yet fitting.

Looking between the three fiery arches still resting in the clouded gap, she knew which one was the Gate of Love, but as for the other two, there was no way to tell them apart.

Since cheating didn’t matter anymore, Alex hoped the sentient Library might be willing to cross a few lines on her behalf; hoped it was even capable of doing so.

“Any chance of a little clarity here?” she asked softly, barely breathing as she waited to see if her request would be answered.

Of the two Gates, one she wanted, and the other she wanted to avoid. But if she had to, she would travel through hell— perhaps literally, depending on her choice of Gate—to get to the one she wanted.

If at all possible, however, avoiding the Gate of Chaos was a priority.

Fortunately, the Library came through for her, and fiery words flared into being, this time along the top of the Gates.

Cora Tenn—that was the one Alex was after.

The Gate of Lost Souls.

Not allowing her doubts to manifest and keep her frozen on the dais, Alex offered a quick word of thanks to the Library and took a running jump through the arch, tumbling out the other side only to land atop the Golden Cliffs overlooking Meya.

“Hardly surprising,” Alex mumbled at the view, her pulse kicking up speed. But then it stuttered to a halt when she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

“I thought you’d never get here.”