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Thalia waved away the concern in my voice. “Wrathmere is another city, some distance from this one, that’s been experiencing unrest, recently. But it won’t fall. He’s just using the threat of its refugees as an excuse.”

“How many cities are there in this world?”

“There were once lots of them.”

I bit down my irritation at the frustratingly vague answer. “Why do the dead have cities at all?”

“It’s as I said before: They don’t see themselves as dead.” For a moment, she looked as if she was considering saying more on the subject. Her eyes bored into mine, seemingly searching me for some sign that I could be trusted with her secrets.

But she ultimately revealed nothing else.

Zayn’s earlier comments played in my mind.

…She’s not being very forthcoming with the details about this place.

He was right. She clearly wasn’t. And now she was already turning away, hurrying off to tend to her horse—as if she could sense all of the questions building on the tip of my tongue, preparing to fire at her.

I considered following her and demanding answers. But she didn’t seem like the type I could force things out of; more like the type I would need to strategically pry apart to get to the truth underneath.

In the meantime, I took in our latest ominous surroundings, looking back to what I could see of the walls and their flames through the foggy air. I didn’t know how we were going to get inside of those walls. What laid within them, or what might await us on the other side of all this.

I just knew I didn’t want to spend any longer than necessary in the shadows of this foreboding city.

Our regroupingefforts were taking too long.

Hours later, every plan we’d come up with had ultimately been dismantled, bringing us back to where we started. I was moments away from marching straight up to the main gate of Erebos and trying my luck at scaling the damn thing.

It wouldn’t have been theworstplan I’d ever tried to carry out, honestly.

The rest of my company, however, seemed more content with waiting, resting until we had somehow come up with a miraculous, foolproof idea. Even Phantom was asleep, snoring loudly; the combination of travel and trying to shift into new forms all day seemed to have taken a toll on him.

I was tired as well, but far past the point of sleep. Now that we’d stopped moving, I couldn’t help longing for my familiar, restful routines. For something like a glass of wine and a good book—maybe a bath to enjoy them in.

The surface of a small lake could be seen in the distance, its water occasionally glistening in what little light penetrated the foggy air; Lake Nyras, Thalia had told me earlier. It was growing more tempting by the minute. Hardly the claw-footed beauty of a tub I was used to back home, but the water lookedsomewhatclearer than most of what we had encountered in this realm—perhaps because of whatever powers apparently protected and preserved the city looming nearby. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking?

Either way, baths had always been my daily salvation; Orin used to swear I was going to dissolve into the water one day, as long as I spent soaking in it.

My mind made up, I wandered back toward the others long enough to gather a clean change of clothes and a blanket to serve as a towel. Thalia and Aleksander were keeping watch while everyone else slept. I told the former where I would be, while paying no mind to the latter; Aleksander had gone back to ignoring me, and I was only too happy to let that arrangement continue.

But it wasn’t long after I arrived at my chosen, secluded stretch of lake before I heard footsteps behind me. Soon after, I sensed the pulse of his magic—faint, but unmistakable. A glance out of the corner of my eye confirmed he was there, little bolts of energy lighting faintly against his skin, only visible because of how deeply the dark settled under the trees surrounding us.

I pretended not to notice him. He kept his distance, leaving his back turned while I stripped off my clothing and wrapped the blanket around myself. Determined to relax, I continued to ignore him as I made my way down to the shoreline and slipped a foot in to test the water.

I swallowed a curse at the biting cold that instantly numbed my toes. Notexactlythe inviting pull of a bath. But at least it would be refreshing—if only I could only make myself take the initial plunge.

Which I couldn’t.

Gods, how I hated the cold.

Newly annoyed at the frigid hitch in my plans, I turned my frustration toward the only other person around. “Are you stalking me?” I demanded, glancing over my shoulder in Aleksander’s direction.

“No,” he replied, keeping his back turned, one shoulder leaning against a tree. “Though you aren’t difficult to keep trackof, considering you move with all the grace and subtlety of an injured bear.”

“I was purposely trying to be loud so I could scare away any predators. You know, snakes and such.” That was entirely untrue—I’d actually just been loud and careless—but he didn’t need to know that. “I’m petrified of snakes,” I added. That part was true; I didn’t trust anything with less than two legs or more than four, as a rule.

“I don’t think there are any snakes in this realm,” he mused.

“Ah, so it’s just broody, annoying kings lurking among these waterways, then.”