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I nodded. I had been thinking the same thing. “We can only hope that he is. If he isn’t with them, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Isaac was a father to Kenna, and I was equally anxious to ensure his safety.

“It’s settled then,” Tess said, a hopeful half smile gracing her lips.

Nothing had gone to plan as of late, and I was anxious to get this over with. I was glad Tess still had hope… but at this point… I wasn’t sure.

We would need more than luck to get through this.

We would need one hell of a fucking miracle.

The morning after next came quicker than any of us expected, leaving us little time to prepare. Amiyah and Annelise helped to cover us in skin spells that would ensure fast healing and increased speed and strength. Despite the added protection, we would still be much slower than the Noctani.

I sharpened Stormslayer, dreading the fact that the very blade Nikolai had forged for me might be the blade to kill him. I shook my head, trying to clear those thoughts. I needed to be positive. I needed to be strong and clearheaded going into this.

Everything would go to plan.

It had to.

I strapped the freshly sharpened Stormslayer to my thigh sheath, securing my throwing knives in my boots and strappinga scabbard with a sword across my back, just in case. The others were equally well-armed.

Seeing everyone in fighting gear—strapping themselves with weapons—had me feeling as if we were already marching into the lion’s den. I sent a prayer up to the Mother that we wouldn’t encounter more of Donika’s soldiers and we could successfully lure out the group of Noctani from their hiding spot.

We had lured them out unintentionally once before by simply walking the streets of Dragon’s Hollow… how hard could it be? I was nervous to veer close to The Stone City again, but we couldn’t exactly meet the Noctani on the streets of Prins, in the middle of civilian territory. We wanted to keep the casualties as low as possible which meant we needed to protect the innocent people of Istmere. There were families and children in the realm who needed protecting, who didn’t have a place entrenched in the fighting.

As we passed through Prins, the other resistance members Zion had called upon would meet up with us. The greatest number of Noctani still resided within the castle walls, my dream walking had assured me of that much. We were all skilled fighters and we wouldn’t be caught by surprise again.

We would be leaving the seaside cabin empty for the first time in a very, very long time. I tasted salt in the back of my throat as I glanced back at Tyr’s childhood home, wishing he was marching with us today.

He deserved to be here, too.

We had transferred the bright red antidote from the glass tube to plastic bottles, easier to carry on our person andminimizing the risk of breaking the glass and losing the potion altogether. I carried one bottle in my jacket pocket, the other was with Zion.

As soon as we had lured them out, I would need to cure the blade with the antidote, suspending it in the liquid. Then I would fight Nikolai. Then Isaac.

Nik might not waste the opportunity to steal my magic a second time. I needed to be extra careful to stay away from his fangs. He was stronger and faster than me. I would need to use all the skills he had taught me to evade him. The only problem was… he was the one who had trained me. He would likely be able to predict my moves.

But the same held true for me—I knew his fighting style. I would be ready.

The group of us were silent as we crossed the first river, traversing the forest and clearings towards the second crossing. A calmness had settled over our group. As if we all accepted the fate that was about to come to fruition, no matter what it was.

The calm before the storm.

My anxiety had my magic pressing against me, begging to be released. I kept my breathing steady and pushed it back gently, over and over again. I needed to keep my focus… I couldn’t keep splitting my attention trying to keep my magic at bay. I missed the sensation of being bound, my magic listening to me acutely and responding to my every whim.

We filled our canteens at the second river crossing, unsure of how long we might be away from our makeshift camp. We had a large breakfast to ensure we wouldn’t need to stopagain until we were almost out of Prins. I hoped we might be able to stop into the tavern in Akra at some point to see Fleur again. She had been kind to me in a time of need, and I wanted to thank her once more.

As soon as we entered Prins, eyes were darting in our direction. The eight of us were dressed in dark training leathers, strapped to the hilt with weapons of all kinds. We were marching to war—and this time—we weren’t hiding it.

We weren’t lying low.

Wewantedthem to find us.

The resistance members Zion had called on joined our group right before we passed through The Shadow. There was a sense of security with our numbers being this strong. We stopped to camp for the night right outside the border of Prins. We would journey towards the far reaches of Akra first thing in the morning when dawn began to kiss the sky with pink rays.

We traveled in silence, a heavy weight settling on all of us now that we were close to our destination. What happened next would likely determine the outcome of this war and the thought had me swallowing back my anxiety. I kept my eyes on my boots, my mind racing through every possible scenario as we breached the tree line.

We had made it to Akra in merely two days’ time.