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Another gust of wind put out the flames for a few seconds before they came back.

Stronger this time. Bigger.

Wolf burst through the hot wall of fire and met me at my side, sword still in hand. The tips of his wings had been singed in the flames, some of the angel feathers still burning. I felt a flare of pain through our bond, but quickly blocked it out.

We didn’t have time for pain.

“We have to get out of here!” he shouted. “We have no protection out in the open.”

“No! We did not travel this far just to turn back now!”

He felt it, too. I know he did. We were so damn close to ending this entire fucking disaster.

A wall of fire could not keep us from The Golden City.

Nothing could.

That’s when we heard the laughter.

Lanson staggered forward from the thick cover of the forest, though I could hardly recognize him through the bloody pulp that used to be his face. His hair was dark and matted with dried blood, and his clothes had nearly been scorched entirely from his body.

“Lanson?”

The fire cooled as he stumbled toward us. “This is it, isn’t it? The ultimate battle to see who is strong enough to penetrate these damn walls?”

“I’ve been waiting a long time to kill this bastard,” Wolf whispered in my ear. “Please, goddess, let it be now.”

I held my hand out to stop him.

“Why are you trying to kill us?” I asked. “We all want the same thing!”

“We’re all dead,” he muttered. “Can’t you understand that, Huntyr? None of us will make it out of here alive. There’s no way over that damn wall.”

“You don’t know that,” Wolf hissed. “Did you even try? You can barely stand.”

“You two just arrived. I’ve been here for days, watching everyone else attempt to cross. Vampyres take some. The brutal fall takes the others.”

I stilled. “That can’t be true.”

“No?” I had never seen Lanson so unhinged before, so violent. “See for yourself, then.”

“How are you still alive?” Wolf asked.

Lanson shrugged. “I realized something.”

When he stumbled forward, I raised Venom. Lanson didn’t seem to care.

“Everyone is dying because they want to get into The Golden City. They can’t stand the thought of not making it, of being stranded in this cursed forest to die. But not me.”

“You don’t want to get into The Golden City?”

Lanson laughed again, though it ended in a coughing fit with blood running down his chin. “You.” He stepped toward me.

Wolf growled, raising his sword.

“You think you’re so much better than the rest of us? You’ll end up on the ground just like them. You’re a weak coward, just like the vampyres.”

A few muffled groans rang through the forest behind him.