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It felt like I’d been punched in the ribs even though I knew she was just trying to be mean.

I looked at her for a moment, thinking over what she said and realizing there was a bit of truth to it.

I had assumed it was my responsibility to keep her powers from her, and that she didn’t deserve them, even though, realistically, I didn’t know anything about her.

“You’re right,” I said. Her mouth widened in surprise.

“I shouldn’t have judged Tartarus right away.

I didn’t get to see it. From what I did see, it’s awful, and I hate it.

But you’re right, I didn’t see all of it.

Even now, what I hear about this place is coming from you, and I’m not convinced you aren’t tricking and lying to me.

But you’re right, I am messed up. I’m as messed up as everyone else.

But I try to do my best, and I try to be helpful.

I try to be a good person.” I paused, letting the words settle between us.

“I’m sorry I misjudged you. Though, you do have to give me credit—it’s hard to properly get to know someone like this.

It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not. ”

Silence took over the forest until she let out a heavy sigh. “What’s that?” she asked, her head tilted slightly, listening.

I stopped and listened. Faint howling reached my ears, distant but growing louder. “It sounds like wolves?”

Without another word, we took off running back to where Walter and Eletha were.

Urgency gripped me as I sped through the forest, my heart pounding.

I could have gone faster than Anna, but I didn’t like the idea of leaving her behind, so I matched her pace, staying even with her as we charged toward the unknown.

We reached the open space relatively quickly and were shocked by what we saw.

Two large men and a woman were hugging Eletha and Walter.

Anna and I exchanged looks.

When I turned back, the trio had shifted into extraordinarily large gray wolves and was running into the forest. “Do they have their powers here? Can they shift?” I whispered to Anna.

She looked just as confused. “I didn’t think any of our powers worked in the tiers. ”

“You know we can hear you, right?” Eletha called in our direction.

“What was that all about? Who were they? Are there more of them?” Anna’s voice was filled with worry.

Walter and Eletha exchanged looks before she let out a delighted squeal. “They are a nearby pack of shifters and they just lost the wolves that guard their territory. They asked if we could help them out for a day or two.”

“What? We are in the tiers, not a park. We can’t stay and hang out. We have to pass through,” Anna replied.

I shot a befuddled look to Walter. He stood tall at Eletha’s side and shocked me by giving me the widest grin I’d ever seen from him. “They were really great. You’re a shifter; you get it.”

I didn’t get it at all. “This is obviously a part of the test from this tier, you both must know that. I can’t believe you are even considering it.”

“What’s it going to hurt? Look at this place; it’s amazing. If anything, we are proving that we are not greedy by helping our kind,” Walter said.

“Then you guys stay here. I’m going to keep going. I want out of here,” I snapped.

“Well, if you go, then I go,” Anna said next to me. I couldn’t help my look of appreciation. She shifted uncomfortably. “You still have my pendant.”

Of course—the pendant. “Of course,” I said with a nod. “You can’t go without me,” said Eletha. “The only reason I am even in this mess is because I wanted to make sure you were okay. You can’t go running off ahead now.”

“Two days. The pack leader mentioned this place has a day and night like the human realm. Two turns of the sun and we’ll leave,” promised Walter.

Nothing was stopping me from leaving. In theory, that had been what I’d wanted all along, to get to the tenth tier and leave Tartarus for good all alone, yet somewhere in these last few tiers, something had happened within our little group— learning more about each of them, watching how they moved through the different challenges made them feel a lot more like friends than people I was trying to get away from.

A lot had changed in just three tiers. What would happen by the last one?

When we had to go our separate ways? Well, some of us.

From the sounds of it, the rest of them would be returning to Eromreven while I would be going to the Elysian Fields alone.

For the first time, that thought didn’t feel like a relief—it felt a little uncomfortable.

“Fine, we’ll stay for two days,” Anna said, “but that’s it.

But you have to promise to not be stupid and watch out for things that could be Greed tricking you.

I want my damn powers, and if I have to leave you two asshats here to get it, I will.

Dad needs my help more than you do.” She turned to me.

“We need to find Bexley; he might know what’s going on with this tier.

” I gave a nod. Wary as I was about spending more time with Anna, I found myself excited at the prospect as well.

“Do you or the pack need my help?” I asked Eletha.

As was normal with most of my other interactions with Eletha, she looked at me with a hint of disgust. “Yeah, give my sister that pendant around your throat; that’d be a great help.”

I rolled my eyes dramatically.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t even tried my best moves to get it from him yet,” Anna told Eletha, her mischievous eyes dancing.

She was more beautiful than any person had a right to be.

It was magnetic and discomfiting all at once.

It was like she was a test of some kind for me.

Maybe that’s why they sent me here instead of Mendax—he would have given her the pendant without hesitation.

The Fates needed her and her powers in Moirai; they had said how important it was that she ascend.

Maybe I could get her to chase me into Moirai and give the powers to her then? It would be their problem.

I watched her laugh and smile with the other two.

That was it then. I would take her to Moirai myself and give her the pendant as soon as we arrived.

I had no doubt she could return to Tartarus if she wished to, but at least at that point, she could have the chance to meet her real father and see what Moirai was all about.

Then, if she wanted to stay in Moirai or go back to Tartarus, it would be her decision and out of my hands.

That was definitely why the Fates had sent me for this and probably why they were making her so unbelievably attractive to me.

They knew I’d have trouble leaving her and end up taking her to Moirai. Yeah, that was it.

“You okay?” Anna asked me.

I swore she could see into my soul sometimes. Feeling confident in my new theory, I slid my palm down her arm and clasped her hand in mine. “You seem overly confident you’ll be removing this necklace from around my neck,” I said playfully.

She laughed and turned to Eletha, who was hyper-focused on our hands linked together. Anna cleared her throat and yanked her hand free from mine.

“Can you take it?” I whispered, taunting her. “The pendant of course?” She looked so fucking cute all frazzled. Immediately I wanted to see the look again and knew I would make it a point to do more things to get that reaction from her.

Her worry only lasted a second before it flared with competitive determination. “Had we not been stopped in Eromreven, I would have had it in the private room when you thought I was a prostitute.”

I choked on empty air and did my best to recover.

“The pendant of course,” she said as she rose one brow in challenge. Okay, definitely not playing the flirting game with her anymore, even though seeing her frazzled was worth it.

Walter’s voice held a worried note that hadn’t been there a moment ago. “Maybe one of you should come with us while the other finds Bexley.” He exchanged a look with Eletha.

“They won’t let them in. She’s fine, trust me,” Eletha muttered under her breath to Walter.

“She’s not really who I’m worried about,” he whispered back, and they both looked at me.

Eletha flattened her hands on Walter’s chest and leaned up on her tiptoes to whisper against his neck. “I need to feel you. It’s been too long. They’ll be fine for two days. I want to make up properly.” She kissed his neck.

He let out a low growl and lifted her up over his shoulder, holding her with one arm as she giggled.

“Find Bexley and meet us back on this dirt platform in two days. I have some things I need to take care of,” he said with a smile, having to raise the volume of his last sentence to be heard over Eletha’s giggles.

Walter slapped her ass and, with a wink at us, turned and walked away.

Eletha only made it from his shoulder to his chest, where she wrapped her arms and legs around him, kissing him as he held her tight and continued to walk in the direction the wolves had gone.

I was so happy for him—for them. Really happy.

Definitely not jealous at all. So happy in fact that something in the pit of my soul twisted up in knots.

I couldn’t help but wonder why the Fates never gave me something like that.

My brows knit together as I turned to look at Anna.

She was still watching the two of them with a giant smile plastered to her face.

“Let’s go find where Bexley went,” I said, watching her every blink.

“Okay, but if you carry me like that, I am definitely getting the pendant from your neck,” she laughed.

I let out a snort of laughter that was rather embarrassing. “If I carry you like that, you’ll get more than just the pendant,” I said, feeling a sinister tug of my lips.