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If she hadn’t stabbed Elias and stolen the amplifier, she may have never come across Magnus’ army and been captured.

If she hadn’t been captured, Elias and Breckett wouldn’t have come after her, and Magnus may have never discovered either of the erox.

But once he did, he’d sent his ogres and gargoyles after them and destroyed the repaired ward around Elias’ castle.

Suddenly, an unspoken truth struck her.

Before the enchantresses had been her priority. Now, she had two families who needed protecting.

Elias was her family now, too.

Slowly, she stopped walking and lowered Jessamine to the ground. Placing her in the sand, she reached for the syphen hidden inside a sheath in her jacket, her hand lingering on the hilt.

“I can respect that you don’t want to take free will from the erox.

But the syphen is an edge in the coming confrontation against Magnus.

Because there will be one, whether we like it or not.

You don’t gather an army to not use it.” She turned the syphen over in her hand.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll do what I must to protect Shadowbank and Elias.

I meant what I said before. I won’t take the free will of the erox indefinitely.

I will require their assistance only long enough to save my mate. ”

And she meant it.

This wasn’t a world for the faint of heart or the soft. To survive meant to choose who to protect. And she’d choose Elias and Shadowbank every time.

“Why did you come with us?” she asked.

Breckett sighed. “I already told you?—”

“The real reason,” she pressed.

“I’m tired of running,” he said. “Magnus has been chasing me for more years than I care to count. The only way this stops is if he’s dead. With Magnus gone, all of the erox will be free to live as they choose.”

“And you won’t be constantly looking over your shoulder,” she said.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Magnus’ erox finding us at Hadeon’s estate is just the start. He will try again and again to find you—to find us both. You’re a good a bet as any. Besides, I don’t want to leave Elias under Magnus’ thumb any more than you do.”

Slowly, she nodded.

A life on the run sounded exhausting. While she had every intention of looking for a way to kill Magnus, it was possible she’d share Breckett’s fate. But if spending her days fleeing from the sorcerer was the only way she could be with Elias, then so be it.

“Taking the syphen makes you no better than Hadeon,” Breckett said in a softer tone, the words seeped in an emotion she couldn’t quite identify. “When he calls in that favor, you’ll lose your free will, too. Likely only for a time, but you won’t be able to refuse.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” she said, filled with both sadness and determination. “Perhaps I’m no better than the fae prince. I will do whatever is necessary to protect those I love. In this world, we either fight to protect those we love, or we lose them.”

The idea of being compared to Hadeon had something twisting inside her, but she didn’t disagree entirely with what Breckett said. She forcibly pushed the guilt back.

I’ll become whatever I must to protect Elias and Shadowbank.

“The ambiance of this place sucks,” a female voice said from behind her. “It’s so fucking dark, I can hardly see anything.”

Turning, Arabella sheathed the syphen and smiled. “Did you have a nice nap?”

Jessamine spat into the sand. “No. My head aches like a gargoyle sat on it.”

Her eyes fixed on something above, and Arabella followed her gaze.

Dark wings filled the sky as something descended toward them. In a burst of wind, the prince landed, sending sand flying in every direction.

Spitting into the sand again, Jessamine rose to her feet. “I think I have sand inside my skull.”

“The oasis is about ten or fifteen miles from here,” Hadeon said. “It’s small—hardly more than a cluster of trees.”

“Did you spot any life?” Arabella asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing I can see. But there’s… something nearby. A presence has been lingering at the edge of my senses.”

“Whatever it is will show its face before long,” Jessamine said as she shook her jacket. “Demons always do. That’s when things will get interesting.”

“Don’t instigate the undead,” Breckett hissed.

“It’s best to avoid the notice of anything that walks these lands.

Or maybe whatever it is will think we're too insignificant to bother coming after. Because,” he pointed to Hadeon, “even the prince may not be strong enough to fend off what lives here.”

Jessamine tied her leather jacket around her waist, crossing her arms before turning to Arabella. “Do all demons have his temperament?”

Arabella bit her lip. She’d likely just pissed Breckett off by refusing to return the syphen to him and didn’t want to rub sand in his wound. And his caution wasn’t unwarranted.

“Let’s head to the oasis,” she said. “We’ll need water no matter what comes next.”

“Erox don’t need to drink or eat,” Breckett said helpfully.

Groaning, she glared up at the starless sky before leveling her gaze on the erox. “Then you’ll drag our parched asses across the sand if we become too dehydrated to walk on our own.”

He muttered something in response, which she chose to ignore.

Studying the map, she eyed the line that led west—or what she was going to assume was west. As she looked closely, she spotted a marking with a cluster of trees.

The oasis. The next similar marking was at least five times the distance on the map from the first one.

If the first oasis was ten miles away, would it be another fifty miles until they came across water?

If that was true, they’d be dead long before they reached the shadow fae on the opposite end of the map.

The opposite end of Abyss.

Hadeon came to stand next to her, gesturing to the map. “May I?”

Nodding, she passed it to him. When his gloved hands enclosed around the parchment, the ink sunk back into the map. The markings disappeared as though they never were, leaving behind a blank document.

“Fascinating,” he said before handing the map back to her.

Instantly, it filled with dry ink, and markings flowed across the parchment until it was illustrated once more. Her eyes lingered on Hadeon’s gloved hands and how he was careful to remain just out of reach.

Without another word, she continued westward, and the others followed.

Breckett didn’t bother to start a conversation again. Instead, he remained in stoic silence. Meanwhile, Hadeon made several attempts to start conversations with Jessamine.

“What’s your home like?” he asked.

“Like most human villages,” Jessamine said through gritted teeth.

“Of course,” the prince said as though she’d shared something of significance. “Shadowbank is the name of the village. Is it not?”

Behind Arabella, there was no reply from Jessamine.

“Do the enchantresses live within the village?” he continued.

“No, I live in the forest, and my neighbors are a belgor, the belgor’s uncle, and an owl that thinks it's a shifter,” Jessamine said dryly. “What do you think?”

Ignoring her quip, the prince said, “What’s your role in Shadowbank? Do you repair the ward like Enchantress Arabella?”

“Why so many questions?” Jessamine said, and Arabella dared a glance over her shoulder, noting her friend’s narrowed eyes and the tensing of her jaw. “Are you hoping to get a bargain out of me, too? Use my past or home against us? I’m not interested in anything you have to offer.”

Arabella watched the prince’s wings twitch faintly—the only outward sign of his irritation. He was careful to keep his hands at his sides.

“We’re all doing what we must to protect those we feel loyal to,” he said, his tone growing cold. For a moment, it was as though the color drained from his features, and he was truly the dark fae prince of nightmares. “Nothing more and nothing less.”

Jessamine looked up at the male who towered over her. But even with the stark height difference, her presence billowed out around her—her sheer gumption and fearlessness making her seem far taller than she was.

“Why make a bargain with Arabella and not Elias?” Jessamine pressed. “Was it because you knew she was shadow fae?”

His eyes flickered up to Arabella as she watched them over her shoulder. “I had a feeling we’d need each other.”

Jessamine harrumphed but said nothing further. It seemed the prince had finally had enough of the pleasantries as well, as he didn’t attempt to start a conversation with Jessamine again.

There was no way to tell the passing of time without the guidance of a sun, moon, or stars. But what felt like hours later, they spotted a cluster of trees in the distance.

Over her life, she’d grown to associate forests with danger. But as her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, she breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in her life at the sight of a line of trees.

The oasis.

“About fucking time,” Jessamine muttered behind her.

Freeing her swords from the sheaths on her back, Arabella ran toward the oasis. As she did, she kept her senses open, searching for any nearby magic wielders.

She passed through trees for what she thought was half a mile, and there wasn’t a single sign of life.

Not the pattering of small animal feet atop branches, nor the lumbering steps of demons along the forest floor.

Instead, a strange quiet hovered over the earth.

It felt like dozens of eyes followed their every movement.

A single well was nestled in the center of the oasis. Seeing it, she sighed with relief. She’d long since finished the water she’d packed.

They quickly drew several buckets of water, drinking their fill and refilling their waterskins.

Then they explored some of the oasis, which had to be half a mile in each direction from the well.

There were no signs of any other living beings—or demons.

The plant life was also strange. Visually, it appeared similar to what was in the mortal realm.

However, it was slightly different in color, texture, and size.

She didn’t trust any of them would be safe to eat.

They made camp a short distance away from the well in a cluster of trees. Arabella, Jessamine, and Hadeon nibbled on some of the rations in their satchels in silence.

“Let’s take turns on watch,” Hadeon said. “I’ll take the first watch.”

Without a word, Breckett laid down and closed his eyes, instantly asleep. Meanwhile, Arabella and Jessamine settled against a tree that wasn’t quite an oak.

“Where do you think the exit is?” Jessamine asked.

It was a fair question. Even if the gateway they’d come through allowed them to pass both ways, there would be no finding it again in the endless desert.

Unbraiding her hair, Arabella said, “Honestly, I’ve been so focused on keeping everyone alive and reading this map that I figured I’d worry about it once we found the shadow fae. Maybe they’ll know a way out.”

Jessamine shook her head. “If they did, they’d have used it a long time ago. It’s up to us to find the exit gateway.”

“Either that or they know where it is, but they don’t have the key to use it. Here’s to hoping the map can show us an exit after we’ve found the shadow fae.” Arabella patted Jessamine’s arm. “Get some rest.”

They settled into the coarse plants that were an unnaturally dark shade of green.

As Arabella drifted off to sleep, trying to ignore the feeling of eyes upon them, she thought about what Jessamine had said.

How would they get out of the Abyss? Would they be stuck here for all eternity like the shadow fae?

If the shadow fae were even here.