Page 80 of Night Fae

"Take care of Malik while we're gone," Zev said to Adrian.

Adrian agreed. "I will. But you'd better return. You'd betterallreturn."

Zev gave a curt nod, then followed as Caelen led them through the palace gates, refusing to look back at the human who had somehow carved out a place for himself in Zev's hollow ribcage.

They rode in tense silence for the first hour, following a narrow path that wound through dense forest. Caelen and Daniel led, the Shadow King's arms wrapped protectively around his mate as they shared whispered conversations. Knox followed several lengths behind, with Zev taking up the rear.

The forest gradually thinned, giving way to rolling hills covered in pale silver grass that whispered as they passed. They stopped briefly to water their horses, then pressed on.

As they remounted and continued their journey, Caelen addressed them all without turning. "The Fields feed on emotion," he warned as they crested a particularly high hill. Below, the landscape shimmered in the distance, like heat rising from stone. "Keep your feelings guarded. Any strong emotion—fear, anger, joy, grief—will make you vulnerable."

"And you've been there before?" Knox asked.

Caelen's expression darkened. "Once. It was not... pleasant."

Daniel twisted in the saddle to look up at his mate. "You still haven't told me about that."

"There are many things I haven't told you, pet." Despite the endearment, Caelen's tone was grim. "Today is not the day to invite bad memories."

Zev decided it was time to change the subject. "We should discuss our plan," he said. "Once we find Leon, how do we extract him? Especially if he's working with Yuri willingly."

"He's not," Daniel insisted. "Leon wouldn't betray us."

Caelen tightened his hold on Daniel. "People can be manipulated. The Leon we find may not be the one you knew."

"If he's under some kind of influence, we break it," Knox stated simply.

"And if Leon's not controlled?" Zev pressed. "If he chose this new alliance?"

Daniel glared at him. "Then we try to understand why. He's still my friend."

"Your friend who might be helping to destroy the barriers between worlds," Zev countered. "Allies can turn into enemies before you know it."

"Enough," Caelen commanded, his voice cutting. "We waste time with pointless speculation. The Night Court or rogue Barrier Keepers could be at the Fields already." His arm tightened around Daniel. "We deal with Leon when we find him."

The shimmering in the distance had grown more pronounced. As they rode toward it, the air took on a strange quality—thicker, somehow, as if they were moving through water rather than air. Sounds became muffled, and colors blurred at the edges.

They dismounted at the border of the Fields, tethering their horses to a stand of stunted trees. The animals seemed skittish, nervous.

"They won't cross into the Fields," Caelen explained. "Animals have better sense than we do."

Zev studied the boundary where normal landscape gave way to something... different.

There was no clear line, just a gradual shift into unreality. The silver grass beyond the border sometimes appeared solid, sometimes transparent, revealing other landscapes beneath—snow-covered mountains, dense jungle, barren desert—each flickering in and out of existence.

"Jamie?" Daniel suddenly tensed. "I hear Jamie."

Caelen gripped his arm. "It's not real, pet. The Fields are already reaching for you."

Daniel shook his head. "It sounded just like him."

"Remember the amulets," Knox said, touching the pendant at his throat. "Focus on them when things become confusing."

Zev touched his own pendant, the metal cool against his skin. "Let's move. The longer we stand here, the more time we give the Fields to work on us."

They crossed the border together. The moment Zev stepped into the Fields, the air around him changed—became charged with energy that prickled along his skin.

Colors intensified, then faded, then shifted entirely. The silver grass sometimes brushed his knees, sometimes barely covered his boots.