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Damon’s shadows brushed my back, a soft caress that made me shiver.

“Truth be told, I forgot about the beach access,” he replied lightly.

“I only ever visited the palace here…once. Before I became king. And there was still so much construction happening. Once I ascended the Elysian throne, I stopped leaving the Underworld. Pandora and those who came after her visited me. As per the magic’s need. ”

I glanced at him over my shoulder, but couldn’t make out whether it was a lie or not. When I checked in with Elias and Maeve, who seemed to have their own built in lie detectors, they didn’t seem to know either.

“Okay.” I stepped away from Orion and his shadows. “Let’s try to find some way off this beach. And if I’m wrong about the beach access—which is highly possible—then we need Damon to shadow jump us to the top of the cliff, okay? ”

Maeve pressed her lips together, but without a word, she bowed her head. I turned to Elias next, who gave me a short nod. The two mages were less forgiving, but they both met my eye with acceptance.

It was the other two I worried about most. Hawk had been quiet since we landed on the beach. Silent and standoffish, which shouldn’t surprise me. But I missed his arrogance. The quips. As much as his words hurt me, I’d come to rely on him. He’d been a steady rock with his attitude and annoyance.

The male standing off to the side was not the same male I’d met at the safe house. He was not the male I’d trained with. The male who protected me during the power explosion at Oberon or held me after Kerry died.

I sighed through my nose and tore my eyes from him when he didn’t respond. He was playing the role of dutiful soldier, and I couldn’t fault him for that. But I wanted him to recognise that he was more than that. Even if he didn’t want to be.

Orion, though, clenched his jaw and nodded. That would have to be enough.

“Great,” I said, bringing my hands together. I needed to break up the tension and awkwardness somehow. It was so thick you could cut the air with a knife. And it made this harder.

Too bad we don’t have time for trust exercises , I thought.

“We’re on a timeline. We spent a week in the Underworld, which gave Dante a week ahead of us,” Maeve said, eyeing me, then the rest of the group. “We work together now. For Ivy’s sake. And we remain vigilant. We are lucky we have not faced the beasts known to lurk these lands.”

A cold chill ran down my spine at the reminder.

Vanya, my only real friend from Oberon, had told me that during one of our classes at the end of the year, we would get to see the Old World through a mirror portal.

Mirror magic was rare, and there was a professor at the academy capable of using it.

The portals weren’t ones you could necessarily step through, but mirror witches could summon the image of another world through the glass.

The professor, at the end of the school year, would have opened a portal at the academy so students could catch a glimpse of how dangerous the Old World was. Vanya said her older brother saw monsters during his look into the portal.

“Thanks for reminding me,” I muttered.

Adrian glanced at me with a half-smile. “If it helps, Rowan and I saw nothing but fog during our look into the mirror.”

I rolled my eyes, but offered him a smile. “It doesn’t, but thanks anyway.”

My prince shrugged, but it was enough to lighten the mood—even if it was only momentarily.

“Do you think you might be able to find that beach access you mentioned?” Elias asked, approaching me with his hand outstretched.

I took his calloused palm gratefully, looking from him to the cliff-face.

There were no obvious signs of anything having been built there.

But fifteen hundred years ago, there had been.

It was a long time, but sometimes there were signs.

Like maybe the openings of caves. That was, of course, if they had built into the cliff rather than onto it.

The only way to find out was through magic.

Eyes closed, I summoned that deep well of ancient, unending power; the energy still tied to the land around me, part of everything the supernatural world had to offer. The thread brightened, glowing white as I tugged at it, hoping for some kind of access to the memories it held .

I smiled in relief as it came to me settled and clearer, no longer buried or weighed down by everything else. No longer did I fear that one wrong emotion would make me blow up. It was a part of me, more now than ever, and it wanted to grow. Wanted to seek out the last of its bonds.

Not yet , I told it. We need to find Nyx’s crown .

My magic, with a mind of its own, reached for something else.

Someone else.

The half-Fae male who made it abundantly clear he did not want to bond. And I reminded my magic of that. Reminded it that he would not allow its claim.

My magic pulled back sharply from him in disappointment. It was a little too intrigued by the other male here not bonded to me: the demon king whose soul still darkened the palm of my hand. It liked him a little too much.

I tugged it away from him, too, and instead made it focus on what once used to be here. The magic still imbued in the land. In the memories it still held.

And when I opened my eyes, purple magic burst from my hand, streaking along the sand towards the cliff. The power crashed into the rough stone, sparks of light exploding in all directions.

I held my breath as it faded to reveal the mouth of a cave that had long since been closed off. Within was darkness, but a flash of familiarity hit me.

Unknowingly, I took a step towards it. Elias tugged me back, reminding me of his presence—and everyone else.

“Well, that is certainly a way to do it,” Damon mused.

The weight of their stares had me pressing into Elias’s side and ducking my head .

“Up we go, I guess,” Rowan said lightly, pulling one of his enchanted daggers from his belt. “I really, really hope the giant spiders don’t live there.”

I stiffened, eyes widening. “Giant what?”

He looked back at me with a grimace. “You didn’t hear about those in class?”

“No!” I tried to pull my hand from Elias’s, but he held firmly to me, growling. “Oh, Goddess, I am not dealing with huge spiders. I watched all the Lord of the Rings movies, and those things freaked me out the most.”

Adrian chuckled, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart, we’ll protect you.”

“You better,” I muttered, shuddering. I will not end up like Frodo.

Apparently, my disgust lightened the mood enough for the others. Weapons were drawn, a circle formed around me, and we approached the dark opening on the beach with bated breaths.

I prayed silently to the Goddess that what we were seeking resided in the ruins above us. But a small part of me felt like that would be too easy.

As I glanced back at the dark ocean, a different kind of chill rolled down my spine. My magic flared in warning, skin prickling with a wrongness I recognised immediately.

“He’s here,” I said. “He made it to the Old world.”

Everyone froze in the opening of the cave. I couldn’t take my eyes off the water. I wasn’t sure how, but I knew he’d arrived by boat.

Which meant he could have had anyone with him.

An army, even.

And that meant we were officially running out of time.