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I held onto my cloak with my free arm and did as he said.

I went from admiring his back to huffing from the ache in my legs as they burned.

These caves were endless, the black sand harsh on my feet.

My chest tightened when I focused on the hole in the back of his tattered shirt, where the Aethar had run their sword through.

It had been what woke the magic in me and started this whole mess.

We reached a large cave, and a low rumbling stopped him dead in his tracks. “Fuck.” He grabbed a hold of me, shoving me behind him and pushing us against a wall. “Don’t breathe.”

I hid my face in his back, taking a breath and holding, inhaling the smell of him. His back was damp and hard as stone.

The cave grew darker, near black, as a shadow passed us. It was slow, lethargic, rattling like a snake. When the light crept back into my hiding spot behind Brekt, he took off again, yanking me along with him.

My heart soared even amid the nightmare, with danger coming for us. Brekt’s warm, calloused hand enveloped mine and pulled me through the caves, away from the monster that haunted this dream place, until he found a small cavern. He pulled me behind a large stalagmite and pushed me against the rock.

He held me by the shoulders, staring at me with those shockingly bright eyes.

I took in every detail of his face—a face that was entirely his despite the eyes.

Scrapes and wounds, the shadows under his skin.

Brekt was alive and standing before me. My only complaint was that it wasn’t real—it wasn’t entirely him.

A shy smile lifted one side of his mouth as his gaze held mine.

“It’s you,” I whispered, lifting a hand to touch his scar and stopping when his snake-like pupils constricted.

Brekt frowned. “I wish you weren’t here, Liv. Though I am relieved to see you alive.”

“The last time I saw you, you tried to kill me. And your friends.”

After all these months, I finally had him before me—I finally reached the dream place, only to see a look of remorse come over him.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been learning to find myself again, but it’s never easy.

It’s taken a great amount of time, and I have to concentrate—to remember—my life outside here.

The more I remember myself the easier it is to return.

I assume withholding your magic has helped. ”

“You can tell?” I was surprised. I held myself still against the rock. This connection between the legends was so strange that it felt good to understand it—or at least understand how to find each other.

“What is that thing that attacked me?” I asked. “You saw it. The shadow monster.” No one else had seen it before.

“I don’t know what it was. It’s not the same as what lives in this place.”

“It follows me everywhere, even outside of here. I used to think it was you.”

His gaze hardened. “Could parts of this place be leaking to the outside world?”

“You and I exist in both. Perhaps the monsters do, too,” I said in a low voice.

Brekt lifted a hand to my hair, putting a strand between two fingers. “It’s changing you—the magic.” His jaw flexed. “I didn’t feel you for a long time.” Creases formed around his mouth. There was more he wasn’t saying.

“Something has happened.” I grabbed his arm. “Is it the others? You attacked them last?—”

“The others are fine.” His magic flickered, causing him to vanish. Then he was back again, frowning. Darkness floated beneath his skin. The pull tugged on me, and I knew the Aspis was hovering below the surface. “You cut me off. You hid your magic.”

“Did you think I was doing it to separate myself from you?”

He cocked his head. It was so animalistic that I shivered. “You ran into enemy lands. You still carry the magic after all this time, yet you told the others you were going to return it to the gods.” Brekt searched my face.

I did the same, memorizing all the pieces of him so I would never forget. “What aren’t you asking?”

He cursed, shaking his head. “Are you turning against us?”

I squeezed my hands into fists. “No! I have been trying to survive. It’s taken time to travel north, where Maev and I will get help. I’m still going to search for the gods. I asked Ouras already, and he wouldn’t take it. I am looking for the others next.”

Brekt gave a single nod. “Why haven’t you visited me in the dreaming place? I’ve been needing to talk.”

He was serious. He thought I was choosing not to go.

“I cut off the magic so the Aspis wouldn’t follow me into the Aethar lands. I cut it off so there wouldn’t be a war. You would have been attacked if you were floating around the sky. They have aerial units and airships with weapons.”

“You did it to save me?”

His lip twitched, and I recalled a lifetime ago when we were travelling on the road—no beast, no magic. Just two people.

I relaxed my shoulders, which had wound too tight. “I told you I was going to save you.”

“My little hero,” he said with a hint of amusement.

“I am not going to be the evil everyone expects me to be.”

The cave shook with a roar, and Brekt put his hand behind my head, holding me in place. His claws scraped the soft skin there. He spoke faster, though he kept his voice low. “Where are you now? How far into their lands have you gone?”

If I didn’t know him better, the ferocity with which he held me would have been frightening. “I’ve only seen the map Maev has drawn. I am south of a mountain range—past that is her city, Avenmae.”

“I am coming to find you. Outside of this place. I will search for the pull.” Brekt drew closer.

The Aspis was drawing his features, making pieces of his skin darken and flake away.

“Don’t cut me off completely. The world may think we are enemies, and the things possessing us might feel that way.

But Liv … that’s not what we are.” He squeezed the back of my neck, and I winced from the pain. “What existed before this fate …”

I held back the tears threatening to form. “I’m not cutting you out. I promise. I never did. Come find me.”

More skin flaked away, and his chest rose and fell. Just like before, it was as though there was something he wasn’t saying.

“What is it?” I asked.

Brekt checked over his shoulder. Did he sense the other monster coming closer?

“There is something I must tell you,” he said, turning back to me. “Something the others witnessed.”

I waited, watching him struggle to find the words.

“Your friend,” he said carefully. “The pilot.”

I didn’t move, not daring to breathe, dreading what he would say next.

“The Ravins got ahold of him.”

The breath I was holding left me all at once. I clutched onto Brekt, shaking my head. “Ollo—” My voice broke. “Is he?—”

Brekt shook his head, pain twisting the sides of his mouth, fighting the Aspis. “The Ravins made an example of him. Kazhi never found the body.”

I lost hold of Brekt and nearly fell, but Brekt grabbed me again.

“He can’t be,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Liv.” He held me so I was standing, and I covered my mouth. I couldn’t let that monster hear me.

“Ollo was my friend.”

“Liv.” Brekt’s voice had changed.

I pulled back, and through my tears, I could see black scales on his cheek. My emotions were out of control. I couldn’t box them in, and the magic was reacting. “I’m sorry. I can’t hold it in. I don’t know how I am going to tell Maev.”

The cave shook again, and when the beast roared, it was different. It was angered.

“It comes,” Brekt said around growing fangs. “You have to leave.”

“I don’t want to. There’s so much to say.”

Brekt grabbed the wall, flinching. “I will find you. The Guards are coming to the Aethar lands with a whole crew of Guardians. I will find you before they do.”

The cave shook, debris falling from above. “Wake up now, Liv.”

Wake up!

“Wake up.” Hands grabbed my face, holding me still while a high-pitched voice yelled at me to settle down. Then, a sharp pain on my cheek snapped me back to reality, and the forest came back into view. It was not shimmering. It was not pulsing. There were no monsters.

The fire was several feet away, and Maev was above me with a bloody lip, holding me down.

I was crying, covered in dirt, and desperately trying to hold the magic in.

How was I going to tell my friend that her brother was dead?

“It’s not true!” Maev was on her knees, her hands banded around my arms, shaking me. “It’s not! I know it’s not.”

“The Guards saw it happen.”

She sprang to her feet. Tears made a mess of her cheeks. “Listen to me. I’ve told you, I feel him.” She slammed a palm to her chest. “I don’t care what they saw. I don’t care what the Shadow Guard claimed. Ollo. Is. Alive.”

I wiped my tears away, searching the woods for the truth.

I had seen horrible things. I had seen miracles, too.

I came from a world where no magic existed, but I always believed there was more.

I knew it in my heart. Magic was powerful.

But if the people I had met taught me anything, it’s that love is more powerful than it all.

“If you say Ollo is alive, then I believe you.”

Her lip trembled violently, and I would have done anything to make it stop.

“I’m so sorry, Maev.”

She shook her head, wiping her tears. “None of that. No sorrys or condolences. Ollo is alive. He may be in danger, but he’s alive. It only means we can’t linger when we get to Avenmae. We have to do something.”

“What will we do?”

She paced around the fire. The same one I had thought vanished from the woods. “The Guardians are coming to our lands. I knew it was only a matter of time. The Guards are coming with them?”

“That’s what Brekt said.”

“We will make a plan to meet them and get their help. They might be able to figure out where he is.”

“They will help. I know they will.”

Maev stopped. “That doesn’t mean we quit looking for the gods either. You are in trouble too, Liv.”

My face crumpled. How could she think of me after hearing about Ollo? “I was supposed to be your saviour.”

She frowned. “The Council and their spawn are to blame for this one.”

I watched ashes from the flames float to the sky on a breeze, touching the stars. I had watched Brekt fade to dust, and yet he was alive. Maev had to be right. This world had powers I could never understand.

Nights Crown was visible from here, the stars gleaming in the south. A group of tree hid North Aspis. A way forward and a way home. Brekt had given those stars to me, so that I never felt lost in his world.

“You know, I don’t think there’s anything I am actually good at.” I toyed with the hem of my sleeves. “I can’t hunt, I can’t make inventions, I can’t fly airships. I can barely fight. I can’t manage my emotions, and I can’t keep friends safe.”

Maev bit her bottom lip before a laugh broke free, her eyes swimming with tears. “You’re right. You’re not very good at being the Ikhor.”

Something about the stinging remark made me laugh.

Maev turned to the fire, hugging herself. “I don’t know how to explain it, Liv. But I know I will find him.”

“ We will, Maev.”

She reached over and grabbed my hand. My heart swelled as much as it hurt for her. Maev was brilliant and vibrant, so much like my mother. She was sunshine and a beacon of light. I would do everything to keep her safe.

I had experienced so few moments of joy. Of peace. Of love.

I blinked back the gathering tears.

Maev hadn’t left me through any of it, even when I was terrible—even if I could easily be blamed for Ollo being taken from her.

I glanced down at our hands.

I loved this girl.

She was the first person I loved from whom I wanted nothing in return. I wanted my mother’s lessons. I wanted Rebeka’s approval. I wanted Brekt’s heart. I wanted Nuo’s thirst for life.

I wanted nothing from Maev. She was peace. She was humour. She was a sister.

Home.

After years of not feeling like I belonged anywhere in the world, here in these strange lands, with tears in both our eyes, I finally found my home.

I squeezed her hand. Not used to being forward with my feelings, I wasn’t sure how to express how grateful I was for her.

She squeezed my hand back, and I knew she understood.