Theo and Tavrik slowed, their chests heaving like wounded animals.Sweat poured down their faces, dripping onto the ground.
Around us stretched nothing but endless trees and an open field rolling toward the horizon.No Jinn.No soldiers.
Then the world ruptured.
A deafening sound like a star being torn from the sky split the night, vibrating through my teeth and rattling my bones.
Not just a roar, but a wrathful, soul-rending bellow shook the trees until leaves rained down on us.
The ground beneath us trembled, pebbles skittering across the forest floor like scattered bones.Birds erupted in a chaos of wings and terrified cries, their silhouettes cutting across the pale moon.
I locked eyes with Theo.The colour had drained from his face, and his pupils had blown wide with terror.
“Shit.”
He was coming.
Dalkhan’s fury burned in the air like wildfire.It was everywhere—in the sky that darkened even further.In the cowering branches.
Power crackled across my skin like static, the taste of metal flooding my mouth.
Even the moon seemed to dim in fear.
“Run.”
We bolted.Propelled by pure terror, my feet barely kissed the ground.
I had known he would come for me.
I had betrayed him.After everything—after he had let me in.Let me see parts of him no one else had.
After hetrustedme.
Torment twisted in my veins like poison.My soul screamed for me to turn back, to abandon this madness and throw myself into his arms where I belonged.
I bit down on my knuckles to keep from crying out his name.
I had to go home.I had to protect her.And by leaving, I was protecting him too, though he would never know.
“He will come for us.”Theo’s voice cracked.“And he will kill us.”
My legs moved blindly, beyond exhaustion.
Then the world ahead began to shimmer.
Reality rippled, distorting as the light of the moon cascaded against an invisible wall stretching across the land.
The Veil.
We had made it.We only had to cross.
I hesitated, just for one stolen moment, and looked back.
Thick and writhing shadows erupted from the darkness, clawing their way into existence.Flames burned within them, hungry tongues of fire licking at the air.
The Veil pulsed behind me, its magic pulling at my back.
The shadows solidified, and there he was.
