I didn’t have to go far; Julian’s tent was just a few steps from mine. The night breeze tossed strands of my hair into my eyes, and I shook my head to clear my vision. Red clay from the ground caked onto my boots as I walked, marking my path to his tent.
I walked in purposefully, and Julian, seated at a small desk, looked up at me through his squared lenses.
I stopped beside him, where he had been combing his blonde, curly hair with a handheld mirror. His dark eyes narrowed with annoyance. “Nope, whatever it is, I am not in the mood,” Julian said, turning from me and running the comb in his hair again. “Turn right around and go buddy it up with someone else tonight. I have a date with a gorgeous man two tents down andhave been looking forward to it all day. I don’t need you to come in and ruin my good mood. You have that face.”
“Although I'm happy for you finally growing a pair and talking to Randy, we have a problem,” I said grimly.
“No, no problems today; sorry,” Julian said, setting down the mirror and adjusting his glasses with a sigh. He rose from his seat and shrugged on a navy-blue jacket that had been draped over his chair.
“We’ve been on the road for months with nothing to show for it. And Randy over there,” — he gestured dismissively toward the side of the tent—“is my reward for this fruitless endeavor, which, I might add, I advised against.”
Annoyance surged through me at his dismissive tone. “Julian, listen,” I snapped. “Do you remember me mentioning that I’ve been sensing someone around our camps these past few weeks?”
He narrowed his beady black eyes at me but continued preparing himself, unperturbed. “Yes, yes, the elusive stalker who manages to slip past my wards and vanishes the moment you detect them?” He raised an eyebrow, glancing over his shoulder at me, clearly skeptical.
“Yes, it’s a girl,” I retorted sharply, my irritation evident.
He let out a sharp, barking laugh. “It sounds like you haven’t gotten laid in a while, and it’s starting to mess with your head.”
“Julian,” I hissed, my patience wearing dangerously thin. “She shadowed into my tent—literally fell from the sky and landed right on top of me.”
“Well, lucky you,” he mocked with a smirk, and my patience snapped.
I slammed my palms onto the desk, making the wood shudder beneath the force, and yelled, “Enough!”
Julian’s eyes widened in shock, meeting mine with an expression of disbelief. The smirk faded from his face as he took in the gravity of my gaze.
I ran my hands over my face in frustration, then grabbed the chair he had been sitting on, pulling it toward me and straddling it. “She shadowed into my tent, landed right on top of me—barely dressed, I might add—and then vanished.”
He blinked slowly again, his eyes shifting as he finally processed what I was saying.
“I know how this sounds, but you need to take it seriously. If she bypassed our wards and got that close…others could do the same.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed with disbelief. “That’s impossible,” he snapped, his voice tinged with irritation. “I designed those wards myself.” He began rifling through the papers and objects on his desk, clearly agitated by the implication.
“Just check them.” I sighed again, running a hand through my hair.
His gaze snapped to mine again, eyes wide and face twisted as though I’d slapped him. Julian, my closest friend and advisor, clearly felt that my doubts were some sort of personal attack on his spell-weaving skills. Having apprenticed under Lord Gunnar, the greatest Weaver in our lands, Julian took immense pride in being his most esteemed protégé. The thought of his wards being compromised clearly unsettled him.
Julian bristled again and walked over to a pile of books on his desk. He flung one open in irritation, and I ground my teeth, trying to suppress my anger at his childish attitude as I watched him flip aggressively through the pages before landing on one.
His eyes went misty, and his hands moved as if flickering through an unseen book. After a moment, he flinched, his eyes clearing again as he looked at me. “Impossible. The ward is… shredded. It’s completely gone, all of it. Our entire defense…” Julian repeated in disbelief, his voice faltering. “Fuck.”
I nodded grimly.
“Were you attacked?” Julian asked, his tone now serious and concerned.
“I’m fine,” I replied, still irritated that he hadn’t believed me.
“Damn it,” Julian muttered, collapsing onto his cot in frustration.
“There’s something else…” I hesitated, and Julian glanced nervously my way. “I think she’s from the human realm.”
His face scrunched in confusion. “You must be mistaken. If she were human, that would mean—” Julian’s voice trailed off, his eyes widening as the realization hit him.
“He opened the door,” I said with certainty, watching as he processed the new information and came to the same conclusions I had.
“No,” he breathed.
