Page 186 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

“You…” Velasara snarls as she forces herself to her feet, her glimmering eyes full of hatred and something sinister.

A blazing bolt of lightning strikes where she stands, and she barely manages to escape as Jayce’s arm wraps around my waist, and then he launches us both through the portal and to the other side, trusting me blindly.

Gods, I hope this works.

Closer

Sienna

We hit the ground hard, or Jayce does, his knee crashing into the ground as the portal snaps shut behind us. Jayce’s arms remain around me, holding me protectively. His helmet is covered with blood. Behind his visor, I can see the sweat and blood trickling into his eyes, but the fire in his eyes tells me he’s ok.

My heart thrums, realising I somehow managed to do it, but now isn’t the time to celebrate. I jump out of his arms and kneel before him, examining his injuries. He has several.

“Jayce… Look at you,” I whisper, my heart squeezing at the sight of his injuries.

“The blood, it’s not all mine.” He sounds almost arrogant as he raises his gauntlet.

He’s injured, but none of them is serious. I can see some of them already beginning to close up. I still whisper a spell and run my hand over the worst of the wounds.

“You were incredible against Velasara,” Jayce says quietly, raising his visor, and I smile softly, seeing the pride in his eyes. “Are you ok?”

I nod, placing a hand on my stomach. “We are.”

He nods as he stands, taking hold of my elbows for a moment. Our eyes meet briefly before we both turn to look around us. My smile vanishes noticing the lack of snow, and then my stomach drops.

Jayce has tensed, as if he too has only now realised that we aren’t where we’re meant to be… Or we are, in a way…

I’ve seen this place before… In my dreams…

“We’re inside the dome.”

It’s a statement. He recognises it too from when I shared my vision with him.

“Yes…” I murmur, looking around.

The barren ground stretches in every direction, the same dark stains marring the earth in sprawling patterns that look disturbingly familiar. The jagged rock formations, the dead landscape, and even the strange, oppressive atmosphere hanging over everything, although it doesn’t feel as intense as it did in my dream.

Looking up, the sky above us isn’t the sky but the curved surface of the dome stretching overhead; dull pulses of light are moving through it like veins beneath skin. It doesn’t look agitated from within.

Seeing it now, knowing this is no dream, makes it even more unsettling.

The power here is immense, but unlike before, I can actually breathe. The pressure isn’t crushing me. It’s simply there, hanging in the air, saturating everything around us like an invisible fog.

Beside me, Jayce slowly turns in a circle, taking everything in.

“So, you had the power to get inside of this thing, which means the drakaths are here,” he murmurs.

Thousands of them.

I don’t think I can cast a concealment spell, I murmur through the mind-link. The energy is intense; it might just draw them here.

We’ll be careful... Before that, can you store a sample of blood?

I glance up at him, not needing to ask why. He holds out his bloody gauntlet. Vincenzo’s blood.

Just to confirm, he adds quietly. The revelation is still weighing on us both. It’s not going to be easy having to share that. I understand where he’s coming from.

He looks... No, you’re right. But you can sense when someone lies. Did he-