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I doubled back and exited at what had to be the second floor, running for my life.

I ran deeper inside the castle, noticing there weren’t as many doors on this level, and started testing handles as I passed them, trying my best to be quiet. I couldn’t allow the guard to catch me and drag me back to my room.

Knob.

Locked.

Knob.

Locked.

Knob.

Not locked!

I threw myself inside the unlocked room, taking my chances on occupancy, and locked the handle behind me, pressing my ear to the door to listen for the guard.

Seconds later, I heard the guard’s footsteps moving closer to me. It sounded like he was stopping and testing every door handle, too.

I held my breath as he reached my door, turning the handle, only to cuss when he found it locked, before continuing down the hallway.

I let out a deep breath, turning around to see where I had ended up.

Luckily, the room was empty, aside from the massive oval table in the center of the room, where at least twenty people could gather around comfortably.

Judging by the seating arrangement, this was likely a meeting room.

Maps covered one wall, while paintings lined the other, but what caught my eye was the large map covering the wall at the back of the room.

My feet carried me toward the spheres floating on paper, the shapes connected by a solid line running through the middle of them.

I counted quickly, tallying nine. Nine spheres to represent the nine Earths. A piece of evidence that confirmed what Leo had told me about our worlds was true.

I stepped away from the map, feeling uneasy, instead focusing my attention on the paintings that were easier to appreciate than the otherworldly spheres. The paintings were normal: still-lifes and portraits, landscapes of oceans and sunsets. Just like the artwork you would find on my Earth.

And there was one painting, larger than the rest, that displayed a portrait of a family dressed in full regalia, with ribands, jewels, and crowns. A young couple stood smiling at whoever had painted them, the man’s hair light like butter, while the woman’s loose curls were stunningly dark, falling like waves around her shoulders and arms. Her eyes striking.

Hazel.

Unique.

Familiar.

Each of their hands rested on a shoulder of a small boy positioned in front of them, whose crown sat slightly crooked on his head. The boy shared the same dark hair and hazel eyes with the one who could only be his mother. His smile impish; the spark of childhood alive in his young eyes.

Leo’s eyes.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” a voice boomed, causing me to jump.

I whipped my head toward the door to find Adrian leaning against the back of it, his arms folded across his chest, his head nearly reaching the top of the doorframe.

His casual stance and furious face were at odds with each other, his hand twitching with irritation as he twirled something between his fingers. A flower? It was hard to tell from where I stood.

The more important thing to notice was that he’d gotten inside the room and closed the door behind him without me noticing. My usual sixth sense of detecting danger was nowhere to be found on One, disturbed by the heaviness of my body and the overall nature of being on a different Earth.

Trying to defuse the tension that was quick to build between us, I pointed my thumb at the portrait behind me. “Leo isn’t just the commander, is he?”

Adrian glared at me, looking me up and down. “I said you shouldn’t be in here. This is our meeting room and as you can see . . .”—he gestured around the room—“there is no meeting.”