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“How did it go? Are you safe?”
“Yes,” Delilah breathes, giving her a grateful smile. “I was able to get the word out to as many as I could, and it spread like wildfire. We’re in hiding across the realm in the hopes that the princes regain their power in time to control the archdemons again.”
“Hopefully we’ll be able to help,” Octavia says, smiling softly at the sapphire demon.
“You’ve already done so much. You’re the reason we were able to escape in the first place,” Delilah says. “If you hadn’t warned me, so many of us would still be trapped with the archdemons.”
“It’s nothing compared to what my people have done.” Octavia frowns. “I promise I won’t stop until we’re able to get you to safety and undo the harm Romulus has done.”
“I know.” Delilah smiles. “I know that you’ll help us. Just please be careful.”
“We will,” Octavia agrees, nodding to her friend. “You know how to contact me if you need anything.”
“Safe journey.”
Octavia waves a hand over her enchanted stones, and Delilah’s image flickers away.
“Like I said, I can get us part of the way, but we’ll have to travel the rest by foot.” Octavia studies the map again and tucks it into her back pocket. The shadows slip away in tendrils of smoke, revealing the desolate landscape around us once more. “I’m not sure what we’ll run into on the way though.”
“I can shield us,” I say, glancing around nervously. “But we should get out of here before the guards come.”
I set the timer on my watch for five hours. One way or another, we’ll be leaving then, with or without finding Seraphina’s princes.
Octavia loosens her grip on my hand as our bodies reform, and I hurriedly make sure my shield are still intact. I sigh a breath of relief and nod, giving Octavia the all-clear. I step forward and grimace as the earth cracks beneath my thick leather boots. I forgot about that. I scan the distance, making sure there aren’t any large cracks around us.
Falling into a pit of lava is not how I want to go.
“What is this place?” I ask, already looking around for some cover. I narrow my gaze as my eyes catch on something.
“This was where the battle was fought all those years ago.” She grimaces as she looks around. “This is as far as I’ve gone in this direction.”
My eyes widen as I take in the large pit to one side. There’s a steep cliff leading to a large canyon. Octavia looks down as well, sorrow creasing her features as though she’s imagining the battle playing out before her eyes. Thousands of years have passed, but this place looks like it’s been abandoned since that day. The wind blows through the canyon, lifting up a layer of dirt and revealing the edge of what must have been a spear. Has anyone been here since?
“Did you...” I trail off, unsure of how to ask the question. I know at that time, Octavia had found out my father was her mate and was trying to leave Romulus, only to be drawn back in for the sake of both the ethereal and infernal realms. I don’t know how far she had to go in order to prove herself to Romulus.
“No, I didn’t fight in it, but I wasn’t able to stop it either,” she sighs, crossing her arms over her chest. “Romulus had already killed Vale by the time I got here, and his plan was too engraved in this world for me to unravel that quickly. I wish I could’ve though. I wish I could’ve put an end to this long ago to save you from this fight.”
“We can do it together,” I say, taking her hand in mine again. I smile softly at her, and her eyes widen slightly before she hides her surprise.
“Yes, we’re in this together,” she agrees, squeezing my hand in response. Her smile is sad though, full of regret and sorrow, but it’s gone before I can say anything. Reluctantly, she releases my hand and grabs for the map in her back pocket. “It should be this way.”
She situates herself to the north based on the sun and points to whatever I spotted in the distance.
“What is it?” I narrow my eyes again, hoping to make out the object to no avail.
“It looks like a bridge from what the map shows,” Octavia says, and hands the thick piece of parchment to me.
I grimace as I search along from the gods’ castle, grateful that Octavia was able to take us this far. There was no way we’d make it here if we had to walk the whole way. “It should just be on the other side of the bridge,” I agree and hand the map back to her. “Please tell me there’s some sort of natural water here.”
“I haven’t seen anything.” She grimaces and puts the map back in her pocket. “Hopefully it’s a—”
Octavia’s words cut off as a thunder boom echoes in the distance.
That can’t be good.
I make sure my shields are firmly in place around us, and that they’re blocking out us and our sounds as Octavia sends her shadows out, searching along the cracking land.
“There’s a boulder demon coming this way; how good are your shields?” Octavia asks, blinking away the shadows from her eyes.
