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Bryce eyed the tunnel behind them. “How’d you even get past the beasts?”
A slight smile. “It pays to know people with wings.”
Bryce grunted, despite the ache in her chest. “So someone flew you to the gate—”
“And will fly us out.” A corner of her mouth kicked up. “Or haul you, if you decide to do this the hard way.”
Bryce scanned the path behind Nesta. Only deep shadows lingered. No sign of anyone with wings waiting to snatch her. “You might be bluffing.”
She could have sworn silver fire danced in Nesta’s eyes. “Do you want to find out?”
Bryce held her stare. Clearly, they didn’t want her dead, if they’d sent someone to retrieve her, not hunt her down. But if she returned to that cell, how long would they keep her there? Even hours could make a difference for Hunt and Ruhn—
“I’m always up for a day of discovery,” Bryce said.
Then she erupted with light.
Nesta cursed, but Bryce didn’t wait to see if the light had blinded her before bolting down the passage. Without any weapons, a running head start was her best chance of making it.
A force like a stone wall hit her from behind. The world tilted, her breath rushing from her as she collided with the stone ground, bones barking in pain. Shadows had wrapped around her, pinning her, and she thrashed, kicking and swatting at them.
She flared her light, a blast of incandescence that sent the shadows splintering in every direction.
She might not have enough magic left in her veins to teleport, but she could buy herself some time with this, at least. She scrambled to her feet, the shadows leaping upon her again, a pack of wolves set on devouring her.
She let them swarm her for just a moment before her magic exploded outward, a bomb of light in every direction. It sent those shadows flying into the ceiling, the walls. Where shadow met stone, debris tumbled from the ceiling. The mountain shook.
Bryce ran. Deeper into the tunnel, into the dark, her star flaring as she raced away from the crumbling rock all around—
The world shook and roared again, sending her sprawling amid a cloud of dust.
And then there was silence, interrupted only by the skittering rocks from the wall of stones now blocking the way back. But a cave-in wouldn’t stop Vanir or Fae for long. Bryce lunged upward—
Metal bit into her throat. Icy, deathly cold.
“Do not,” Nesta said quietly, panting, “move.”
Bryce glared up at the female but didn’t shove the blade from her throat. Her very bones roared at her not to touch the sword more than necessary. “Neat trick with the shadows.”
Nesta just stared imperiously at her. “Get up.”
“Put down your sword and I will.”
Their gazes clashed, but the sword moved a fraction. Bryce got to her feet, wiping dust and debris from her clothes. “What now?”
Her knees buckled with exhaustion. Her magic was spent, her veins utterly devoid of starlight.
Nesta glanced to the cave-in. Whatever shadow magic she possessed seemed to have little ability to move it. The warrior nodded to the tunnel ahead. “I suppose you’re getting your way.”
“I didn’t mean to cause that—”
“It doesn’t matter. There’s only one way out now. If there’s a way out at all.”
Bryce sighed, frowning at the star on her chest, still gleaming into the dark through her T-shirt. Illuminating all the dirt now smeared on the white cotton. “I didn’t intend to drag anyone else into this with me.”
“Then you should have stayed in the Hewn City.”
Bryce tucked away that kernel of knowledge—the place she’d been kept was called the Hewn City. “Look, this star …” She tapped her chest. “It’s pointing me this way. I have no idea why, but I have to follow it.”
