Lucia almost laughed at his consistently harsh tone. “I think I’ll miss your candor. And I’m not going to attempt to stop him, I will stop him.”

“I hope for all of our sakes that you’re right.”

She looked up at the glowing monolith. “How do I use this to help send me back?”

“Press your hands to its surface, and the gateway magic will do the rest.” When she hesitated, he raised a brow. “Don’t tell me that you’re doubting my word.”

“If I thought you were lying to me, you’d already be dead.” A small smile crept onto her face as his eyes widened. “Two of us can be blunt, Timotheus.”

“Indeed.”

“Farewell,” she said, ready to leave. Ready to return to her home, find her family, and ensure Kyan would never harm another soul.

Timotheus’s surprised expression faded, replaced by something she could only describe as sadness. “Farewell, Lucia.”

She pressed the palms of her hands against the cool, glowing crystal monolith. The light emanating from it quickly brightened to a pure white glow. Lucia forced her hands to keep pushing while she squeezed her eyes shut.

The very next moment, Lucia found herself on the ground with the wind knocked out of her and her feet swept beneath her. Gasping for breath and more than a little confused, she quickly pushed herself up from the dry, brittle earth and spun around in search of Timotheus.

But she was no longer in the Sanctuary. One brief glance at her surroundings told her that she had returned to the place in the mountains where she’d battled Kyan. Though it was day, she still recognized the place, and the air was every bit as cold as it was when she was there last. Cold—and rippling with an unsettling sensation that she instinctively knew to be an atmosphere of impending death.

Damen, an immortal, had caused this by leeching the magic from the monolith. His touch may have been all that was necessary to cover it in stone, hiding its magic for all these years until Kyan burned that stone away. There was nothing here—no birds, no mammals, not even a single insect crawled upon this land. There were no trees or shrubs of any kind here, save for a small oasis where they’d found the monolith.

For a moment, she felt such dread in her heart that it seemed certain that Kyan had been there the whole time, waiting for her to return. She froze, looking around, her fists clenched and ready to fight.

But there was nothing there. No one. Only Lucia.

And it was well past time she left.

As she walked across the scorched ground littered with crumbled rocks, she discovered with a flash of happiness the purse she’d thought was lost. It still contained more than enough coin to pay for an inn for several nights.

Continuing on, she came upon the gaping hole in the ground where Kyan had exploded. At the bottom of the deep depression in the rock, something sparkled even in the meager light this deep in the mountains.

Nothing ever sparkled here.

She moved toward it tentatively, leaning forward to pick up a smooth rock: the source of the strange glinting. Lucia brushed a thick layer of ash from its surface. She staggered backward, clasping a hand over her mouth when she saw what was underneath.

An amber orb.

Kyan’s prison was no larger than the apple she’d eaten in the Sanctuary.

“Oh,” she gasped, turning her head in every direction to once again make sure she was truly alone.

She held the thing up, squinting as she tried to catch it in what little daylight was able to emerge from behind a curtain of clouds above the mountains. The amber orb was transparent straight through: no cracks, no abnormalities, no imperfections.

Once, she might have thought such a treasure was beautiful. Not now. Not this treasure. But it was a sign that she had the lead, and for that she was grateful.

If she possessed this crystal, she had the means to stop Kyan before he put his plans of world destruction into play.

After allowing herself a small grin at this victory, she made her way out of the mountains and started upon a several hours’ journey west for a small village she knew, where she and Kyan had made their plans to trek into the mountains. There she’d learn if anyone had seen or heard about Kyan since they’d been there last.

She would redeem herself for her past mistakes, and aligning with the fire Kindred had, by far, been her biggest mistake of all.

• • •

Near dusk, Lucia finally entered the familiar inn and warily glanced around the busy tavern, half expecting to see Kyan slurping from a bowl of soup.

Exhausted from her travels, she took a seat at the very same table the two of them had shared the morning after she realized she was pregnant.

“I remember you,” spoke a female voice. “Welcome back.”

Lucia looked up at the barmaid approaching her table. “And I remember you. Sera, yes?”

This barmaid had seen Lucia and Kyan together. She’d been the one who told them that the answers they were looking for could be found in the mountains—and she’d been right.

“Yes, that’s my name,” Sera said with a smile. “Where’s your handsome friend?”

“We were separated during our travels. Has he been back since we left here?”

“Afraid not.”

“Are you certain?”

“Believe me, I’d remember if he had.” The girl winked. “Care for a drink?”

“Yes,” she said, all of a sudden realizing how desperately thirsty she was. “I’ll have . . . peach juice.”