Page 83 of Ignite
They explain the things that happened while I was gone.
Lu looks ready for everything being thrown at her, yet I can’t help but wonder if anyone stopped to think what this could cost her. What it would mean if Vidaris got her hands on Lunaria.
Leda continues filling me in, telling me her plan to go with the wyvern fleet to find my mother and father’s convoy, and how she hopes to convince some of the Riders in Kauri to help them check along the border and send a messenger to the palace to tell Queen Evelina all that has happened.
With my brain still foggy and my body already feeling like I need a nap, it’s a lot to process at once. Lunaria’s face grows hazy as my vision sways, and I scrub my hand roughly down my face. But I force myself to focus and keep my face passive.
Lunaria and Leda stare at me as if waiting for a response.
“When do we leave?” I ask, my voice gravelly.
Leda hesitates and looks to her sister. “Lu, maybe Graylen should go back with me?—”
“I think the fuck not, Leda.” I point to Lunaria, my veins icing over at the thought of being separated from her again. “Where she goes, I go.”
Leda shakes her head and mutters, “Fucking Aegis.”
Fucking Aegis is right. Can’t deny it’s how most of us are. We do what we want to do, no matter how much it would benefit us to slow down. I’ll find time to rest. My magic will continue to replenish, and with it, my strength.
A soft wave of something warm and gentle brushes against my chest—emotions that aren’t my own. I glance at Lunaria, and she gives me a tentative smile.
From the corner of my eye, I see Adrian hoisting the pack onto his back, the leather satchel strapped over his arms.
“And how exactly ishegetting us back?” I mutter.
They both turn to look at him just as he trips over a rock jutting up from the ground. He catches himself, but it deepens my doubt that he’ll be capable of getting us across the border safely.
“You didn’t think we were just sitting around waiting on you two, did you?” Leda smirks, and I have a bad feeling about what’s going to happen next.
Thirty-Four
Aventurine
Leda and Adriansearched for the portal that would get us back to Crea while I was in the Vale. It was the reason they’d moved to this cave instead of remaining at the camp where I’d left them.
We stop just before the stone archway resting beyond the creek bed that Graylen bathed in this morning. The structure resembles the frame of a round door, its stones split with cracks and tangled with dead ivy.
Just passing by, it could be mistaken for the ruins of an old home, with other crumbling stone structures scattered around it.
There isn’t anythingmagicalabout the way it looks, but there’s something that feels…wrong about it. A shiver works down my spine as Adrian shifts from one foot to another beside me.
“Before you go,” Leda says, turning to me and Graylen, whostands on my other side. She gestures to Graylen’s ears. “We need to take care of those.”
My hand immediately lifts to my own, gingerly tracing the soft point at the top. After taking aconite for so long, it took a while for them to grow into their natural shape. And now, I have to get rid of them.
Graylen nods, but stays quiet.
Leda gives me a lingering look, similar to the one I’m giving him. She clears her throat and adds, “Addie, Avery, and Graylen all had to learn the enchantment to keep their form human during their journey in Crea.”
At the mention of Avery and Addie, my heart sinks. I miss them. They were the first real friends I had outside of Opal, and now I don’t know when I’ll see them again—or when I’ll see my mother again.
I wish I could’ve seen her—talked to her about everything I had learned—before I left, but there wasn’t enough time. There’sneverenough time to do the things we want to do.
“Graylen?” Leda urges gently. “You’ve done it far more than I have.”
He grunts, but gives a short nod as he looks at me. His brilliant green eyes are wary and distant—as if his mind is somewhere else.
“Ready?”he asks into my mind.
