“But he just took her!” Torrance snapped, and the other women nodded vigorously, in agreement with her and unable to understand anything I said. “We have to get her back!”

“My priority in that moment was to keep the rest of the women safe,” I responded. “Engaging Sceadulyr in battle would not have accomplished that. He had not opened a sky door at that point, and he had more power. I likely would have died and left everyone at his mercy.”

“At his mercy. Like he has much of that,” she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, over the place I knew her scar lingered. “He only helped me to get access to your star map. He would have let me die!”

“Sceadulyr is many things, but he would not let harm come to his own mate,” I asserted. “She will be safe in the Shadowlands. Besides, beloved, she will starburn, if not now, then soon. And when that time comes, she will need him.”

“I still don’t like this,” she muttered. “We all should stick together.”

“I can promise to visit the Shadowlands to check on them, if that would make you happy,” I said, hating how upset she was by this. “But I cannot take her away from him. He would fight me, and now that he has a star map, he would follow me. No other stone sky god would support me in this endeavour, either, so he could easily rally allies to his cause to destroy me and this castle, putting all of us at risk.”

I’d almost killed Sceadulyr merely for dancing Torrance out of the room at the gathering. Stealing another stone sky god’s bride from his world entirely was cause for death.

“Well, what about Suvi? Surely this can’t also apply to her! What if Skalla hurt her?!”

“Man, it’s hard to follow what you guys are saying only understanding one of you,” Min-Ji lamented. “What’s he saying, Tor?”

Torrance sighed tightly, no doubt trying to figure out how to explain nuances of stone sky culture she only just was beginning to understand herself.

“We can’t rescue Marta,” she said. “There’s a lot to unpack, but basically, she’s that other god, Sceadulyr’s, destined mate. If Wylf tried to take her back, he’d probably die, and maybe even all of us, too, in the ensuing battle. But he’s promised to go check on them periodically to make sure Marta is alright. He says that Sceadulyr wouldn’t hurt her.”

Groans and cries of dismay went through the group. They disliked it as much as Torrance did, but there was little to be done.

“So, what were you saying about Suvi, then?” Min-Ji asked. “We can’t rescue her either?”

“If Skalla was still mate-mad, and he hurt her with his full strength, there will be nothing left to rescue,” I said grimly. Torrance shot me a look that my webbing could not translate but that I knew was something along the lines of, you are not helping.

But I wanted to. I wanted so badly to. I wanted to do anything for Torrance, and for her friends, if it would make her happy.

“I can go check on them, too, assuming they are still alive,” I offered. “I cannot know their location for sure, but if they are on Bohnebregg, I can at least go there and see what has become of them.”

“But... without the council’s power...”

“Yes. I know.”

Without the council’s power, I’d likely die facing a berserker Skalla if he hadn’t already died while killing his own mate.

“I don’t want that,” Torrance stammered. “I don’t want you to fight him if it means you might die!”

I brushed my fingers along her cheekbone, and she closed her sad eyes.

“I can try to avoid battle with him, if he is even there. I can simply try to locate Suvi and see if she is alive, then leave.”

“But what if she is alive and in danger? What if he’s still mate-mad or going berserk or both? We can’t leave her there,” Torrance pressed.

“Beloved, if he remained mate-mad for very long after finding her, if he was in the same state as when I last fought him, she will not be alive. If she lives, then he has calmed.”

It was the scenario I hoped for, but one I considered unlikely at this point.

Torrance took a shaky breath and turned to her friends.

“Wylf says he might know where Suvi is. He can’t take her away, but he can check on her, make sure she’s alright.”

She looked at me then, whispering, “Please, please be careful.”

BOHNEBREGG WAS MOSTLY how I remembered it – wide blue rivers, bright sun, gold-tipped rushes, and green stalks of grass swaying in balmy breezes.

Skalla’s palace, though, looked different. It looked like half of it had been smashed to pieces, and only recently rebuilt. I could not tell if that was a good sign or not for what I’d find. I circled the palace in the air, my gaze tracking over its sprawling pavilion-like structure on the banks of this world’s largest river. Memories rushed through me. Memories of Skalla and me, and of our fathers, flying through this sky, bathing in that river.

I could see nothing useful up here. I’d have to land. On silent wings, I did so, stalking through rushes and grass taller than I was, heading for the back of the property, away from the river. The sound of water trickled everywhere, which told me the palace’s many fountains were still working.

I came across one of those fountains now as I exited the swaying plant-life. At the back of the property there was a large garden with stones to walk on. A huge stone basin with a carved statue of a Bohnebregg warrior pouring water from a barrel back into the basin below, creating the sound of water. I remembered that fountain, though there was a crack in it now that I did not recall.

Slowly, keeping my eyes moving at all times, I circled around the fountain, heading closer to the main house. Most of the walls were open to the air in this palace, so I’d be able to see inside much of the structure just by walking around it.

But I didn’t get that far.

Because, stretched out on a bed of river reeds cushioned with soft leather, lying between the fountain and the house, was a human.

A very obviously pregnant human.

She was small, like Torrance, though there was no denying the swell of her abdomen. She lay on her back, one hand flung over her eyes, the other resting atop her rounded stomach. She was nearly nude, wearing only a Bohnebregg garment comprised of glittering metallic threads that barely covered her heavy breasts and dark gold pubic hair. The hair on her head was a bright yellowed-silver, and it spilled across the bed and over the edge.

“Suvi.”

I said her name out loud, though I knew it was a bad idea. But I knew Torrance would want details. She’d want me to talk to Suvi, find out what had happened and how she was doing now.

Suvi’s hand ripped away from her face, and wide, light grey eyes met mine.

She tried to sit up quickly, but was impeded by her stomach. I stepped towards her, to help her, but she sucked in a huge breath and screamed.

“Skalla!”

I did not have time to decide whether to stay or fly. Did not have time to consider the fact that her calling Skalla’s name was probably a very good sign that he was here, sane, and that she trusted him. I spun, and prepared to fight.

Skalla slammed out of the house with so much power, so much rage, I was certain he was still berserk. His wings sliced like blades until his body slammed mine, knocking me to my back.

Instinctively, I brought up my hands to block him from gripping my throat, remembering how he’d nearly strangled me last time. He breathed heavily, growls ripping from his throat, scales rippling with aggression, his one remaining eye fixed on my face.

But slowly, slowly, something came into that eye. Something I thought I maybe recognized.

“Wylfrael?”

He knows me.

I was not prepared for the rush of emotion I felt at that. The affection. The relief. I’d lost my parents and all the Sionnachans I’d once known, and I’d thought I’d lost him, too.