Reaver rocked back on his hind legs, lifting his wings. He rose into the air and followed me.

“It’s all right,” I told him, not wanting him to worry.

“Is it?” Penellaphe asked.

“Yes,” I said, about to make damn sure everything was fine. “I’m sorry to end this meeting abruptly.”

“It’s okay.” Penellaphe scooted forward. “Is there anything we can help you with?”

I shook my head as I opened the door. There was a good chance I was overreacting. As long as Ash remained in Essaly, Kyn wouldn’t sense his presence. But…

My skin prickled, and I thought back to right after Rhain and I had parted ways. I’d been pacing, and yeah, I was almost always moving or fidgeting, but there had been an undercurrent of edginess there. One I thought had been fueled by not doing something proactive.

What if I had been wrong?

I looked down at the shimmering swirl on my right hand as I opened the door. The sight of it quelled some of my fears.

But not all of them.

Reaver flew out behind me as Rhahar pushed off the wall, and Kars stiffened. The godling took one look at me and went on alert. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” I stopped, sparing a quick glance down the hall as Reaver circled above. “It’s probably nothing, but I have this…feeling. I need to see Nyktos.”

A frown pinched Rhahar’s brow. “He’s still in Vathi.”

Reaver landed beside me. Is it the vadentia? I heard the question in my head.

“I’m not sure,” I said aloud, my fingers twitching. “But I need to go to Vathi.”

Kars and Rhahar exchanged a look. “Lailah is with him, and so is Nektas,” the god reminded me.

“I know.” I pivoted halfway and started down the hall toward the foyer. “But I still need to go.”

“I’m not sure that’s wise.” Kars hurried behind me. “We can get Bele or Rhain to check on—”

My gut clenched. If something was happening or about to, there was no way I would risk endangering any of them. “No.”

I want to go with you. Reaver’s voice reached me.

Immediately, the image of his limp body after Veses had so viciously hurt him flashed in my mind. “Absolutely not.”

Reaver dipped down, extending his wings. He landed in front of me, squawking as his cobalt eyes narrowed until only a hint of the slit-shaped pupils were visible. He straightened to his tallest height possible. But I can help you.

“I know you can.” I knelt and cupped Reaver’s scaled cheek. “But you cannot go with me.”

I need to be where mayeeh Liessa is, he insisted. I may be small, but I am brave.

“I know you’re brave.” My heart squeezed as if he’d wrapped himself around it, and in a way, he had. “Isn’t Jadis here?”

Reaver gave me a reluctant nod.

“While I’m gone, I would feel better knowing you are here to keep her safe. Just in case anything happens,” I said.

His wings arced high and then swept down, tucking close to his body. He turned his head away.

My hand lowered to my knee. “What is it?”

He shook his head.

“When you and Nyktos were…gone last time,” Rhahar said quietly from behind us, “Reaver thought he could’ve prevented what happened.”

Oh, gods.

“This isn’t like that. I promise.” I gently curved my fingers around his chin, guiding his gaze back to mine. “And there was nothing you or anyone else could’ve done. Do you understand?”

Bright, glimmering blue eyes met mine, and that brought tears to my own eyes. I do.

I didn’t think he did, and that was something Ash and I would have to make sure he understood. “You’ll keep Jadis safe while I’m gone?”

Always.

“That’s my Reaver-butt.” I pressed a quick kiss to the top of his head, right beneath the nubs of his newly sprouted horns.

“Sera—” Kars began.

I rose. “I’m going to Vathi.” I faced them, pulling the Queen card. “No one else is going, and that is an order.”

Rhahar’s jaw hardened. “Got it.”

“Perfect.” I turned.

“Just one question,” he continued. “Exactly how are you getting there?”

I stiffened. Good gods, that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“You haven’t shadowstepped that far, right? And even if you have, you don’t know where you’re going to move that fast. So, you’re on horseback. That will take hours. And that’s the shortest route, which puts you smack-dab in the middle of the territory controlled by Kyn,” Rhahar continued. “To go to where Attes is, you’ve got to cross over Mount Rhee. You’re looking at a day’s ride at least.”

My stomach gave another twist at the mere thought of doing that alone, especially since it wasn’t the kind of shadowstepping that was as simple as moving really fast. It was shadowstepping through the eather, basically tearing open the realms, and I had no idea how to do that. But I knew how to find out. “How do you shadowstep between realms?”

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Rhahar caged his response.

But I wasn’t asking him.

I’d asked myself.

The skin behind my left ear tingled, and the knowledge came to me, much like remembering something I hadn’t thought of in a while.

Shadowstepping between Courts or even realms was like using the Primal essence for anything else. It was a result of my will. I just needed to think of where I wanted to go and then will it.

Except I didn’t know exactly where Ash was in Vathi. He could be at the palace or somewhere else, but could I shadowstep to where Ash was?

The answer came to me in an instant.

Running my palm over the top of Reaver’s head, I turned to Kars and Rhahar as I pictured Ash in my mind. “Keep an eye on things.”

“Damn it,” Kars exploded.

Smiling, I grabbed onto the image of Ash as I harnessed the Primal essence.

“Seraphena!” Rhahar lurched forward.

Power surged through me like a fiery torrent as I willed myself to Ash’s side.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Strands of gold and silver spilled out from me, forcing Rhahar back as the tendrils of eather whipped against the air, ripping open a blinding tear.

I walked through it without a second thought.

Eather spun maddeningly as a fierce rush of pine-and-sea-scented wind enveloped me, tossing the wisps of hair that had escaped my braid across my face. Awareness throbbed in the center of my chest, and I felt him.

Then I heard Lailah gasp and say, “Fates.” Through the essence, I briefly saw her staggering to the side. I may have nearly shadowstepped into her.

Whoops.

The tendrils of gold-and-silver-streaked eather slowed and faded, revealing slivers of stone, ivory walls covered in bright-green ivy that glistened in the sunlight, and comfortable-looking brown leather settees. Several people were there, but at first, I only saw him.

Ash stood only a few feet from me, a shadowstone dagger strapped across his broad chest. He crossed that space in half a heartbeat.

“Sera.” He clasped my cheeks, and a charge of energy shifted between us. “What are you doing—?”

“Is everything all right?” I cut in as Nektas appeared to Ash’s left. We were on some sort of veranda.

“Of course.”

“That’s debatable,” muttered Attes in his familiar, deep voice just as I heard the distant sound of barking dogs.

“What do you mean it’s debatable?” I started to turn my head toward Attes.

Ash wasn’t having it. He kept my attention on him. “Forget about him.”

“That’s rude,” the Primal remarked as Lailah crossed between Ash and Nektas, holding a bronze cup.

“You shadowstepped here?” Ash stated. “By yourself?”

The way he said it, like I was a child not old enough to ride a horse by myself, stroked my already frayed nerves. And not in a good way. “Three things.”

Behind Ash, Nektas pressed his lips together and sat on one of the wicker settees.