“I don’t know,” he says, peering out. “We need to find some way to scale this mountain.”

“Any bright ideas, Aurora Prince? Can we go back out there? Do you think this is a circle and those animals are just looping back around?”

“Let’s wait and see if they return. Then we’ll find a way to scale the other side.”

I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them as Nadir scoots in next to me.

Our surroundings are deathly quiet. There’s no evidence of the stampede at all, and I have a sick sense something even more awful is about to happen.

I look up at Nadir, and I see the same thing reflected in his eyes. I take his hand and squeeze it, understanding this has become a moment of reckoning for us both. Since the day I was taken from The Woodlands, I’ve been tested over and over, often without even realizing it. This moment is testing everything we are and everything we are yet to become. If we survive this, neither of us will ever be the same.

We huddle together and I think of Tristan and Willow. Of Amya and Mael. Of Gabriel and the others, hoping we’ll see them again. I look at Nadir, aching for the chance to just be with him. To escape the sword that’s been dangling over our heads since the day we met.

We both peer out into the canyon, listening to the stillness, inhaling the scent of a bitter, ominous wind.

That’s when the back of the cavern drops away and we tumble back.

And then we’re falling.

CHAPTER 68

RION

THE UNDERWORLD

Rion stood beside the Lord of the Underworld with his wrists bound in arcturite. Herric had allowed him out of his cage only so he could observe the spectacle happening below and bear witness to the fruits of his actions.

Rion seethed with indignant rage at Herric’s trickery, though he was doing his best to conceal it. The ark was visible tucked into Herric’s belt, and how he itched to take back his only bit of leverage.

He hadn’t been thinking straight when he’d stormed down here believing he could order the lord to do anything. The drink had dulled his senses and scrambled his thoughts. If he got out of here alive, he’d never touch the stuff again.

Despite himself, Rion couldn’t help but watch. He’d seen his son fight off a pack of bears standing back to back with the girl. Watched them comfort each other. Tend one another’s wounds. They, too, wore arcturite cuffs, but Rion knew the truth about her. Had that been a one-time occurrence, or was she truly immune to their effects?

Rion could have shared this tidbit with Herric, but after the lord had tossed him into a cage and stolen the ark, he wasn’t feeling all that amenable.