I meet Vothe’s crackling gaze as we grasp tighter hold of each other’s hands and Minyl pilots our skiff toward one of the boats. There’s an Elfhollen family aboard it, and we aid Minyl in guiding them onto our craft—a mother and father along with their twin girls, the children’s pale slate braids sodden.

Their gazes all snag on me as we help them get settled on our craft. Confusion passes over their features as they notice the wand in my hand and the green glimmer of my skin. But their flares of concern swiftly fade as they take in my blue hair and tattoo, my piercings, and Vothe’s hand in mine. There’s no terror this time. No fear in the children’s faces. I turn to Vothe, reveling in the aura of storming power leaping through us.

We break into wide grins, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as beautiful in my life as his rain-slicked face, changeable threads of lightning coursing over his skin as our larger show of lightning flashes against our water and wind dome above.

No one drowns this day. No children lose their mothers.

And I realize, as I hold on to Vothe and a joy I’ve never known before sparks deep inside me, that this is why I came to the East.

No matter what happens, no matter what runic borders the countries of Erthia throw up, no matter what strictures they place around them, I’ll never stop coming back to the Zonor.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE CHANGE

Aislinn Bane

Eastern Lupine Territory
Northern Noi woodlands, Noilaan
Eastern Realm
Sixth Month

Aislinn takes in the purple wilds closing around her as she trails her new Vu Trin guides into the East’s recently established Lupine Territory. Apprehension hovers inside her over being separated from Sparrow, Thierren, Effrey, and the dragon Raz’zor after their arduous journey across the Central Desert and through several storm-band-jumping portals, her companions set for Voloi as she continued northward.

Aislinn glances at her hands, hyperaware of her green-glowing Mage skin, its glimmer heightened by the forest’s shadows, ever reminding her that she’s an outsider here. Part of a horrific race who slaughtered almost everyone Jarod and his sister Diana loved. And what was done to her in the West by Damion Bane...she can’t help but believe that it sullied her beyond the point of acceptance by a shifter race that will sense how damaged she is.

But still, she clings to a tether of hope that they won’t cast her out on sight. And she’s eager to find out, once they can speak privately, if they’ve gotten word from Elloren and Lukas Grey. Unfamiliar birds flit about in the twilight, a lavender crane soaring overhead as plum leaves crackle under her boot heels, the dirt path narrowing.

Bringing her ever closer to Jarod.