“I did.” That familiar yearning for Lukas and Valasca and Chi Nam rises.

“Well done,” Yvan says with a slight smile that prompts another fierce upsweep of emotion. I return his rueful smile, overcome by how beautiful he looks in this moment.

And then we’re not smiling.

“Elloren...” Yvan says, low and throaty, a conflicting spark of desire racing through our joint fire, the air between us growing combustible.

His nostrils suddenly flare, his head jerking toward the door.

“What is it?” I ask, my heartbeat kicking up as I reach for my blade.

With astonishingly fast reflexes, Yvan turns, raises his hand, and bursts a bright ball of fire to life just above it, ready to be hurled at the door as its lock clicks back and it opens.

A cloaked Jules Kristian stands in the doorway’s frame along with Lucretia Quillen, her purple wand in hand, along with Mora’lee and Professor Hawkkyn, who has a Smaragdalfar crossbow and quiver strapped to his back. Behind them, Commander Kam Vin stands on a small hovering rune skiff docked against our ship’s walkway, her sister, Ni Vin, piloting the craft’s runic controls, the sisters cloaked and garbed in their black military uniforms. Both are fully armed with runic swords and star weapons. A black scarf is knotted around Ni Vin’s head under her cloak’s hood.

Urgency crackles through me as Yvan pulls the ball of fire back into his hand and lowers his arm, his volcanic aura whipping protectively around me.

Mora’s silver eyes have gone wide and are fixed on Yvan and his outstretched wings, horns, and fiery eyes. “Are you who I think you are?” she gasps.

“This is Yvan Guryev,” comes Jules Kristian’s coolly measured reply. “Blessedly alive, it would seem. And you’ve already met Elloren Grey.” He gives both Yvan and me a warm, conspiratorial smile. “Mora, you’re looking at the Prophecy.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

FLIGHT

Elloren Grey

Voloi, Noilaan
Eastern Realm
The night before Xishlon

“Glamour yourself and throw this on,” Jules Kristian says to Yvan from the rune ship’s riverside walkway as he unfastens his woolen cloak and passes it over.

“You as well, Elloren,” Kam Vin stonily insists from where she and Ni Vin stand near the controls of the hovering rune skiff. She draws off her black cloak and tosses it to me. “It seems the entire Vu Trin force is now alerted to the presence of the Prophecy descended on the Eastern Realm. Luckily for you they saw you fly off to the north and have focused the search in that direction for the moment.”

“Hurry,” Ni Vin urges.

“Do you have the Zhilin Wand?” Kam Vin probes as I throw on her cloak.

“I do,” I assure her, its spiraling handle pressed against my calf.