Kiva’s breaths sounded loud to her ears. She wasn’t sure how to process what she’d just learned, the magnitude of what he’d just shared. But she could feel how tense Jaren was beside her, his body locked as if afraid of her reaction, so she forced herself to relax and said, “So, we go left?”

Air rushed out of Jaren, a relieved, almost disbelieving laugh. “Yeah,” he said. “We go left.”

As if he couldn’t help himself, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple—his unspoken gratitude for her not making a big deal out of what was most definitely a big deal.

“Twenty minutes, huh?” Kiva said, still trying to remain as calm as possible on the outside while inside she was reeling. “I’m looking forward to seeing Rooke’s face when he realizes we’re alive.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing his face when he has to let you go free,” Jaren said, as they slowly began to walk in the direction of the bobbing firelight.

“That too,” Kiva said, unable to keep the wonder from her voice. As far as the Trials went, this one was the easiest—by far—but only because of Jaren. Without him and his elemental magic sniffing out the exit, Kiva would have met her death in these tunnels. She was sure of it.

Jaren hesitated for a moment, but then, as they turned down the left fork and continued on, the fire floating before them, he warily said, “Tilda will be freed with you.”

Kiva understood how this was a problem for him. Frankly, she was still amazed that he’d saved her in all of the Ordeals, when it meant he was also saving his mortal enemy. A strange, tingling sensation blossomed within her, but she stamped it down. Now was not the time. She still had so much to think about, so much to reconcile.

“She’s really sick, Jaren,” Kiva said. “Rebel Queen or not, she’s hardly a threat.”

“For now,” he returned. “But if she gets better—”

“That’s a problem for another day,” Kiva said firmly.

Jaren’s tension didn’t fade, and Kiva couldn’t blame him, knowing who he was, and who Tilda was to him. She grappled for a compromise, something that would get Tilda out of Zalindov, but also neutralize the danger he feared her to be.

“You could take her back to Vallenia with you,” Kiva said, though it cost her. “Your royal healers would be able to do so much more for her than anyone else. And if she recovers, then you might still be able to get the answers you came here for. You could find out what the rebels are planning, even ask why she was in Mirraven to begin with. She’d be free of Zalindov, but safe in your custody.”