She knew that mist. She recognized it. It was the same powerful mist that had wrapped around her during Connall’s summoning, pulling her back against her will into her own body. It was a power even greater than her own family’s magic—

And now, it was trying to take her over completely.

As her head began to swim from lack of air, she shoved her mental walls back into place, using all the skills that she’d been building across her long journey.

I am me, alone. I am Cordelia.

I belong to myself. I will never be trapped again!

The prickles disappeared from her scalp in a rush. The voices of the land emptied out of her head. With a sudden, bright burst of energy, she surged forward, and the tips of her fingers poked through into open air.

Long, strong fingers closed around them.

Giles! It had to be.

Thankfully, she allowed herself to be yanked through that final stretch of ancient, magical mist. The moment she broke through into the fresh air of the forest beyond, she fell forward, her head hanging by her knees. Her long hair trailed against the damp, mossy ground as she sucked in impossibly noisy breaths. Free … I’m free!

The land was whispering against her head again, but she gave a gasping half laugh of relief as she realized just how muffled those voices had become. Her inner walls were well fortified after her battle through the mist. She couldn’t even make out the land’s words anymore. Free.

Cordelia clasped one knee for support with her left hand as she hung on to Giles’s surprisingly big hand, just beside her, for the reassurance of his warmth. Before her, just a few feet away, she glimpsed the tips of his familiar pointed shoes, dappled now with shifting shadows from the thick cluster of branches overhead …

And pointing directly toward her.

Wait.

Giles wasn’t the one standing beside her after all.

So who …?

Dread swept in a cold rush up through her body.

“Barred against anyone without magic or royal blood …”

She’d been right: those soldiers couldn’t pass through the magical wall of mist. But she and her triplets weren’t the only ones who could.

Slowly, painfully, Cordelia rose to her feet. She met Giles’s horrified gaze across the aching feet of distance between them, and she swallowed hard. Her brother stood as still as if he’d been frozen, his freckles vivid against his chalk-white face like open wounds. Still not allowing herself to look around, Cordelia gave her right arm a sudden, hard jerk to pull free …

But Lady Elianora’s grip on her hand only shifted to clamp tightly around her wrist.