Chapter 47

It was still dark when we made our way along a road that had seen better days.

The hedges bordering the rocky dirt track were overgrown, every house we passed no more than a sagging hovel.

I'd forgotten how diminished this realm was. Solarys, at least, had possessed military might, a brutal, bloody alternative to raw magic. This place had no redeeming qualities. Only sad little huts bordered by tumbled stone fences filled with limp, pitiful gardens, scrawny goats and sheep, and a bony black cat that skittered across the path like the animal was fleeing for its life.

My belly rumbled, a hollow knot of hunger.

I'd been sucking on grass stems, but the sweet juices only reminded me I was starving. I counted my steps, then the sheep in the next field, then the stones in the wall running alongside the dirt cart path.

Anything to take my mind off the gnawing hole in my belly.

My head pounded, body completely drained from the constant demands of these past days and my injuries, my magic all but depleted. At this rate, I'd be dragging my sorry arse over the threshold at Ravenswood.

I rechecked my pocket for the hundredth time.

But I wasn't arriving empty-handed, and once Anaria dropped the wall and we assembled the weapon, I would push Anaria to head north, straight to the Hammer. We had everything we needed to face Corvus.

Waiting around only created an opportunity for the Oracle to confiscate the knife, the amulet, Anaria's magic…or all three.

"How much further, do you think?" Finnian asked. "My feet're about to fall off."

"Close," I lied, praying we were heading in the right direction since everything looked the same. "Almost there."

Even a bright pink dawn didn't do this realm any favors. The rays of sun cut starkly across the mucky brown fields, mist rising slowly as the morning air heated. But no sign of blight, thank the gods. I checked my pocket again for the pendant that might save this entire world from ruin.

"Is the entire realm like this?" Finnian asked, while a still-silent Kael watched everything, questions burning in his brown eyes.

"Every time I've ever been here, yes. I was at the western shore not so long ago, and even there, I saw nothing of worth." While the Descendants believed they lived in luxury, with all the same trappings as their ancestors in Caladrius, their lives—this entire realm—were pale imitations of the real thing.

"When we reach the castle, I am to rendezvous with my friends. You should keep moving; due west of here is the city of Arcadia. But stay far away from that place. Keep to the north if possible," I warned. "Stick to the smaller towns and villages. They're safer."

"What of these friends of yours? Are they heading west as well?"

A flock of quail burst from the bush to our right, squawking loudly as they exploded into the air in a frenzy of frantic flapping. "We have business at Ravenswood. Once we've attended to our affairs, we're leaving this realm."

Hopefully for fucking ever.

"Will your dragon be one of these friends?" Finnian asked slyly. "I've never seen a dragon."

"Perhaps, if he's not out there searching for me in the forest," I lied smoothly, wondering when the morning air had grown so cold.

"There may not be any food waiting for us," I warned them belatedly, wondering if they were after more than a glimpse of a dragon. "Like me, my friends are traveling light. I have no way of knowing what we're walking into."

"Doesn't much matter to me," Finnian said. "So long as I get to see a dragon."

The toe of my boot stubbed against a rock and I caught myself on Kael's shoulder. My fucking legs were toast, and I couldn't remember ever being this hungry. My magic, which usually helped mask hunger and pain, was so diminished every ache became sharper.

"Let's see who greets us when we arrive." I couldn't stop my wry smile. You might be seeing a white wolf instead of a dragon, and won't you be surprised.

The dirt path trembled beneath my boot with my very next step, then I realized that really was the ground heaving and not my exhausted body giving out on me.

On our right, a gentle blue glow gilded the forest, coating every gnarled trunk as far as I could see. The glow became shafts of brilliantly colored light, then the ground cracked and buckled in an enormous, rending heave that sent us all stumbling.

Cold air rushed by, charged with the scent of magic, smelling faintly of jasmine and amber.

"Get against the wall," I ordered them both, catching them by their shirts and dragging them toward the only shelter around.

That tiny stacked-stone wall and the pathetic hovel behind it—with a straw roof, no less—were all that stood between us and the collapsing ward that had stood for an eternity.

That same grinding groan as before—like the bellow of a dying god—shredded my eardrums, pressing on my chest until I could hardly breath.

Gods, I was too fucking late.

I pushed them tighter into the mossy stones. "Keep your heads down. Do not look up, do not move, no matter what happens. And when I tell you, be ready to run."