Bonus Scene 1
Kaden
Mist curled low over the Bogs, turning the distant, broken skyline of Helos into a ghost of itself. The morning air was thick with peat, threaded with the scent of wet timber.
I adjusted the strap of my pack and looked toward the clearing at the swamp’s edge, where the portal was supposedly atop a flat stone. The doombarks leaned in as if listening, their roots knotted into the murky water.
They called to me, my ember craving the connection.
Like it always did around plants, flowers, and trees.
Some days, it felt like my gift wanted to claw its way out of me and return to the wilds.
But no one needed to know that. Whatever was inside me …
Well, it was my own fucking problem, wasn’t it?
Every few moments, the surface of the clouded water rippled—a pulse of something alive and waiting.
Barden better know where he was going. He was a smuggler, after all, and he seemed sure enough.
Per bloody usual.
The pretentious bastard.
“Still feels wrong to walk into something that looks like it’s going to eat you,” I muttered.
“You’re welcome to stay behind,” Jace said, smooth as always, without sparing me a glance. “Though I doubt you’d survive a day without finding fresh trouble.”
I grinned. “You make it sound like I’d be bored without you.”
He looked up, his expression polite, patient, and full of that quiet I’m-restraining-myself tone he did so well. “You would be, Lark.”
Caelora knelt by the packs, fingers precise, honey-colored braids glinting in the dim light. Frowning, I fought the urge to take the two plaits in my hands and wrap them around each palm. To tug them until her delicate neck craned back.
Perhaps that would get a reaction out of her. Something other than the mild annoyance or cool disinterest she tossed my way.
“I think we’re as prepared as we can be,” she said softly. “Let’s move.”
“Before the giant ember hole in the air decides it doesn’t like us anymore?” I asked.
“Precisely.” Jace’s reply was clipped, calm. “Glad to see you’re capable of basic comprehension.”
“One of these days, you’ll say something nice to me, Magister.”
“Maybe. And as I’ve said before, it’s Jace,” he corrected.
I flashed a grin. “Right, Magister Maybe.”
He sighed through his nose, his ember glowing as he activated the portal. “If the mountain doesn’t kill you, I might.”
Caelora rose, cloak brushing against the enormous slab we stood on. “It’s stable. Kill each other later.”
Boot steps squelched through the swampy muck behind us. Seryn and Gavrel appeared from the mist, looking far too calm for people sending us into probable death.
Seryn’s curls danced around her beautiful face. A pang twitched inside my chest, but it made itself known less and less as the days wore on. Gavrel’s hand rested on her back. I was content that my best friend and brother had one another. That he was her rock. It made leaving all the more easier.
“You’re certain about this?” she asked.
Jace inclined his head. “It’s the closest route to where the scouts vanished.”
He would know, considering he’d smuggled plenty of Druiks around the realm. Including Caelora.
“And where Ash was last seen,” Caelora added, voice even, though her fingers twitched before hiding them in her cloak.
“Family reunion in a frozen wasteland.” I rolled my shoulders. “Sounds cozy.”
Seryn arched a brow. “Try not to get yourself killed.”
“I’ll do my best,” I replied lightly, though the words tasted heavy.
Gavrel folded his arms. “And if the portal spits you out somewhere you shouldn’t be?”
“Then I’ll improvise.”
Gav grunted. “Sounds about right.”
I shrugged. “You know as well as I do, these Midst Fall portals are stable. No need to fret, brother.”
I smiled and found Breena lounging against a moss-covered boulder. Marek stood a few paces from her, expression carved from stone—arms crossed, quarterstaff across his back, looking like he was one breath away from either throttling her or walking straight into the swamp to escape her.
Breena waved. “Have fun storming the mountains! Don’t fecking die!”
This bloody female. She was exasperating, but I was going to miss her. Instead of telling her, I gave her a mock salute. “Try not to miss me too much.”
“Not bloody likely,” she shot back.
I turned before she caught my smirk.
Seryn stepped closer, her voice soft. “Whatever you find there—come back.”
“I always do,” I answered, even though everyone knew better.
Caelora went first, calm and unflinching, disappearing into the light. Jace followed, his movements controlled, because, of course, they were.
I lingered long enough to look back. Helos stretched behind me, half rebuilt, half broken, but alive. Lanterns flickered through the fog. Seryn and Gavrel stood close, Breena’s laughter tangled with the wind, and Marek’s dark eyes met mine across the clearing—flat, unreadable.
I took one last breath of swamp-soaked air and grinned. “Here’s to the next bloody mess.”
The portal swallowed me whole.
Behind me, silence fell.
If Gavrel had said anything about me driving Jace and Caelora mad, I didn’t hear it. But knowing him, he probably did.
And Jace? Well, he’d keep me alive because of it. I got the sense that he enjoyed my irritating him as much as I enjoyed goading him. When we weren’t actually pissing each other the fuck off.
And we’d keep Caelora out of trouble.
At least, that was the plan.