Page 140 of Elysian

“I had assumed . . .”

“That since they kept so much from me, they would not have disclosed that?” He hummed, nodding. “A way to avoid suspicion is to mask falsehoods with truths. Seems that was their truth.” He met my eyes. “Killing Hollows is all I have ever excelled at, and even Vaner had seen that.” He grimaced and dropped Abrax’s hooves. “The threshold nearest Lifton Village has been closed for a long while, but only recently have they begun spilling out Hollows as they do now. The matter has only worsened.”

The excursion to Lifton Village seemed so long ago.

“The grimoire stated that each of the thresholds leads to different realms.”

A sharp scream brought my attention to the little boy running from the other that had jumped off the wagon. A woman hissed at them to quiet down. Such hope shone in them. After Hollows had chased them away from their only home, they persisted.

“Hm.” Cassiel confirmed. “The entrance point determines which realm the threshold opens to. Though I did not know they could not be crossed without a Sanguine Stone.”

I released the tree. “They are gone,” I said and stepped back.

A branch stabbed my ankle. I was toppling when he seized my arm, then pulled me upright and toward the flat surface. Astonishment widened his eyes.

“I felt it.”

My eyebrows furrowed. He motioned to the fall behind me.

“You felt that I was about to fall?”

“Not exactly . . .” he murmured. “I felt you near danger.”

“Ah, that is what the grimoire meant about sensing ‘peril’,” I scoffed. “It is an effect of the bond.”

“Hm, well, this perk comes a close second to when I could speak in your mind.”

He mounted Abrax and slowed beside me. Cassiel moved his foot from the hold so I could use it. With a hop, he pulled me up the rest of the way and positioned me in front of him. Abrax picked his way down the rocky terrain, and we returned to our original path. He had been able to invade my mind whenever he pleased, but he’d also felt what I did.

“Can you still feel my emotions?”

“No.” He sounded a mix of disgruntled and frustrated. “I do not like the lack.”

I huffed. I was sure he did not. Now he would have to ask me if I were upset.

“I have a question for you.” I waited for him to ask, moving my frock about me to get more comfortable. “You said you killed Egan.”

The reminder stilled my shuffling.

“Yes, when I used Hester’s gift, it left him vulnerable to Vaner, and h-he took his body.” I tucked my hair behind an ear. “Egan did not deserve any of this. And Lucinda . . . tried to stop Vaner—for me.”

So much loss had happened. Too much.

Cassiel cleared his throat. “The girl had a mind of her own. She must have chosen to do what she did for a reason. As for the officer, his fate was sealed when Vaner was unsuccessful in stealing your body. It is not your fault.” He patted my head.

His attempt at comforting me was stilted at best, but sweet. All it did was make nerves urge me to fan my face.

Peaceful silence lasted a long while. Then the realm shuddered in a way it had not before. Whatever had turned in its sleep had now awakened. A scream caught in my throat as Abrax reared. Cassiel pulled us forward, bracing me when otherwise I would have fallen and likely been trampled on.

“The final threshold has sealed.” The way he intoned it sounded as if we were doomed.

“I have never felt such a thing when the other thresholds closed.”

“We are traveling near The Barren, likely why you did not feel it.”

The land had not yet settled from how hard it moved. Stones continued to roll as an aftereffect of the quake. Trees had toppled into others, and animals cried out.

“What will happen now, Cassiel?” Everything felt too different. Existence as we knew it had changed.