Page 36

There were dirt roads and fields of green as far as the eye could see, and small stone houses with sloping roofs sprinkled across the land, people walking along their rows of crops, plucking and digging, while their chickens and cows grazed around them.

The sun rested in the middle of the sky, creeping west just like back home, and the sky held the same blue I was used to. Only brighter.

Black birds flew in synchronized groups farther away, while blue birds flitted across our path here and there, singing as they passed by.

For the most part, it all felt relatively normal.

The sway of Holly and the warm sun on my face left me hypnotized as time passed, only startling from my daydream when Leo pulled back to ride alongside me.

“Comfortable?” he asked, a smile playing on his lips.

My heart raced from the sound of his voice—deep and lovely.

“I was.”

He smirked, pleased with himself.

“We’re almost there,” he said, pointing to a tree line up ahead. “Just through the woods, a few hundred yards. After I check in with the guardhouse, I’ll take you down to the portal entrance myself.”

I looked at the houses nearby. “If the portals are a secret, what do the guards think they’re guarding? What do the people think they’re guarding?”

“My guards are aware of the portals and vowed to secrecy. And each member of The Nine is allowed their own security detail of sorts. I have a few thousand men I trust spread throughout Esmerelda, as well as a handful of advisers from the most prominent royal families. The rest of our armies, along with the Esmereldean citizens, remain unaware. They believe the guard stations are just that. Stations. Spread throughout our continent to house our military.”

“Do your citizens know about the Decodons?”

Leo shook his head, his face grave. “Luckily, we’ve been able to keep the people from learning about them. Their attacks are rare, and extra precautions are put into place on full moons. I also check the integrity of the portals regularly, like today’s visit. When the Deks do attack, they’re usually stopped by the guards at the portal entrances.”

“Usually?” I pressed.

“Yes.” He frowned. “Usually.”

Leo turned his face from me, hiding his pain.

To see a man such as him troubled meant horrible things had happened here. “What about on my Earth? Who knows of all this?”

“A few of your world leaders are aware, mostly in countries where portals are located, and they select a new representative to sit on the council each decade. There are also those sworn by oath to guard the portals on your Earth. Your base had a specific unit stationed there to protect the portal on the mountainside.” He frowned again, deeper this time. “They were the first to die in the attack.”

My stomach ached. So much death in such a short amount of time. “Our entire world will know about Decodons now. We have cameras . . . television . . .”

“You’ll be returning to a different world, that’s for sure. Although, your government will do their best at damage control. They’ll protect the existence of the portals at all costs.”

“And then what? What’s the strategy for the Decodons?”

“Mostly defense. They attack, we block them. We’ve been trying to figure out their origin, but so far, we’ve been unsuccessful.”

The coolness of Leo’s cloak deepened as we reached the edge of the woods, ending our conversation.

He brought his finger to his lips before parting ways from our group, a reminder to stay quiet.

While Leo dismounted Drag and entered the two-story wooden structure of the guardhouse hidden within the trees, Sigrid led the rest of our group to a long hitching post, giving the horses some time to rest.

I stroked Holly as I dismounted, my thighs screaming in protest.

“Wait here,” Sigrid whispered in my general direction as she walked by, following Leo inside.

Again, I wondered if their relationship was more than just Sigrid’s duty to Leo as his third-in-command—like me and Aaron, blurring the lines between colleagues and lovers.

It was easy to fall into something with someone who was in your orbit every day, who shared the hardships of life with you, making you feel a little less alone under the weight of it all.