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His eyes are alight with something like mischief. “What boundary?”
I flick my fingers at the dancing grass. “I can only make it about five paces into the grass before something raises the hair on my arms. Then it’s another three paces before I suddenly feel as if I never want to leave the safety of the palace.”
I glance over my shoulder at the structure at our backs. Even now, it feels vastly more comforting than what lays before us, but it’s a trick of Thieran’s power and nothing more. I have to get out of here, and this is the only way.
“You can feel the power on your skin?”
The surprise in Railan’s tone draws my gaze. “I can. It feels the same as when I cross a boundary between territories.”
“Interesting,” he murmurs.
“What’s interesting?”
“Nothing important.” He turns fully to face me, offering me his arm. “But my orders are to go with you and show you whatever you like. My duties can wait a bit today,” he assures me when I open my mouth to protest.
Nodding, I give him a polite smile. I don’t want to push too hard and have him refuse to take me at all. I’ve a good enough memory, and I can sketch out a rough map in my rooms later.
“All right.” I lay my hand over his forearm, and the warmth that zips up my fingers and fills my body has me releasing the cloak. “I’d love to know if Irios is as beautiful as the stories say.”
His smile is the last thing I see before the world fades away, and I’m surrounded by muted golden light and a warm wind. It’s like seeing the sun through your eyelids, coupled with the sensation of falling off a cliff. My stomach drops, and my lungs constrict until I can hardly breathe.
The only thing grounding me is the feel of Railan’s arm under my hand, warm and solid. When the golden light fades and the world rights itself to solid ground once more, I sway, unsteady on my feet.
“I’m sorry,” Railan says, gripping my elbow before I fall to my knees. “I should have warned you.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, hand pressed to my stomach until the worst of the nausea passes.
“Maybe next time we can just walk,” I say, forcing my breath out between pursed lips.
Railan chuckles. “The Shadow Realm is vast. It would take quite a long time to walk from one end to the other.”
“Days?”
He shakes his head. “Months.”
I refuse to let the gravity of those words sink in. There has to be a way out of here that doesn’t involve me wandering aimlessly for months. And I will find it. That’s the point of today’s little excursion. Map the Shadow Realm, find the best path back to Acaria, ride as far away as I dare.
I’ll sweet-talk Railan and whoever else into as many tours as it takes to get out of here and back to my life.
“Well?” Railan asks once my legs stop wobbling. “What do you think? Is it like the stories?”
The healing fields of Irios stretch before me, and I blink to make sure my eyes aren’t deceiving me. Unlike what I’ve seen of the Shadow Realm so far, Irios is a riot of color. The absence of color everywhere else makes these almost blinding.
The vibrant green of the grass disappears into the horizon, and flowers in every color imaginable blanket the fields. A grove of trees sits to the left, their branches heavy with fruit.
Releasing Railan’s arm, I wander over to the closest one, reaching up to cup a pear in one hand. I make to pluck it, then pull my hand back at the last second. This fruit isn’t for me, and I have no idea what might happen if I eat it.
Reaching around me, Railan plucks the pear from the branch and tosses it into the air, catching it with his opposite hand and holding it out to me with a flourish.
“Oh, but I—”
“There’s nothing in the Shadow Realm that will hurt you if you consume it.”
I reach for the pear, rubbing my thumb over its pretty yellow skin. “Not even the water from the River Grense?”
“The river of memories is only meant to make you forget. Not to harm.”
Some days forgetting seems better than remembering. But I shake that thought away and hold the pear up to my nose. The scent of it makes my mouth water, and I take a big bite before I talk myself out of it.
