Horrified, I jerked out of Kaden’s grip and backed away from the window.
I didn’t understand. If he wanted me dead, why bother saving me from those demons? Even if they hadn’t shown up, I’d been so badly wounded in the fight against Silas that I probably would have died anyway.
Kaden had saved my life — again. And if the creams and tinctures were any indication, he’d gone to a lot of trouble to do it.
“Where are we?” I rasped. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Let me explain.” Kaden’s voice was quiet, but there was an edge to his tone.
“Wherearewe?” I demanded again. I was tired of his lies.
Kaden’s shoulders sagged, and there was no mischief or amusement in his eyes.
My gaze drifted down his hard, muscular chest to the sharp talons that tipped his wings. Would Kaden rip me apart with those talons if I tried to flee?
“This place goes by many names. Every civilization throughout history has had its own mythology surrounding it. To those who dwell here, it’s known as Adraeis.”
Adraeis. Adraeis.
The name pinged around in my head. I’d heard it before, though I couldn’t think where. Then that fragrant river breeze wafted up again, stealing all the air from my lungs as the realization clanged through me.
“That’s the Adraeis River?” I choked. The river to the Otherworld.
Kaden swallowed, a muscle working in his jaw. Then he gave a brief nod.
Panic and confusion swamped me as I stared out at the river, which gleamed white and gold in the dying sun.
The land of eternal twilight.
Adraeis was the place that connected the mortal world to the Otherworld. It wasn’t a void between realms, but rather a bridge from one to the next.
“Am I . . .dead?”
The question sounded ridiculous even as I voiced it aloud, but no one passed through Adraeis unless their soul had already departed the mortal realm.
“No. Not technically.” A haunted look came into his eyes. “You were close when I flew you out of that house.”
Kaden’s dark power pulsed around me, stronger and more menacing than it had felt with the stone concealing his demon magic. I fought back a shudder.
“I could . . . feel you fading. You’d lost too much blood, and that demon . . .” Kaden swallowed. “I didn’t know how else to save you.”
Horror twisted my insides as his words washed over me. I wasn’t dead, but I wasn’t alive either — not if I was trapped on the banks of Adraeis.
“Time passes differently here,” he explained. “Your wounds were bad, Lyra. I knew I could heal them, but I needed more time. That’s why I brought you here.”
He took a step forward as though he meant to reach for me, but I staggered back. A crease appeared between his brows.
“The river flows both ways,” he said, correctly interpreting my panicked expression. “I can take you back.”
“How?” I asked, my voice like a whip. “Only the Taker of Souls can give a soul ba?—”
Kaden flinched as I broke off. Fragments of the demons’ conversation in Silas’s basement echoed in my head, and suddenly, I understood.
“You’rehim,” I whispered as fresh horror clanged through me. “The Dark Prince, Taker of Souls. Son of Semphrys, the Demon King.”
Kaden grimaced. “I don’t particularly care for any of the monikers I’ve been given over the centuries.”
“Youliedto me,” I growled. He’d lied about so many things, but this lie was the worst one of all.
