“Okay.” I nod. “That makes sense and is the same issue we face.”
“Precisely.” His wings shift on his back, making a soft sound I’ll only ever liken to wings. Nothing else could sound like that. “In answer to the problem, Kulmak commissioned a tunnel.”
Krug perks up. “He dug a tunnel all the way to the Gilded Lands?”
Razcorr hesitates. “Yes…and no.”
“What does that mean?” Grim rumbles. “Spit it out.”
“The construction started, but the tunnel is incomplete. It stops and exits in the Shadow Lands.”
Silence falls. “Which means we’ll have to travel through the Shadow Lands and the Gilded Lands on foot and somehow remain undetected,” I murmur softly, glancing around at my monsters. “It’s risky.”
“It would make more sense for some of us to remain behind,” Razcorr begins, but five other monsters protest.
“Absolutely not.”
“Where she goes, we all go.”
“She’s not going in alone.”
“Fuck that idea!”
“Okay,” I snap, cutting off their objections. “We get it—no one gets left behind.” I run a hand through my hair again. “So we all go in, sneak through the Shadow Lands and Gilded Lands undetected, find Emelyn’s resting place, rob her grave, then bring her back.” Sighing, I start to rub my eyes. “Four things. It’s only four things.” I look at the six of them. “Tell me this is going to work.”
At first, no one answers, and surprisingly, it’s Bracken who steps forward and takes my hand. “This is going to work, Goldie.”
It has to. There’s no other choice. To free magic and help the monsters stabilize, this is the only choice, and I didn’t survive as the hunt to fail now.
Besides, some small part of me wants to see the look on the human king’s face when he realizes I’m still alive, even if we’re planning to be in and out undetected.
At some point, he’ll know, and that brings me a wicked sense of joy and determination.
* * *
It only takesus a few hours to prepare. We’re all armed with our weapons of choice. Razcorr strapped a sword down my spine that he thinks I’ll need. Honestly, I won’t even remember it’s there. My magic is second nature now. It flows to my fingertips easily. Despite that, I filled my pockets with gems and crystals that Emelyn had once touched, each one filled with a bit of my magic in the hopes they’ll help. The rose quartz is tucked over my heart, hanging from a string Razcorr fashioned for me when I expressed what I wanted.
Now it hangs heavily between my breasts, a reminder of the love I’m surrounded by and the power that love holds.
The seven of us stand before the large stone doorway Razcorr swears is the passage we need. On the stone is a scene of a lush forest—a depiction of the Dead Lands before it started to die. At the top of the scene, a minotaur and a human woman hold hands, staring at each other with love. Even in the construction of the tunnel, Kulmak was declaring his love. How humbling it must have felt to love something so fragile. My eyes trail over to my monsters, wondering if they feel the same and worry about my humanity.
The tunnel appears to be sealed up, likely a product of Emelyn’s death, but when Razcorr pushes it and Zee joins in, the door swings open easily, revealing the darkened tunnel beyond. The air smells stale after centuries of being closed up, but just like the castle, everything else is well preserved.
“Touch your magic here,” Razcorr instructs me, and I do as he says, pressing my fingers to a part on the wall and coaxing my magic to life.
Something sparks, and then light flares in a small lantern before it speeds down the line and illuminates the way. With each lantern that lights, we can see farther.
“How long will it take to travel?” I ask, because the longer it takes us to reach our goal, the longer it takes for the plan to fall into place.
“A day,” Razcorr answers, “if traveled at a monster’s pace.”
Which means I’ll be riding Nero again. There’s something comforting about that thought, because even after all we’ve been through and all the new revelations, some things don’t change. Nero, in answer, meets my eyes and wiggles his eyebrows, clearly happy to provide the transportation. Giggling at him, I thread my fingers through his and nod.
“Are we ready?” I ask, meeting all of their eyes. This is it. The real risk begins at the end of this tunnel. Some of us could be injured. It hurts to think that worse things can happen than that. Either way, we know what must be done, and there’s no other monsters I’d rather do this with.
I’m met by a chorus of, “Ready,” and so I climb onto Nero’s back and settle in. The tunnel is narrow enough that we can only walk two abreast, but the journey will pass quickly at our pace. Grim takes up the lead, as he always does, and looks back at me once.
“You’re sure about this?” he asks, and I know if I say I’d rather stay here and live out my life without any other cares, he’ll agree to it. They all would.
