that link, but she’d failed at it, just as thoroughly as she’d failed at keeping Val out.
They were miles apart…. Even if Veronyka hadn’t tried to block their connection, linking with him over such a vast distance would be extremely challenging.
But Val had done it. No matter where she was, she was able to get inside Veronyka’s head. Val was an accomplished shadowmage, though—she’d had two lifetimes to master it—and Veronyka was not.
Closing her eyes, Veronyka pictured the rivers, seeing the way Tristan’s door shook and rattled on its hinges, begging to be opened. She hesitated, then flung the door wide.
There was a dull rush—the sleepy murmurs and hushed thoughts of people nearby, unsuspecting minds in the city—but Veronyka’s heart sank when she felt no sign of Tristan. There was a chance he was sleeping at this late hour, dreaming comfortably… not thinking about her at all.
Veronyka shook the emotional thought and refocused. Tristan didn’t have shadow magic; his mind didn’t know how to sense her the way Val’s did. No, this time Veronyka would have to be the one to do the reaching. So she did, following the tendril of their connection, the passage that bound them as thin and tenuous as a cobweb—but just as strong, too. She knew they were still connected and even felt him there, a Tristan-shaped blur in the distance of her thoughts, but she could not get through. There was a fog between them, translucent yet solid, like a milky pane of glass.
A well of despair surged within her. Veronyka understood now why her bond with Tristan was always so difficult to manage; it was new, and she’d never given it a chance to properly form or solidify. From the instant she’d been aware of it, she had fought against it. Thanks to Val’s influence, Veronyka had assumed that a shadow magic bond was a vulnerability, but she should have known that Val’s way of doing things was the wrong way.
Still, there had been moments—like the battle at the Eyrie and even their kiss just a few short days ago—when Veronyka caught a glimpse of the power of the bond, and it had scared and thrilled her in equal measure. But she’d let fear win out instead of remembering that even her bond with Xephyra had begun as a confusing, overwhelming thing she wasn’t entirely in control of. She thought of all the times Xephyra had ignored her wishes, remembered every intrusion or loss of focus. No matter the difficulties, Veronyka had always been open and trusting, and so their bond strengthened and stabilized.
She had never given her bond with Tristan that same chance. Every time they grew closer, every time their bond tried to better connect them and fortify the link, Veronyka had shut it down and blocked it out.
Now, when she needed Tristan the most, she couldn’t reach him.
Veronyka’s throat tightened, but then Xephyra swept into her mind, her presence as calm and comforting as being wrapped in warm wings.
It will be okay, she said, mimicking Veronyka’s words, but Veronyka took heart from them nonetheless.
It will be okay.
Your father wants us to go into hiding—
to leave all of it behind. He does not understand.
You cannot flee from something that is
a part of you.
- CHAPTER 43 - TRISTAN
TRISTAN LURCHED OUT OF his bedroll.
He stared around the darkness, frantic, confused, as sleep slowly ebbed away.
He’d been dreaming of Veronyka, he thought. It had been an oddly disorienting dream, as if he’d been speaking to Veronyka through Rex… or had it been Rex talking to Xephyra?
He rolled over and found Rex’s giant head mere inches from his face. Tristan yelped, and Rex leapt into the air, squawking and sending up a cloud of sparks. The tiny flecks of fire danced and shimmered into the air before settling on Tristan’s bedroll.
He scrambled backward, flinging the blanket aside, but too late—the places where the sparks landed smoked and burned.
Fire! Tristan’s mind screamed, the scent pricking at his nostrils and causing a wave of cold sweat to break out over his neck. His heart galloped in his chest even as, one by one, the smoldering dots flickered and winked out.
He forced himself to breathe slowly and find his mental safe house. It was there and it was strong; he only needed to remind himself of that.
Rex, he pleaded through their bond, when the phoenix’s emotions continued to intrude upon his thoughts. Calm yourself.
Rex fluttered several feet back, tossing his head, and the faint glow from underneath his