Bound by Devotion

Chapter Eleven

They all stood together and Eve made a silent decision. She could wallow in despair as the sands of her life ran out, or, she could keep living for as long as she could. And besides, the grit in the palm of her hand might not be for her. It could be for the king that gave her the mark.

The world didn't revolve around her. Well, under normal circumstances. While under the influence of prophecy, well, that was a different story. Maybe her feeling of life ending was as simple as seeing the realm unravel because of the mass of gray heading their way.

She lifted her head and found Kornae watching her. She gave him a wink and he returned it with the slight smile. She focused on what was being said.

Were they taking horses? Were they going to travel by shadow?

She had to rule that one out. Well, she would try, but with her spotty magic, there were no guarantees they would get very far. Kornae frowned at that. "I wish I knew what was going on with that. Not to use you to travel, but, my magic is fine."

"I think it's because I have shadow and I was standing in it. It's like it shorted something." She looked at her hands. "But I wish it would fix itself."

"I advise against taking horses." Sebastian said with a glance at her hand. "Simply because we don't know what will happen to them in there. If they lose their mind's..."

"Looks like we're walking."

"We don't have a clue where were going," Fallon said and Eve laughed.

"It'll be an adventure," she said.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I live for danger," Alex said.

Eve took his hand in hers. "Let's try to focus on living part, okay?"

"You take the fun out of it," he said with a laugh and Eve stepped up to him, hand tangling in his slightly curly blond hair.

"Let's make it out alive and I'll show you fun."

His lips brushed hers and she smiled against him. "I'll hold you to that."

"Yes. Yes you will." She grinned before stepping back. "Okay, so, basically, we are walking, we have no idea where we are going, no clue about food aside what we have on us. Same for water. And no idea what we are walking into." She glanced around. "Does that sum it up?"

No one said otherwise and she laughed, a full-bodied real laugh and turned to Kornae. Smiling, she said, "Lead the way."

"I have to transport us to the actual portal. Either that or fly."

"Oh, that's an easy one. Beam me up, Scotty," she said.

"I don't know that reference, but I'm going to guess no flying."

"I'll always choose uncomfortable squeezing over the sudden stop at the end of a long fall."

He looked into her eyes, so deep, then he took her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "Welcome back."

"You say that now." She laughed at the shake of his head.

The circle of wavering light appeared behind him and with a deep breath, one last feel of his fingers, a soft curse, she let go and stepped into the portal.

~~~ 

The portal to Seelie from Unseelie was beautiful in a twisted way she had come to love. But this... This was a monstrosity. The circle was surrounded by faces, mouths moving as if they were crying out. Gray smoke eased from between the faces and Eve had a very real feeling that they were actually alive. There was an image in her mind, a drawing of this very portal, and the differences were shocking. Before, it was uncomfortably stunning. Life and death depicted on jagged gray stone that lined the circle.