“Alex.” My voice was thick with tears I couldn’t seem to stem. “We’re leaving.”

I slogged through the stream, standing for a moment where the Cyclops had fallen. “I’m sorry.”

Something drew my eyes upward, to the top of the embankment. Faris stood watching me, his eyes hooded.

I could lay this at his feet, but it wasn’t all on him. I’d made the choice to run, even if he’d forced it on me. I’d chosen to fight the Cyclops instead of circling back. A part of my brain—the logical part Liam would agree with—argued with me.

You had no choice. You can be sorrowful, you can regret, but you have to live. She would have killed you, and then Alex.

My jaw clenched and unclenched. “I will make this right. I don’t know how, but I will make it right.”

I bent and scooped a rock from the stream, the edge just sharp enough. I dragged it across the palm of my hand, opening a shallow cut, my blood dripping into the stream. A blood oath, one I gave freely. At some point, I would make this right.

“Are you coming, Tracker?” In the dim light, I couldn’t see his condescension, but I damn well felt it.

“I want my weapons back. This clusterfuck wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had to run through the damn fucking jungle, you fanged ass.” I didn’t step toward him. He needed me, and while I wouldn’t trade my friends for obedience, I also knew at some point I had to draw the line in the sand.

“Rylee, do I need to make another point?”

I kept my eyes on him, not ready to call what I hoped was a bluff. “If you aren’t going to protect me, then I need to take care of myself. I won’t kill you, Faris. Unlike you and Milly, when I make an oath, I fucking well keep it.”

Shit, except for telling Doran. Charlie told the re ce tlusterfucst of my family about Faris’s game so I didn’t break my oaths about keeping silent. About not telling anyone that Faris was blackmailing me into helping him. But since Faris knew about Doran, I wasn’t going to count that one.

The tension between us grew and shifted, pulled taut like an overheated piece of taffy. He broke first. With a snort, he threw my weapons on the ground at his feet. “Come and get them, then.”

I didn’t hurry. Fuck, that was the last thing on my mind. Alex waited for me on the far bank. I walked over to him.

“Hate that vampire,” he growled, his teeth showing in a flash of moonlight through the trees.

I ran my hand over his soft ears, taking comfort in the fact at least I wasn’t alone. “Yeah, I hate him too.”

Faris made me and Alex lead the way back to the door. On this side, it was situated in between two trees weaving themselves together with vines and flowers. The moonlight stretched down through the canopy and lit the doorway clearly showing the edges. I pushed the door open and stepped across. Doran was there, waiting. He scooped me into his arms and hugged me unnecessarily tight.

“You do realize if I had to go to Liam and tell him you were dead, I’d be joining you on the other side of the veil?” He squeezed me tightly against his body, a cheeky ass grin slipping over his lips.

“Enough,” Faris growled and I turned, Doran still holding me, and saw something I never would have expected.

Faris was jealous of Doran.

I let my body soften against the Daywalker, felt his surprise, saw Faris’s eyes darken dangerously. Yeah, poking at the vampire probably wasn’t my best idea, I just couldn’t help myself. Truly.

“Doran is my … friend, and he was worried about me. Perfectly natural.” I leaned in and kissed Doran on the cheek for good measure before letting go. Doran swatted my ass. “Play nice with the vampire, Rylee. He can kill us all, you know.”

“Yes, perhaps it’s best you remember that.” Faris glowered at me, and I felt the power between us shift. Suddenly, I’d found a weakness. While he hadn’t liked Liam in my bed, there hadn’t been this jealousy. Seemed it took another fanged boy to really set him off. Good to know.

I shrugged again, though inside I was cheering. Fuck yeah—score one for the Tracker.

Sauntering down the hallway, I aimed toward the next door. A slight adjustment on my sheath, and this time I wouldn’t be taken off guard.

Chapter 12

The next three doorways were total busts, one of them actually taking us back to the jungle. This was the problem with crossing the veil; even with actual doorways you never knew where it would take you, until you’d used the crossing, and there was no way to know them all.

“You’re running this show, Faris. Did it occur to you to look for a fucking map of the castle doorways?” I snarled at him, soaked through to the bone from the last doorway, which happened to open at the base of a waterfall. “Or better yet, why the fuck don’t you jump the veil with me to each of the continents?”

His fe tluan Pro hand snapped out, faster than I could track with my eyes, fingers around my throat, squeezing hard enough that spots danced in front of my eyes. This was another power game, and I’d be damned to hell and back if I broke. I’d let him choke me before I pulled a weapon on him. “You do not understand the rules, Tracker, to this ascension to the throne, and I do not feel like explaining them to you.”

He let go and I dropped. Doran caught me against his chest and I sagged against him, this time for real. I drew in breath and it was the sweetest air I’d tasted in a long time.

Faris strode down the hallway searching for the next door.

Doran tipped my head up. “You okay?”

I ran a hand over my throat, winced as I touched where Faris’s fingers dug in. “Yeah, he’s just pissy because I won’t back down.”

The Daywalker’s green eyes filled with something akin to worry. “Don’t push him, Rylee. He’s on edge, more than I’ve ever seen him.”

“I noticed.”

“Doorway,” Faris called from around the corner, and I jogged to catch up. Doran was right, Faris was not himself, even for the vampire of many faces that he was.

This was the fourth doorway in two hours. Each one I stepped through, Faris made me stand there for at least fifteen minutes. It took me less than thirty seconds to figure out the Blood was or in this case, wasn’t there.

Faris didn’t trust it could be that quick. He jerked the handle and the doorway swung open.

Daylight streamed through, catching Faris along his lower leg. He threw himself backward, scrambling away from the sunlight, his eyes wide with horror.