We traveled through the night. Kaelen's magic opened a path through the corrupted lands, and we covered the distance quickly. Shadows folded away from his boots and left us a clear strip of ground.
I still struggled over every mile. The severed bond had left a wound in my spirit that pulled wider with each step.
The Abyssal Spire crowned the mountain. A black obsidian city clung below it, its towers lit with captured purple starlight.
Guards opened the gate. The monsters and screaming souls from northern stories were nowhere to be seen.
Along the main causeway, warriors and citizens bowed their heads as we passed. They watched me instead of Kaelen.
"My queen," one grizzled warrior murmured, his hand over his heart.
The road shifted under my feet. Kaelen caught me, lifted me into his
