The Rite

Evander

I think I might want to kill Sydney. 

For someone so stoic and all business, he’s also extremely sarcastic and has found every opportunity to push my buttons the last twenty-four hours or so. 

Thank the gods we can’t mind-link because I’m sure he’d be rattling off insults and jests in my ear every waking hour we spend traveling back to Moonrise. 

We’re close to the sacred valley now. Close enough I can sense the wards Ryatt put up around the city to keep it hidden. 

I pull on a shirt as I look out over the mountainous horizon. Summer is in full swing, and the rolling mountains are nothing but emerald green trees. 

There’s a lake in the distance that sparkles like diamonds over a sheet of the purest turquoise, but no sprawling, golden city in sight. 

“We’re here,” I grumble, stooping to tie my boots. 

Sydn