I blink, trying to ignore the heat burning my skin but it's hard to forget with the man looking at me like that, and with what I just witnessed.

  Gods, where will my dreams go now that they actually have ammunition for their fantasy?

  Orrtyn pulls away from Walker, bringing my attention to him as his hands drop from the other man's hair. His blue eyes are half lidded and his lips are slightly puffy and wet as he looks at me.

  Holy fuck, how long had they been making out before we came back?

  Not to mention the fact that Walker, one of the most skillful and highly trained warriors that I've come across didn't notice our presence is another surprise.

  The kiss must have really been as hot as it looked for him to be so thoroughly distracted.

  The two men watch us, and I can tell that everyone in the room is trying to figure out what in the hell to say.

  "Shit, that was hot, do you two need a third?" Brielyn asks and I'm not surprised to find that he's the first to master words. "It doesn't even matter if you've both kissed Roxanna, it doesn't break a friend code or anything."

  Gods, Brielyn fucking stop it.

  It takes all my self-restraint not to strangle my friend to get him to stop running his mouth.

  Walker and Orrtyn only look at him, Walker's eyes wide with shock and Orrtyn’s holding amusement.

  Before Brielyn can offer himself up even more for a threesome, light breaks through the room, drawing the attention of everyone.

  Orrael and Walker appear. They're both dressed impeccably and it's a sign that maybe they didn't have to actually fight their way out of the castle to get back here. They both have bags on their backs. Orrael blows out a long breath of air and I study him. Is all the portaling finally have an effect on the man?

  But other than the deep breath of air, he doesn't show any sign of tiredness.

  Elyjah turns his head and his eyes instantly land on Orrtyn and Walker who are still standing close enough that it's obvious what they just got through doing. Elyjah only stares at them for a while longer before shaking his head. "You two just can't help yourselves," he says, humor dancing in his eyes.

  I've only been aware of the men hooking up twice since we've been here, this time withstanding, but now that Elyjah makes his comment, I can't help but to wonder.

  Have the men been sneaking away over the last couple of days to fondle each other while we're in the middle of a wasteland with guards trying to kill us every time we turn around?

  It doesn't quite seem like something they'd do, but I'm also aware that I don't know the men as much as I'd like to think I do.

  Orrael drops one of the bags he's carrying, bringing my attention to him. He doesn't make a comment about his brother and friends. He also seems to hold a demeanor that this is not unusual between the two men.

  Walker moves away from Orrtyn, his shoulders tight as he draws closer to the prince and Orrael. "Did you two learn anything new?" Walker's voice is low and raspy in a way that I haven't heard before.

  A sharp nudge to my arm brings my attention to Brielyn and the man waggles his eyebrows at me before non-discreetly nodding toward Walker as if I didn't already know what he was getting at.

  I narrow my eyes at him, willing him to keep his mouth shut. Thankfully, it doesn't appear as if he's going to open his mouth again and start making everyone in the room uncomfortable.

  "Not much," Elyjah says, his stormy eyes glancing at me for a moment before he turns back to his friends. "We know that the original plans for this Culling was supposed to be for this to last only ten days," he says. "The plans were written up over a decade ago, and they're concrete. So, we have to survive here for only a couple of more days," he confesses. He turns his attention back to me. "That's how long you have to stay alive before we go back to the castle. We also have to make sure that anyone who spots us dies or else they'll report back our presence to my mother."

  Elyjah's eyes trail over to Brielyn as if to assess whether or not he can trust the man. I take a step in front of Brielyn, shielding him from the prince's gaze. "Brielyn isn't going to say anything to anyone," I say. I know this is the truth, because the man isn't a snitch. If he were, he would have told the men about my real intentions. He certainly had the time to while I was tied up with Samir and his horde of guards.

  “Nope, Brielyn won’t say a thing,” the man talks about himself in third person as he peers at the prince. “But I do have a question. Why are we staying on this island if Orrael can just teleport us away?”

  I look at Brielyn in surprise. It’s a good question and I admit I hadn’t even thought about it.

  I turn my eyes to Elyjah waiting on an answer.

  It’s Orrael who decides to speak up. “The chips in your arms. If you leave Trasle, those things are programmed to blow up.”

  My blood runs cold and I look down at the healed skin where the chip resides. “Why doesn’t the queen just blow me up then, through the chip, if she wants me dead.”

  Orrael shakes his head, his hand reaching out to grab my arm. His finger glides gently along my skin, causing goosebumps to break out along my flesh as my heart pounds quicker in my chest. His finger keeps moving until he finds the slight bump under my skin where the chip is. His blue eyes lock with mine. “The chip isn’t programmed that way. It’s only programmed by proximity. There are no controls to just blow it up at will, it can only be activated if you leave the island.”

  Orrael’s hand is still on me and it’s hard to deny the stirrings it creates low in my stomach.

  Feeling my skin flush, I nod. “That makes sense.” I try to think of something to say to change the subject. "Samir is on the island. Personally," I blurt out when the thought crosses my mind.

  Orrael tenses slightly before his hand moves away from me and he takes a step back. The second he does, I find myself staring into the eyes of Elyjah.

  The man sighs, his eyes surveying me again. "I'm going to take that as you saying you've had contact with Samir?”

  I shrug, not denying it. It feels easier to focus now that Orrael is a couple of feet away from me. “There was an altercation."

  There’s a shuffling and I turn to look at Orrael. He moves forward and he shakes his head. "I knew you couldn't stay out of trouble." He drops another bag and when it hits the ground it's with a loud clunk. He points at the bag. "I guess it's a good thing, I've brought all of the healing supplies that I could find."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “What’s our next course of action?”

  It’s a good question that Elyjah asks and yet I can’t come up with anything. While everyone else is working one plan, I’m working on two and neither are going the way I’d like.

  Another day has passed, and my body has only gotten tenser. You’d think, knowing for sure that there’s a timeline in front of me now for how long I have to stay alive, that I’d feel better, but that just isn’t the case.

  If anything, I’m more worried.

  For starters, I know that since the queen’s clock is winding down, she’s going to become even more aggressive as she comes down on me in the next couple of days.

  She wants me dead before I get off this island.

  I’d asked Elyjah what his mother would do if they couldn’t kill me before The Culling was up. His response, “She won’t attack you when we make it back to the castle, not directly at least. It's easier if you die here, because it won’t be tracked back to her. People will just assume you weren't as dangerous as they thought, and you couldn’t survive the culling.”

  “And why would she care about whether people know if she killed me or not. It's not as if anyone would actually oppose her or speak ill of her killing me.”

  The citizen of Caelumine are not dumb, they know who holds the power and what will happen if they oppose it.

  Elyjah had only shook his head though, “It's a sign of weakness. If she kills you directly, it reads as happening because there was something she fears about you.”

  And is that the truth? Does the queen fear me?

  It’d certainly explain why she’s after me so hard, but why exactly does she fear me? Sure, I haven’t held the fire in my eyes back, but what exactly makes her think, this girl is going to come for my head?

  And now that I know she won’t attack me at the castle, does that mean I go back to my original plan of waiting until after I become Elyjah’s champion to pluck her and the rest of the royals off?

  Or do I go straight for her head when we get back to the castle?

  I can’t quite figure it out. I try to imagine what Conrad would say to me but considering that I haven’t listened to much of his other advice lately, which has felt off anyway, I’m not sure it's the best approach.

  Conrad would say that you’re a disgrace and you’ve completely lost sight of what you’re here for. He’d grab you by the wrist and drag you back to the mortal realm, telling you that you could never go back to Caelumine.

  He wouldn’t let me resume this current course.

  And then there’s the other plan that I’m failing at.

  Working with the royals without letting my guard down.

  Because the truth is, my guard has been down since I met them, but now it’s shattered to pieces, completely gone. And every time one of them looks at me for too long, their intense gazes hanging on me, it only makes me want to know more. What do they think of me? Why are they so protective of me?

  I know Elyjah’s answer, which really isn’t as thorough as I’d like anyway, but I know nothing about the others.

  Walker as usual treats me like I’ve shit in his food. But yet, he told Ragna not to kill me and he’d also instructed her to protect me at that. And from what I’ve seen of the bird’s fighting, when she’s meant to protect you, she’ll do so until she is dead. And since she’s ancient that means she hasn’t lost yet.

  Then there’s the Bae twins. Both have never directly been opposed to me or treated me like Walker or Elyjah with their guards up and staying aware of me and the fact that I’m dangerous. And yet we’ve seemed to have reached another level of them being nice to me.

  Orrael who typically does more observing than speaking to me unless with his twin, has constantly struck up conversation with me since getting back. Always checking in on me. His firm hands commanding and unyielding as he checks on the wounds that have long since healed. You never know, they could reopen. We aren’t sure what is going on with your healing, so we need to keep an eye on it. The words low and sharper than I expect, firm, letting me know that there’s no arguing with the man when he has his sights on something.

  And Orrtyn….

  I have to refrain from shivering at the memory of his soft lips on mine. Which is quickly followed by the way in which he intensely kissed Walker, commanding the bigger man, dominating him.

  Maybe I’m not familiar with sex and I like to pretend to be in denial when it comes to the royals, but I know that what I feel when I look at Orrtyn and his tongue runs along his lips or when he combs a hand through his hair and his shirt rides up that what I feel is pure unadulterated lust.

  Sex is something I’ve never been interested in, but with Orrtyn….

  I push the thought away.

  There’s no time for such thoughts when the world is crashing down around you.

  “We need to survive and stay out of sight,” Orrtyn says as he props up against the wall next to Elyjah.

  Elyjah shakes his head, glancing over at the man. “No, we can’t do that. This is the Culling, no matter how much we hide, something will eventually drive us from this cave. My mother didn’t pick this place because it's easy to survive.”

  “Well, it has been so far,” Walker says cockily as he crunches down on some fruit that Orrtyn gathered earlier this morning. “Even with the queen’s guards trying to attack at every turn, this isn’t what it was talked up to be.”

  Says the man who hasn’t been stabbed and cut repeatedly.

  I keep the bitter thought to myself, knowing that if I say it out loud the man will pounce on the words, claiming that the reason he hasn’t suffered so many injuries is because he’s a better warrior.

  “Elyjah is right,” Orrael agrees, his blue eyes taking in our surroundings as if he suddenly expects something to jump out at us. “The Culling is not easy. The islands and locations are handpicked and carefully thought out. The queen would only drop the competitors in a place where she knows that they wouldn’t survive easily even without extra interfering’s. This is the lazy part for her, she doesn’t have to throw in any magical creatures or anything, knowing the island will be dangerous enough all on its own.”

  I think about the dead competitor bodies I came across while wondering around. Something on the island certainly got to them.

  “So, what do we know about the island?” Orrtyn asks, stepping forward, his eyes crinkling slightly. “What would you expect to be a problem from what we know?” He directs the question at his brother, and I know it's because the two have studied the island.

  “What about those big ass birds?” I ask before Orrael can speak. I think of the big creature I saw when I first woke up on the island and on a couple of other occasions. Ragna lets out a squawk and I direct my attention to her. “I said the big birds, not the miniature one.” I’m very satisfied with the little jab until the bird flies at my head and I have to swat at her.

  “Ragna,” Elyjah says sharply. Brielyn looks up at the man weirdly and I realize it’s because of the humanity Elyjah uses while talking to the bird. He doesn’t know that she’s an actual human.

  Elyjah gets a wing in his own face for his troubles before Ragna lands on Walker’s shoulder. Walker gives the bird a satisfied smile.

  Orrael lets out a huff of irritation before turning his attention to me, “Big ass bird?” he questions.

  “Yes, the bird was huge,” I confirm, spreading my arms out wide though it doesn’t do justice for the thing that I saw. “I saw the skeleton of one when I first woke up and it was ridiculous.” I shake my head. “I saw more of them head toward a set of mountains. They have long spiky tails from what I’ve seen.”

  “Ah.” A flare of recognition flashes in his eyes. He briefly looks at Walker as he opens his mouth before reclosing it and shaking his head. “The bird is an aunxsical.”

  “Native to this island?” I question, frowning at the unfamiliar word.

  Orrael shakes his head, his eyes moving briefly to Walker. “No, there has also been some known to be found in the lokanian mountains.”

  Ah, so that explains why he looked at Walker.

  “Oh, and how deadly are they?” I question even though I already know the answer. Anything that can survive this island or the lokanian mountains has to be tough as shit.

  “Very,” Orrael confirms. “You have to be careful around the creatures, they’re big and alert. But they can be tamed by the right person,” he says but he doesn’t expand on that.

  “So we need to be aware of the big birds and what else?” Elyjah questions, his gaze moving between the twins.

  “There’s so many things, landmines left over from the war, poisonous animals and plants,” Orrtyn says. “We’d do best to stay in here until we’re smoked out.” He glances at Walker before looking at me. “Is this a good defensible position?” he questions, and I can't quite tell if the question is directed at me or Walker.

  “Yes,” Walker answers the question, taking it out of my hands before I can answer. “Not only will it be hard for anyone to hide from us with the surrounding area being barren, nothing but rocks. But we also have the little passageway we can go down if we need to.”

  I know he’s talking about the fork in the cave. I’ve yet to explore the little nook, but from what I’ve heard Walker and Orrtyn say, it goes on for about twenty feet before it forks off again into a little nook that’s about five feet wide.

  It’d be a great place to hide.

  For anyone not prepared for a fight that is.

  I’m surprised that the Fawcett’s didn’t take into account the many caves people can hide in when they were assessing the island. Because we’ve already found two so there isn’t any telling how many more will be available around the island.

  “Good,” Elyjah says. “I guess we should stock up on food in the meantime. “We’ll split into groups. Orrael, Roxanna and I will go scour for fruit and any other vegetation that we can find. Walker, Orrtyn, and…” He looks at Brielyn as if trying to remember his name, “Brielyn,” he finally says, “can go off in search for game.”

  No one protests to the grouping and honestly I’m a bit thankful that I’ll be getting away from Walker and Orrtyn. I’m sure if I were to be off with them, I’d either try to kill Walker or hope for another kiss from either man.

  Neither of which would end well.

  “What’s the plan if something happens and we can’t come back here?” Orrtyn asks and it's a good thought, something that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

  The cave could easily be overtaken with guards or our path back could be cut off.

  “Orrael will be able to find you guys, so just get somewhere safe,” Elyjah says. It reminds me of them saying that the man is capable of finding anyone that he’s familiar with.

  Orrtyn nods.

  We separate and I follow behind Orrael and Elyjah quietly as Elyjah guides us, more familiar with the land from his studies.

  After a bit of walking, Elyjah turns to me and he pauses, waiting to resume walking when I’m beside him. “What do you think of all this?”

  “All of what?” I ask, shoving a stray piece of hair out of my face as I look up at him.

  “The last time I spoke with you, you agreed to work with us, but I could tell you weren’t completely sold on it. And now that you know more about us, about some of the magic in the group and even Ragna. I just want to know what you’re thinking.”

  I glance up, finding Orrael’s shoulder stiff as he slows his trek and I know he’s also waiting for my words.