Gavriel Sterling had been chased, stabbed, frozen, trapped in a pink bubble, and stared at by a prince. He was not prepared for what came next.

Later, he would divide his life into two categories: before the temple, and after. He just didn’t know it yet.

Serena turned to face the group.

"This is where things get difficult. Stay with a mage at all times. It will try to separate us. If you don’t know an answer, make a portal back into the hall you were in."

Gav raised his hand. "When you say ’try to separate us,’ do you mean psychologically or physically?"

"Both," Serena replied.

Fin processed the instructions the way he processed all battlefield briefings. Silently. Completely. Already running contingencies before she finished talking.

"An answer to what, Serena?" Dex asked.

"You’ll know when it asks," Serena said.

Dex exhaled. Noted. He didn’t like it.

Hyran stepped forward. "What manner of trials should we expect?"

"I don’t know," Serena said. "The texts weren’t specific."

"So we’re walking into an ancient temple that will attempt to separate and test us, and the preparation is ’stay near a mage.’"

"Yes."

Hyran nodded once. "I’ve worked with less."

"When? When have you worked with less?" Maelor asked.

"Frequently. You’ve simply never been present for it."

"And where will you be?" Dex asked, voice light. The lightness was a lie and everyone in the group knew it.

"In front," Serena said.

"Of course you will," Dex said. "Of course."

He positioned himself at her right side and stayed there.

Nine people. One temple. No plan anyone was comfortable with.

She turned toward the temple. Her eyes flared pink, bright enough to catch on the vines.

She placed a hand on the ancient doors and spoke in Glaciovox, her voice low, resonant, and older than the language had any right to sound through her.

The doors shuddered, then groaned open, stone grinding against stone.

Behind her, Hyran translated for the group, his voice hushed.

"She said, ’We who bear the flame seek entrance, and the temple shall obey.’"

The jungle fell completely silent as the threshold yawned open before them.

They stepped inside, and the air shifted at once. Cooler. Still. Touched with the scent of old stone and long-faded magic. The warmth of the jungle vanished behind them as though a door had closed, though none had.

The corridor stretched ahead, lit by nothing. Serena lifted her hand and pink light bloomed from her palm, casting the passage in a soft glow that revealed walls covered in frescoes, ancient and cracked, depicting dragons and wolves intertwined in scenes too faded to read fully.

She moved ahead of them, pausing when a fractured slab of stone caught her attention.

She crouched, lifted it, and the instant her fingers brushed its surface, a rune flared to life across it. She pocketed the stone and kept walking.

They were only a few minutes deeper when she stopped so abruptly that Fin and Dex both felt the jolt through their matebonds before they heard her voice.

"Wait."

Panic and urgency threaded through the single word.

Every wolf froze at once, instinct locking every muscle. Fin’s hand went to his sword. Dex stepped half a pace closer. Hale shifted Avalon higher against his chest, shielding the hatchling’s head with one hand.

Hyran, Aeron, and Maelor, all three absorbed in studying the frescoes along the walls, halted at the sound of her voice. None of them had yet grasped the danger pressing in on them.

Serena pulled the rune-stone from her pocket and hurled it forward. In the same motion, gold light erupted from her other hand, forming a shield around the group in under a second.

The moment the stone crossed an unseen threshold, the tunnel erupted.

Arrows exploded from the walls in a storm. At least fifty flying from every angle, ricocheting, slicing through the air in a lethal cascade. They carried no magic, but the sheer number alone would have slaughtered an entire battalion.

The arrows that struck Serena’s gold shield dissolved instantly into motes of harmless dust. Those that missed embedded themselves into the stone with enough force to crack it.

The barrage lasted only seconds, but the echo of it shook the tunnel like thunder.

When it finally ceased, the silence that followed was absolute.

Avalon had burrowed entirely inside Hale’s shirt. Only the tip of his tail was visible, wrapped around Hale’s forearm, trembling.

"You’re okay, buddy," Hale murmured. The tail tightened.

Serena turned back to the group, her expression carrying a concern she rarely showed. She was looking at each of them the way she looked at problems she intended to solve before they became casualties.

Dex recognized it immediately. It was the look she wore right before she did something selfless and stupid and irreversible. The look that said: I’ll take it from here.

"No," he said, before she could open her mouth.

"I haven’t said anything."

"You’re about to suggest we go back. The answer is no."

Fin exhaled, a pained expression on his face. "Don’t bother asking me. You do realize I fought in war and command a literal army, right?"

"I just don’t want anyone getting hurt," she said softly.

"Serena," Dex said. "Fin and I are the least likely to get hurt in this group."

Aeron spoke before she could pivot to the mages.

"I have fought in a war, Serena." His tone carried a defiance that bordered on irritation, as though he already anticipated she was about to suggest he remain behind on the greatest academic day of his life. "Two, actually. I will be staying."

Hyran straightened with the dignified posture of a man who considered being asked to leave this temple a greater insult than being shot at inside it.

"I have also fought in a war. I have also saved your life. Multiple times. Given your track record, I am absolutely staying."

Maelor looked between them.

"I have also fought in a war." He paused. "Psychological warfare. Still counts."

Gav raised his hand.

"I’ve fought in war also. And I am very good at running."

Serena opened a portal with one hand, the silver light cutting through the dark corridor. She didn’t explain. She looked at Hale, then at the trembling tail poking out of his shirt.

"You need to take him back."

"I can fight with him on me," Hale said.

"You can. He can’t." She held his gaze. "He’s a newborn, Hale. The next trap won’t be arrows."

Hale’s hand moved to Avalon’s back. The hatchling chirped once, muffled against his chest. The sound was so small it barely reached the group.

Hale closed his eyes. Opened them. Looked at the portal.

Elara was already beside him. "I’ll go with you."

He didn’t argue. He couldn’t. She was right and he knew it. He gave Serena one look, the kind that carried an entire conversation in a single second, and stepped through.

Elara paused at the threshold, turned to Serena, and said something in Glaciovox that made Serena’s eyes burn. Then she followed Hale.

The portal sealed shut.