Jolie slipped and fell for the hundredth time, yet Hans’s capable hands caught her. Again. Just like every time before.

She blew out a breath, almost defeated. “Sorry.” It was insane. No one fell so much. Not even her. There had to be something to it. A curse, maybe.

A warm chuckle eased the growing tension between them. “Are you sure you’re not doing it on purpose?”

She flinched. What? No way. Wait. There was a chipper note to his voice. Almost a laughing note. Well, she wouldn’t miss the opportunity to push the line a little to see where things went. She faced him, pursed her lips, put her hands on her hips, and lifted her chin. “No. Of course not.” She leaned closer and arched a brow. “Why? Is it working?”

Laughter danced in his hazel eyes. “Faker.”

Okay, yes, in that moment. She was a bad actress.

The dim tunnel lightened.

“No more talking.” Agitation dripped from his tone, his playful mood vanquished. Then again, death hunted…them. Jolie swallowed, grabbed his hand, and squeezed. Yes, she’d stay quiet.

The further they walked, the lighter it got. Until they turned a corner where dimming daylight greeted them.

A shadow crossed the entrance.

She gasped—he pulled her back and pushed her behind him, his body swelling as his muscles flexed. She reached up to grab—he wasn’t wearing his thick winter coat. Nor his flat cap or scarf, and he hadn’t worn gloves since he’d first taken them off the day before.

Instead, a black cape hung from his shoulders, similar to the material of her cloak. She peeked around him and swallowed. He wore a form fitting shirt and pants that showed off an impressive build.

“Be gone!” a familiar deep voice barked from beyond the cave.

Her heart vaulted. Johnny. He was alive and there.

Two shadows vanished.

Hans grabbed her hand, and she nearly shrieked but swallowed it in time.

She checked him out again. He wasn’t built like a comic book superhero, but still he was strong with a barrel chest. A man who could easily survive alone in the mountains for ages.

A throat cleared.

Heat blazed in her cheeks while Jolie peered up. He studied her face, but Johnny’s throat cleared again from the opening of the cave.

“Come out so I can see how bad her blush is.”

Jolie pulled her hood up and ducked her head before marching to the entrance. That, that scoundrel.

She reached the threshold—her hood left her head. She spun. Intensity burned in Hans’s eyes, his gaze searching her face. Heat flared in her cheeks. He’d somehow grown even more handsome, everything about him screaming masculinity.

Jolie threw her hands up and turned, only he caught her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sir, a word with you, please.”

“We don’t have—”

A pull wrapped around her. Jolie grabbed Hans’s hand and started walking.

He stayed by her side, Johnny following close behind.

Nothing attacked them. No scary things appeared. The beech forest remained quiet, a dangerous peace permeating the air. But they weren’t safe. No one was. Not with death nipping at their heels.

The light further faded when a hum touched her ear. Jolie reached in her pocket and took out her gift from Epia. She handed Hans the note and box, still mostly focused on the magic summoning her.

The woods gave way to an unnatural clearing where a few blocky buildings took up one small section. Strange light glimmered off the water of a small round lake where the road alone encroached, but ended in ice a third of the way through.

Her heart stammered. The veil.

A pulse exploded from within her. Again, it didn’t hurt, but the energy inside almost doubled, electrifying her cells.

A glowing, soft blue orb appeared at the end of the road. Though hauntingly beautiful, she marched toward an odd hill where the top jutted out over the water, only a few feet thick of ground. It could break, but that was where she was drawn to.

“Dear, the orb is this way.”

Jolie tightened her hold on Hans’s hand and continued.

He scooped her up and changed directions.

“No, Hans, you’re going the wrong way.”

He paused. “Are your mind, body, and spirit synced?”

She reached up and cupped her hands around his face. “Yes.”

“Your eyes…” His voice died in his throat.

“Trust me.”

Her too enticing companion set her down and took her hand again. “We’ll close our eyes. Let me go once at the top of the little hill.”

“Sir, the orb, it’s glowing brighter. She’ll take us the wrong way.”

“No, Johnny. Trust her.”

“I…I can’t.”

“Then can you stay there? Right in that spot?”

“Yes. It’s just when we walk in the direction she was going do I feel like I needed to go to the orb.”

The pull increased. “Alone,” she whispered. “I have to do this part alone. Hans, let me go.”

“No, dear, we stay together.”

A foreboding sensation tingled throughout her. “Something’s coming. Stay and protect me. It’s faster if I go alone.” She wrenched her hand free and sprinted toward the hill.

“Jolie!” The desperation in his voice punched her in the gut. Yet everything inside her urged her to hurry.

At the base of the hill, her body slowed. An invisible force oppressed her, weighing her down, pushing against her.

A blast of air slammed against her, pushing her along. The strength and power carried the tantalizing sweet spice tinging a heady, earthy scent from Hans. He was aiding her.

Jolie took advantage of the reprieve and turned up the hill. However, her steps slowed again, trudging against two feet of invisible mud.

“Get her,” a thunderous voice boomed, and the world trembled.

Her heart nearly stopped. Death. It’d found them.

The pull increased, demanding she finish.

She grit her teeth, grunted, and forced herself forward. One step at a time, even if it was slow, she leaned into them.

When she made it to the top, red glowing eyes appeared above the treetops several yards further on the other side of the lake.

“I’m coming for you.”

Heat fled her. It couldn’t be the end. She still had a mission to finish.

Something glinted in ethereal light.

“You cannot get it in your current state.” Epia’s gentle voice filled her soul.

A spirit appeared, sadness etched in her stunning features. “Cast your spells. Follow your instincts, Jolie.”

She blinked at her. Her words contradicted everything she’d said before.

“Cast your spells and protect yourself.”

She jolted. Her instincts aligned with the spirit; to cast protective spells to keep death away.

Epia mentioned in her note not to trust them.

The opposite of protective spells were damage spells, but it didn’t click with her.

Fighting her gut, the full force of her decision hit her. She peeked over at Hans. May he live on and finish what they started.

His brows raised; his mouth fell open. “No. No, Jolie.”

She faced death and pasted on a smile. “Come and get me.”

Bright light flashed, revealing a cracked orb. Jolie started to reach out for it, yet she was acting on instinct. So she clenched her hands into tight fists and forced them down to her sides.

“No. Don’t do it.” The pain in Hans’s voice wrapped around her heart and squeezed.

Jolie forced herself to watch as darkness flew at her. And at the last moment, she threw up protective shields of ice and fire around Hans and Johnny.

Weight dropped away.

“You did it.”

The vision of Epia darkened and evaporated as a real person shimmered into existence.

“Without a physical form, you have no instincts. Take the dead orb, iníon.”

Iníon, word for daughter, a word used by the women in her line when they talked about their own daughters, granddaughters, and future progeny. It was far more intimate than calling her by her name.

Jolie smiled at her, reached out, and grabbed the orb.

“Thou art no longer bound by the rules placed on Venica for her abuse of her powers and those she’d inherited through our line. Because of thine sacrifice, thou hast not truly died. Now return to your body, iníon. Thine powers are fully thine to use without the influence of the binding spell. Blessed be.” Love flowed around and through her.

Jolie turned. Her body hovered a foot behind her, suspended by some unknown source. She faced Epia and bowed. “Thank you. May I bring you honor.” She stepped back.

The muggy, heavy body accepted her spirit and took in a painful breath.

“What?” Disgust coated death’s voice.

More spells filled her mind, the ones she needed most automatically falling in line of priority.

Jolie lifted from the hill and whispered one spell after another, forming a shield of protection around the lake and clearing, casting out all spirits and death, creating a sanctuary. As she spoke her thirteenth spell, the illusion of an orb of wispy blue fire faded, revealing where the veil was broken, the monsters behind it already shunted back and away from her protective barrier.

Energy seeped from her as she finished her last spell.

She lowered, and just as Jolie was ready to collapse, strong arms wrapped around her.

“You shouldn’t have done that, dear. You…” Hans’s body shook, yet she didn’t have to turn to know it was from his silent sobs.

Jolie reached up behind her and ran her hand through his hair. “I didn’t die, but I couldn’t get the orb with my physical hands.” She lowered the orb in front of her using magic, not daring to touch it. “Think of it as astral projecting.”

“Don’t do it again.” Pain sliced through his tone.

She leaned into him. “I don’t plan on it, not if I don’t have to.”

“Stay.”

“Yes.”

“Rest.”

“Yes.”