Page 208 of Of Nine So Bold

Very well,the larger gateway demon said.But only if you can get past the barrier of magic the dead king made. To cross it is… itchy.

And annoying,a smaller demon chimed in.

And it might kill you!another added gleefully.

A breath left me. “We can. Thank you.”

I could hear the larger creature’s smile in its voice, even if I couldn’t see a damn thing.Never thank a demon, little doomed one.

The smaller demons cackled, but ahead of me, the darkness stabilized.

Clay gave us all a wary look. “I take it we’re good, then?”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“We must go,” Ignatius said. “The witches and Dathan will be waiting for us.” Another reverberating gong rang from the walls, making him scowl briefly. “And this must end.”

The scholar stepped into the gateway. Brock and the other giants bowed to Niko before doing the same.

“See you on the other side, my friends,” Casimir said, the corners of his lips curling with a hint of a confident smile. But his expression turned solemn when he met my eyes. “Be safe, my queen.”

He disappeared into the gateway.

One by one, my men did the same, until only Roan and Ozias remained with me.

“Deep breath, little mate,” Ozias said. “See you soon.”

I stepped into the gateway. Darkness swallowed me instantly. I couldn’t even gasp. The momentum crushed air from my chest as my body rushed forward, making my stomach pitch and roll.

As fast as the darkness came, it vanished again. Ignatius and the other giants were ahead of me, and my men were on either side. We stood on a rocky hillside beneath an overcast sky, yellowed grass and frozen dirt crunching beneath our boots.

But directly ahead, the shimmering soap bubble of the wall sparked with light. The Erenlian side was unharmed, but theAneiran side was another matter entirely. Cracks tore the earth on that side for as far as my eyes could see, with twisted apple trees growing and spreading from them like nightmarish rot. Around the base of the barrier, fallen apples steamed in the cold air as they decayed into blobs of putrescent flesh. The branches clawed at the surface of the wall, and where they struck, crackles like lightning radiated across the magical barrier like they were trying to tear straight through it.

“Fuck,” Roan swore when he emerged from the gateway, his eyes on the destroyed terrain of my home nation.

I could only nod, dumbstruck.

“Those stones should be good for a gateway.” Ignatius pointed to a collection of boulders just beyond the barrier. “If we can reach them.”

Dex nodded, scanning the terrain like he was mapping out a strategy at lightning speed.

“The minute we get beyond this wall,” Clay warned, “you know that crooning lullaby shit is going to start up again.”

“Then we move fast,” Dex replied. He started for a section of barrier where there were fewer trees and cracks in the earth. “Come on.”

The rest of us hurried after him. The air buzzed with energy the closer we came, and sparks flew from the far side of the wall in crackles and pops, making me flinch. Whispering cries rose and fell in my mind like distant waves, carried on my invisible bond to the others.

But Niko heard more. His teeth gritted, he pressed his hands to his ears. “It’sscreaming.The… the spell sustaining the wall. It—” He winced. “Gods…”

Worry flashed over the faces of several of my men, but Dex simply pulled Niko around, his expression like stone. “Can you do this?” He sounded like a general assessing the battle hardiness of his soldiers.

“I… fuck…” Taking a sharp breath, Niko nodded. “Yes.”

Dex nodded back. “Get ready,” he ordered the others.

Niko stretched out a hand, his face twisting in a grimace. With his eyes on the sparks flying from the wall, he whispered a count under his breath, as if timing the impacts.

And then he pressed his hand to the magical barrier.

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