Chills prickled my arms and danced down my spine. No way should Kian or the others have more power. And if they could all raise the dead? However, that didn’t mean I wanted the job.

“But my aunt … can’t she become the high mage master?”

He shook his head. “I had her before your mother … with a human. She’s not strong enough to hold that amount of magic.”

Oh mage.

“Okay … well, yeah, I’ll try my hardest. I can delay taking my Alpha Academy classes, and we can just work together here, and—”

He shook his head. “I need you to come with me to High Mage Academy. Right now. Today is the last day to declare my heir. You need to start training. It’s why I sent the summons for you early.”

Shock ripped through me for multiple reasons. “Leave today? Go to a new school?” I shook my head as I continued to absorb his words. “You sent the summons?”

He nodded. “I did. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure you were my granddaughter. Your mother told me in the Realm of the Dead that she left you with the Crescent alpha, but I’d never seen you at that point. I only knew that Nathan had a daughter the same age as the girl I was looking to find. So I sent a summons early. The second I saw you, I knew you were mine. But we’re running out of time.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks.

“I … have to leave? Leave Rage? My pack…” My mind whirred with this information. “For how long.”

He sighed. “I don’t know … maybe … forever.”

For—what? Shock gave way to panic at the thought of not seeing my mate again. Surely, he wasn’t asking me to give up my fated mate. Right?

Sadness crossed his face. “Forgive me. It’s too much for you. I can see that.”

“No,” I growled. I’d be damned before I let Kian and the other high mages steal my grandfather’s magic. They’d already tried to rob me of my mate. I wouldn’t let them steal his magic too. Mage knows what untold evils they would do if they became that powerful.

“Rage will understand. We’ll … work it out.”

Right?

I had to believe fated mates meant our love was strong enough to cross worlds. “How much time do we have?”

“A couple hours. If I haven’t penned your name in the master scrolls before midnight, you’ll need to fight to earn your right as heir.”

Shaking my head, I helped him stand. “Not to sound like a whiner, but I’m kinda over fighting. At least for right now.”

“I understand.” Grandpa took a few steadying breaths. “Shall we go and talk to your mate together?”

There was no way in hell Rage would let me go to another school, to live in another place. Especially not now that he was king.

I shook my head, letting a single tear fall down my cheek. “No,” I whispered. “I’ll send word to him. Let’s go now before he notices I’m gone.”

After Gramps signed the scrolls, I’d ask him to bring me back to explain. I’d rather ask forgiveness than permission. Not that I needed to do either, but I knew Rage well enough to know he wasn’t going to let me go without a fight, and I wanted to avoid that.

We slipped out of the door and snaked along the back wall of the room toward a side door, and I caught one last look at my fated mate. Justice and my Dad held Rage on their shoulders, and the crowd chanted, “Long live the king!”

Rage’s grin stretched from ear to ear, his green eyes shining like emeralds, and he radiated joy. If this was going to be my last memory of him, I told myself I should be glad it was this one. He had his family, his people. He was safe.

I swallowed hard and turned away, clenching my teeth and fists as I stepped out of the throne room and into the night. I’ll find a way to return to him.

Reyna slipped out the side door behind us, and we hurried down the garden path.

“Will you make a portal to the high mage lands?” I asked my grandfather as he leaned on me and Reyna.

He shook his head. “Not strong enough. We’ll use the library portal.”

Library portal.

It hit me then. That black door, that place where I’d met my aunt for the first time, was a portal to the high mage realm! Maybe even the academy. What if the libraries connected? Maybe I could still attend High Mage Academy and be with Rage.

We weaved in and out of the school buildings until we arrived at the double library doors. No one stood guard, and it was easy to find our way to the black onyx door. I placed my hand on it and pushed it open just as the main library door slammed shut.

Reyna pulled my grandfather into the ornate hallway that led to the mage realm as I steeled myself, waiting for Rage to burst down the aisle and catch me. But the aisle remained empty. I dropped my gaze and spotted the black wolf and the sweet eyes of Honor Midnight.

Honor cocked his head to the side. ‘Where are you going?’

My mind raced. Tell the truth and risk him telling Rage?

“You’ll need a shield,” Reyna spoke from behind me. “If you trust him with your life, I suggest you consider telling him the truth.”

I nodded, acknowledging the wisdom of her counsel, and forced a deep breath before speaking.

“Long story short,” I said aloud to the wolf. “I’m going to High Mage Academy. You coming?”

Honor narrowed his hazel eyes and then slipped past me through the doorway and into the cavernous mage library.

Together, we walked through the tunnel into a whole other world.