Chapter 170

*Elora*

The stone groaned beneath my boots as we emerged into the shattered upper levels of the Academy.

It didn’t look like the place I’d grown in. Not anymore.

Ceilings had collapsed. Pillars cracked open like bone. The scent of smoke was so thick it clung to my throat. Magic sizzled in the air like an aftertaste, wrong and wild, and I could feel the Gate through the leyline—it wasn’t pulling an