Ether picked up the loot.

  “Slime gloves.” The ivory woman turned to Justia. “They give a point of recovery. You want them?”

  The green Healer took the offered gloves and then handed them back. “Nope, I could handle gloves being transparent, but they’re too…” She shivered as she tried to think of the word. “Nope.”

  “We can sell it or break it down then.” The Tank put the item and boss crystal into her CB. She glanced over at Nakten who was glaring at her. “What?”

  “You didn’t offer them to Atlas.” The Nephilim grumbled.

  “Because it was Healer gear.” I countered before anyone else could say anything. “If it had been Speed gear, then we’d have offered it to you.”

  “The Recovery would increase your mana regen.” The Anubis argued. “You should always be adding stats to your Mantle.” She ran her hand up my arm and across my shoulders. “You’re the strongest member of our team, after all.”

  Justia glanced over at Ether, who was getting paler as more blood flowed into my wife’s face.

  Nakten turned to see where I was looking. Her eyes landed on Justia, then she turned back to me. “Yes, I know. Your Healer will get a bonus once she becomes a Priestess, but…” She looked over at Aelin. “You might want to pick one that would willingly return your affection.”

  “I don’t need Justia to return my affection.” I huffed. “She can love whoever she wants to.”

  “Then you’re going to weaken yourself.” The Anubis shook her head. “A strong Priest means a strong city. Splitting that bond will only split her focus and…” She tilted her head towards Aelin. “The blonde will become a weakness that your enemies will exploit.”

  “Why do I have to have enemies?” I sighed. “Why can’t I just claim my mother’s city once I graduate and keep to myself?”

  “Because you already have enemies!” Nakten walked around me, then turned to Miel, who was walking across a bridge behind us that had appeared the moment we’d killed the boss. “Tell the Godling about how many enemies he has already.”

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  “Besides you?” Miel growled.

  Shock covered the canine woman’s face. “I’m not his enemy.” She motioned between me and herself. “Our fates have been tied together. I might be one of Father’s favorites, but I am by no means his only child. If Atlas violates the terms of the treaty, then Votic will disown me to keep his seat.” She swallowed. “And if that happens, he will kill us himself.”

  “Wait. What do you mean, the ‘terms of the treaty’?” I turned to look at Miel. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”

  The look on my mother-in-law's face told me the answer to my question before she had a chance to speak.

  “We’re supposed to go meet with Nevah to go over them.” Miel gestured at the portal behind her. “You need to attune the return stones, then we’re going back to the surface.” She turned and walked through the portal.

  The rest of us followed after her. There were so many questions swirling around in my mind, but Miel didn’t look like she was in the mood to talk about them and I didn’t want to listen to Nakten gloat about how she knew more about the Gods than I did.

  Our current teacher gestured at the gate holding the portal. “Return stones are fairly easy to attune. Now that you’ve cleared the first-floor boss, you can touch your stones to the gate. When you use them, the stones will take you back here to the gate you attuned them to.”

  The five of us got our stones out. The black marble looked different from the one that Miel had given us when we’d gone into the artificial Dungeon. I assumed that was because Trent had made these. I rolled the stone in my gloved hand, and then when it was my turn, I touched it to the gate.

  The black stone filled with light, turning the black to white. As soon as all the black was gone, the description on my CB changed from return stone to return stone - Jyscor second floor.

  “Why couldn’t we do that on the first floor?” I put the item into my CB.

  “No one knows.” Miel cleared her throat. “If you used the stone inside the boss room, then it would have taken you to the other side of the portal to the boss room on the first floor.” She motioned for Aelin to go next. “But if you had tried to use it on the first floor before you went into the boss room, nothing would have happened. Some people think that is because the Dungeon wants you to have some connection with the Dungeon you’re in before it will let you connect to it.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter why it’s that way; it simply is.”

  “Right…” I watched Fray attune her stone. She was the last one to attune their stone. Once she was finished, the green swordswoman typed the destination on the gate to go back to the surface.

  Anticipation bubbled inside me. Trent was pretty sure that Nevah was my biological father and he was waiting for us on the other side of the portal. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pretty sure my life was never going to be the same after this.

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