Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings novel Chapter 393

Chapter 393: Welcome To The Outer Territories

Thalia’s latest trap. Thalia’s latest game.

But at least now she knew what she was facing.

Victoria left the ice structure and stood in the howling snow.

She needed to get back to the swamp. Needed to find the guardian. Needed to make a deal that would cost her years of her life but give her passage to the only place Thalia could be found.

She drew another portal circle in the snow.

This time targeting the swamp territories. The specific location where she had met the guardian before.

The portal opened, green and swirling and Victoria stepped through.

The frozen north disappeared.

And Victoria found herself back in the humid darkness of the southern swamp.

The transition from frozen north to humid swamp was jarring.

Victoria’s warming magic was suddenly too much. She released it and immediately felt sweat break out across her skin as her body adjusted to the dramatic temperature change.

The swamp was dark. Night had fallen while she was in the north.

Which meant....

Victoria checked the time with a quick spell.

Twenty-eight hours since Lilith died.

One hundred sixteen hours remaining.

Less than five days now.

And she still had not even reached the Underworld yet.

Victoria forced herself to breathe through the panic.

She was in the right place now. The swamp where the guardian had appeared before. She just needed to call it again. Make the deal. Get passage.

"Guardian!" Victoria called into the darkness. "I’m ready to make the deal! I need passage to the Underworld!"

Her voice echoed across the dark water and died in the fog.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Then the water began to move.

Not rippling. Rising. Forming into the shape Victoria remembered...humanoid but made entirely of black water and reflected light.

The guardian stood on the surface of the swamp and looked at her with eyes darker than the night around them.

"Witch," it said. "You return."

"I’m ready," Victoria said. "Passage to the Underworld. Five years of my life in exchange. That was the deal."

The guardian tilted its head. "The deal was passage and guidance. But much has changed since we last spoke. The price has increased."

Victoria felt ice slide down her spine. "What? No. We agreed...."

"We agreed before you wasted a day searching false locations," the guardian interrupted. "Before you let desperation make you careless. Before time became your enemy instead of just your constraint."

"What do you want?" Victoria asked.

The guardian was silent for a moment. Then: "Seven years. And a memory."

"What memory?" Victoria asked carefully.

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