But then, when they got to a point, the creatures wailed a high, keening cry, convulsing, their bodies twisting as flames crackled up from their feet. Their screams bled into the sky as they shrivelled into nothing before they could reach me.
My chest heaved as more came, only to meet the same fate. I flicked a glance to where I’d left Merton and Amelia, making sure they were safe, before I pushed myself upright. My legs trembled so hard I almost sank back down, but I stayed standing, one breath at a time. And when I realised I could take a step — just one — I forced myself forward.
Before crossing the cave’s perimeter, the wound from the ceremonial knife had been a river of blood, crimson bleeding out with every heartbeat. But the instant my foot touched this space, it stopped. The pain, the weakness, everything. My body felt like my own again.
I knew it was a lie. This place wasn’t healing me—it was masking the truth, numbing the agony rather than curing it. A thin veil between me and death. Yet even knowing it was a lie, I clung to it like a lifeline.
Behind me, the creatures screamed and burned, but I didn’t look.
Lightning split the sky, briefly bathing the world in silver light. The cave ahead glowed faintly under its flash—the same as it had the day Kalimetryna died. Nothing had changed, except for the faint shimmer in the stone.
I moved closer, rain dripping from my lashes when a voice split through the storm.
“Sanora!”
I froze.
That voice—deep and thunderous—ripped me apart. My heart cracked, shattered in my chest, because it belonged to Thrax.
Through the torrent, I turned, my vision blurring with tears that mingled freely with the rain on my face. A part of me wanted nothing more than to run into his arms, to see him, to feel him just once more before the end. But I knew what that would mean. I didn’t think I could survive watching Thrax break. If I let him reach me, I would not be able to walk away. He would not allow me to leave, and I would not have the strength to resist.
Time was running out.
The cave might be masking my weakness, but the knife inside me was still working, draining my life slowly. Any moment now, it would finish its job, and I would die.
So I couldn’t look back.
His voice echoed again, closer this time. “Sanora!”
I shook my head violently, urging my shaky legs forward. Faster. Away from him. He couldn’t meet me here. He mustn’t hold me back.
“Sanora, don’t you dare!”
I have no choice, I wanted to scream, but my voice broke, my tears betraying me as I stumbled towards the mouth of the cave.
“Sanora!”
He was close now. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he’d gotten to where the twins were, and he was closing in rapidly.
I grabbed the slick wall for support as I entered the cave, the knife still lodged inside me, aching dully with every step.
The walls around me glowed faintly, as though stars had been captured and imprisoned within the stone. I followed the path until I reached the place where it had all begun.
Where Kalimetryna had died fourteen centuries and twenty-three years ago.
There, beneath the top of the cave that had broken that day, the rain did not fall. I stood directly under the broken opening, yet not a drop touched me. The storm roared outside, but inside, the sky’s rage was absent.
“Sanora,” Thrax’s voice echoed again. I whipped my head back. “Sanora,” he said, softer this time, quiet and pleading. “Come out, please.”
My brow furrowed.He’s not coming inside?
I traced my steps back, and with another flare of lightning, I saw him at the mouth of the cave, his hand raised against an invisible barrier, striking it hard.
“Sanora, come out. Don’t you dare try that.” His voice was loud with terror and rage. “What makes you think I won’t kill myself the moment I become mortal? Huh? You know it’s pointless without you. Come out of there,Nher.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
His hand continued to slam against an unseen wall at the mouth of the cave, the sound unheard. Did the barrier seal him out the moment I entered? Locking me in to avoid interruption?
