“The convergence—” I stopped, calculating. The days we’d spent at Thornwood Throne, plus three more days of travel to Silverpine would just give us over a week until the convergence. “We have time. Barely.”
“Before what?” Eltrien asked, his mycelial markings pulsing with that disturbing rhythm.
“Before the convergence,” I said. “Before whatever Auradelle plans comes to pass. Before this realm either survives or is destroyed completely.”
His marks pulsed, steady and knowing. “Then we’d better move,” he said quietly.
We ran through the day and most of the night. I couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop. Every moment we delayed was another moment Elle suffered. Through our bond, faint as gossamer, I felt flashes—cold that burned, marks turning gray at the edges, someone’s voice saying something about the Bloom. Pain. Fear. But also defiance, that stubborn refusal to break that was so essentially Elle.
“I’m coming,”I sent through the bond, not knowing if she could hear me.“Hold on. I’m coming for you.”
And impossibly, faintly, I felt her response—not words, but the memory of her voice from our last night together:“Find me. In this lifetime or any other. Find me.”
By the time we reached Silverpine Hollow on the third day, I was more corruption than man.
The settlement was built into living pines, massive trees that had been coaxed to grow shelters within their trunks. It should have been beautiful. But the moment I entered, the trees recoiled. Leaves withered. Bark cracked. The living wood recognized what I was becoming and feared it.
“Who is that?” someone whispered.
“That’s not a who anymore,” another replied. “That’s a what.”
Thrak, the rebel leader of Silverpine, was a scarred veteran missing his left eye. He may not have been tall as me, but he was built for war nonetheless. He took one look at me and reached for his weapon.
“He’s with us,” Vashael said quickly. “This is our leader, Kaelren. He’s… sick.”
“That’s not sick,” Thrak said. “That’s corrupted. That’s dangerous.”
“Yes,” I agreed, meeting his gaze with eyes that had gone silver-white. “I am. And I’ll be worse if you don’t help me get her back.”
“Her?”
“The marked one. The human. Elle.”
Something shifted in Thrak’s expression. “The prophecy girl? She’s been taken?”
“By the Hunt. To Auradelle. Three days ago.”
“Shit.” He lowered his weapon slightly. “That changes things. Come on, we need to talk. Away from the trees you’re killing.”
We were taken to the center of the settlement, where an ancient pine served as a meeting hall. The moment I entered, frost spread across the floor from my footsteps. The torches flickered, dimming. Several rebels backed away, fear plain on their faces.
Thrak gestured to the others already assembled. “My inner circle. Vera—” A woman with bark-textured skin and calculating eyes nodded. “Former Crown guard, turned when she saw what Auradelle was building. Knows the Heartspire inside and out.” He indicated a massive being whose body seemed carved from living stone. “Gorak. Demolitions. If it needs breaking, he breaks it.” Finally, a slight figure wreathed in shadow. “Lysandra. Seer. She’s the one who told us you were coming.”
“These are the people I trust with my life,” Thrak said, meeting mycorrupted gaze steadily. “You can trust them with yours.”
“Tell us everything,” he continued. “From the beginning.”
So I did. Or Vashael did, mostly, because every time I tried to speak, the corruption made my voice into something that terrified everyone. She told them about Elle’s arrival, her marks, the growing bond between us, the Hunt’s attack at Mirror Lake.
“We have nine days until the convergence,” I managed to rasp out. “Auradelle will try to force her to merge Root and Bloom.”
“And if she refuses?” Thrak asked.
“Then the convergence fails,” I said. “The imbalance between Root and Bloom becomes permanent. The realm tears itself apart.” I met his gaze. “Elle is human. She’s the only one who can bridge both forces. Without her, there’s no convergence. Just collapse.”
“And you know this how?”
“The bond,” I said. “I feel what she feels. I see glimpses of what Auradelle plans. He needs her alive, needs her willing, or his ritual fails and takes everything with it.”
