Thrak studied me with his one good eye. “So we’re not just rescuing the girl. We’re preventing the end of the realm.”
“I don’t care about the realm,” I said flatly. “I care about her. But yes—saving her saves everything else.” I stood, and the corruption spread another inch, visible through my shirt now—black veins creating a web across my chest. “Help me get her back, or get out of my way.”
Thrak studied me for a long moment. “My grandfather helped build the Heartspire,” he said finally. “Before Auradelle took power. Before the walls became a prison. He told me about tunnels beneath the fortress. Root-carved passages that predate the Crown’s occupation.”
We’d discussed this at Thornwood, during the strategy sessions I’d barely been able to focus on because all I’d wanted was to find Elle, pull her away from the council table, and steal more time with her while we still had it.
Hope, painful and sharp, flared in my chest. “The sealed passages. Can we break through?”
“Seals can be broken. Especially by someone the Root recognizes.” Helooked meaningfully at my marks. “Or someone corrupted enough to force their way through.”
“Then we use the tunnels.”
“It’s not that simple,” Vera spoke up. “The Heartspire has two walls—the outer is ceremonial, easy enough if you’re not spotted. But the inner wall…” She pulled out an old map, hand-drawn on leather. “Forty feet high, topped with massive spikes that burn Root-touched on contact. Your corruption especially would light up like a beacon.”
“I don’t care about burns.”
“You should. These wards don’t just burn—they mark. Every Crown soldier in the Heartspire would know exactly where you are.”
The corruption pulsed, and I had to grip the table to keep from destroying it. The ancient wood began to rot under my touch, centuries of growth withering in seconds.
“Stop destroying my furniture,” Thrak growled, but there was no real heat in it. He’d seen what I’d done to the trees outside—an entire grove withered because I’d leaned against one trunk while trying to feel Elle through our dying bond.
Through the muffled bond, so faint I might have imagined it, I felt Elle’s defiance like a distant flame. She was fighting. She was surviving. She was waiting for me.
“Mine,”I sent through the connection, pushing so hard that dark blood ran from my nose.“Always.”
And impossibly, faintly, I felt her response—not words, but a feeling. Recognition. Love. Fear for me, even now. And underneath it all:“Hurry.”
“How long to prepare?” I asked.
“Give us four days,” Thrak said. “We can gather forces, plan the assault properly—”
“Four days?” I stood so fast the chair disintegrated. “We have nine days until convergence. I’m not wasting half of our time planning when she’s suffering right now.”
“That’s suicide.”
“That’s necessary.” The corruption surged, and several people steppedback as the temperature dropped twenty degrees. “I leave in three days, with or without help. That gives us six days to reach her and get out before the convergence.”
Thrak and Vashael exchanged looks.
“Three days to prepare, five days to travel, and one night of rest before all hell breaks loose” Vashael said slowly. “That’s… tight. But possible.”
“It has to be,” I said. “Because I’m done waiting. I’m done being careful. I’m done watching the people I—” I stopped, the words catching. “I’m done losing what matters.”
Peeble landed on my shoulder again.
“She knows you’re coming,” the creature said quietly. “She can feel you through the bond. It’s the only thing keeping her from breaking.”
“Then we’d better not disappoint her,” Thrak said, already pulling out more maps. “Three days to prepare. You’re going to need every advantage we can give you. Because breaking into the Heartspire before convergence? That’s not a rescue mission. That’s a declaration of war.”
“Good,” I said, and my smile made several rebels step back. “I’ve been wanting to burn something down.”
The corruption spread another inch, and somewhere in the distance, I felt Elle shiver.
Nine days until convergence.
“Hold on,”I whispered into our dying bond.“I’m coming. And I’m bringing Hell with me.”
