I wanted to disappear.
Soren set down his cup. “I’ve spent days organizing this summit. Coordinated schedules across five realms. And we just wasted it all on territorial posturing.”
I couldn’t look at him—at any of them.
I shouldn’t have come. Kairos had said bringing me was a risk, and I’d insisted, and now everything was ruined. I needed to talk to Vaeris. Alone.
“I have to go,” I whispered in Kairos’s ear.
“Damn it, Aelie. Now?”
I pulled myself free and stood. “Yes.”
He didn’t move, but I felt the fury rolling off him. Thenhe leaned back, his mask sliding into place. He waved a hand, dismissing me.
“Go.”
I pushed back my chair and rose. I made it down the hall and turned, and agony sliced into me.
Like a blade splitting me open. The roar of pain drowned out everything else. White-hot fire poured through the rune etched into my ribs.
I clutched at my side, gasping.
The rune.
Something was terribly wrong.
34
THE SUMMIT
Somehow, I made it to the courtyard.
Pain wrapped around my ribs like fiery ropes. I stumbled through the halls, my feet sliding as I forced myself forward. I pressed a palm to the wall, dragging myself to a staircase.
I clutched the railing and followed it down. Every step sent a fresh shock of misery up my spine. I limped into the cavernous chamber where light flickered from sconces along the walls. Etched into the sandstone floor was a massive rune. It spanned the entire room. A binding rune, the same one Kairos had bled over.
Vaeris waited for me, his arms crossed.
I moved toward him in jerky steps until the pain disappeared like a snuffed flame. The agony of seconds ago…vanished.
Vaeris didn’t even look at me. “You took your sweet time.”
I panted. “What did you do to me?”
“You were supposed to come to me.” He faced me,frowning. “You remember the terms, don’t you? ‘If you survive, you’ll come to me. And you’ll break a rune.’”
A stone dropped into my gut. “Coming to you is part of it?”
“Of course it is. The deal requires your physical presence.”
Oh, you bastard.
Come to me.I’d thought that meant I’d reach outeventually. On my terms, not his.
He frowned. “I thought you knew.”
“No! I had no idea! I agreed to break a rune, not to—not to be atyour beck and call.” I fumed, hating him. “I’ve been sick for days! I had no clue what was going on.”
