Elwen frowned. “He knows that she’ll lead us to him. He’s using the deal to draw you exactly where he wants.”
I set down my glass. “What if we use it to stop him?”
“How?” Elwen asked.
“We find the seal first. He can’t break itwithout me anyway. Then force him to come to us on our terms.” I looked at Kairos. “If we’re already there, we choose the battlefield. The deal will tell us when he’s getting close.”
Kairos turned to Lioren. “Search the archives. Look for anything that mentions the seals, the binding ritual, locations of power. I don’t care how obscure.”
Lioren swept wordlessly from the room.
I stood, my chair scraping back. “I’ll help.”
43
SLEEPLESS
The library stairs creaked as I climbed to the top floor.
This section was…eerie. Not dusty. Everything here felt preserved.Intentional. Tall black shelves loomed overhead, disappearing into shadows. The first shelf I passed held nothing but theory texts, their spines embossed with gold lettering.
Blood as Ink: The Ethics of Living Runes.
Plague Craft: Designing Pestilence Runes.
Runic Possession: Historical Accounts of Magical Hijacking.
I swallowed. “Cheerful.”
I kept walking, scanning the rows.
Binding Gods: The Fall of the Dragons.
I grabbed it, tucking it under my arm with the others. I reached the back wall, where the locator rune’s soft glow pulsed above a thick leather-bound tome. The cover had no title, just a single rune burned into the hide: a curling symbol.
I pulled it from the shelf, set it on a table, and opened it slowly.
Sketches sprawled over the pages. Dozens of them—eggs, dragons mid-hatch, and runes etched into shells. Notes scribbled in Old Fae, with ink that bled through the parchment. I flipped to a diagram of a rune labeled in common tongue: Stasis.
Beneath it, in faded script, read:
Bind at time of full breath. Seal warmth within. Halt growth, stirrings, all quickening. Rune is to be placed at shell’s base. Do not carve should hatching be sought.
I rubbed my eyes, shoving the book aside hard enough that it slid across the table. The crystal lamp cast long shadows, and my eyelids fluttered until I noticed an illustration—a dragon mid-flight, flames pouring from its jaws.
My ancestors.
I was descended from these…these creatures…the gods fae were taught to fear. I picked upBinding Gods.I skimmed through it, but it was vague on specific details about the seals, only offering one infuriating line:
Two realms bore the weight of gods, but their locations were struck from record, lest the foolish seek what should remain buried.
Dawn crept through the windows, and then the words started bleeding together. I shook myself awake and pulledElemental Runesopen.
This volume presents a comprehensive examination of elemental runic classifications as established by Third Age scholars, with particular attention to foundational principles of magical conductivity…
My head nodded.
Darkness swept me from the library, into a tower high above the sea with water crashing against the walls. The room was empty except for a dark-haired girl pacing back and forth.
