“He’s okay, Ma. We’ve been communicating through themarekem.”
Cami exhaled slowly. “Really? He finally unblocked it?”
“And I’ve been in contact with Fallon. They’re close to the grounds now.”
Davis chimed in as Cami rifled through more scrolls. “Yeah… Fallon Fitzroy and Shayde are the most lethal fighters I’ve ever seen. No offense, Rhodes.”
“Offense taken,” Rhodes deadpanned.
Davis chuckled, raking a hand through his unruly hair. “I mean it. That duel between them? Left me speechless. And that never happens.”
“He’s right about that,” Lakota muttered.
I bit my cheek to hide the grin tugging at my mouth.
Cami returned with a set of maps and rolled them onto the table. We each moved forward, fingers on curled corners, holding them flat as the drawings stretched before us. I scanned for differences between these and the Mageia map she’d shown earlier.
“This is Tyria’s main castle,” Cami said. “Once I pieced together enough of Mageia’s layout, I realized they’re sister-builds. Almost identical. But there’s always been a missing sheet from these plans—I have nothing of the fourth floor. Thousands of years ago, these two fortresses belonged to royalty. Kings and queens used enchanted portals to travel between the northern and southern territories in the blink of an eye.”
Rhodes and I drew apart, our eyes locking.
“Does that mean something to you?” Cami’s brows rose.
We debriefed her on the Mareki’s Key and how we’d stumbled onto the first two pieces. Cami listened with rapt attention, drinking in every word like water in a desert. Her mouth fell open in wonderwhen I described the Mareki itself—how it looked, how it felt just to stand in its presence. It was as if uncovering these secrets had been her life’s mission, and at last, we were placing a Mareki-shaped puzzle piece into her waiting hands.
“Can I see it?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Only Fallon and I can see the words that appear. And we’ve only unlocked the first tome so far. Rhodes and I have been trying to decipher it, but the language is so old, I’m never sure if I’m translating right.”
“Were you able to enter the tomb, Rhodes?”
He shifted uneasily. I tried to remember that night at the Eternal Tomb, but couldn’t recall him attempting to pass through the barrier.
“No, I—I didn’t try.”
Cami pressed her palms together before her chest, nodding softly as if silently forming a plan. Then she snapped her fingers and turned back to the map.
“Next time. For now, we need to help Shayde and Fallon find the third piece of the Key.”
Chapter 47
We were about to slip into the bottleneck of civilians crowding the capital’s gate when Shayde pulled me aside. “Almost forgot,” he said, maddeningly calm.
From beneath his cloak, he drew a tan-linen bundle. With deliberate care, he unwrapped it, revealing a masquerade mask that stole my breath.
The foundation—dark metal—bloomed with intricate, swirling filigree. Deep purple gems nested in the pattern, their glow catching the day’s final light like they held secrets of their own.
I narrowed in on the two pointed crests at the top. The realization struck like a soft gasp.
“It’s a wolf,” I said, breathless, as I took the mask from his hands.
Shayde unwrapped the second mask. Its colors mirrored mine—black metal and deep purple gems—but the design was different. The jewels were arranged intentionally, their shape almost resembling scales.
“Is that a snake?” I asked, genuine curiosity threading my voice.
His jaw tensed slightly as his warm brown eyes dropped to the mask in his hands.
“Thought it was fitting,” he said quietly.
