“Maybe,” I hedged, completely unconvinced. “Or maybe there’s some magical monster waiting in the depths of the tombs below to swallow us whole.”
Faylinn barked a laugh before slapping her palm to her mouth, even as her eyes danced with mirth. I felt the corners of my mouth twitching in response to her outburst and relaxed my hand on her forearm.
“Where onearthdid you even conjure that? Monsters don’t exist in Elyria, not anymore.”
I rolled my eyes at Faylinn before huffing a dry laugh. “That you know of.”
We paused for another moment, waiting for the other to finally cross the line.
“Are you ready?” Faylinn finally asked, reaching out to clasp my sweaty palm with her cool, dry one.
I intertwined my fingers with hers, gathering strength from my unflappable and steadfast friend. Squeezing her hand once, I shot her a wane smile.
“I suppose we should go see if those monsters really do exist.” I attempted for levity, but my voice trembled.
“If they do, you’ll have to kill them. Don’t you know that’s why I brought a godling with me? Gods know I can’t do magic—who better to protect me than one of their inadvertent offspring?” Faylinn said wryly before tugging on my hand.
“Come on, Ellowyn. Answers await.”
I took a deep breath before I crossed the threshold into the Valley, barely an arm’s span behind Faylinn. As soon as my foot crested that invisible line, the hair on the back of my neck slowly rose to attention with a prickle of awareness.
Our boots crunched across the dead ground, the only sound in the completely silent valley. The ruination was complete; whatever was left, a standing tomb for the dead.
My heart kicked erratically as Faylinn and I wove between charred remains of buildings, occasionally hopping to avoid crunching errant bones.
I kept my head down to watch my feet, not wanting to anger or desecrate the dead. Despite my best intentions, the growing unease never abated; it was more than clear that as Faylinn and I carefully picked our way through this graveyard that we weren’t alone.
Not everything here was dead.
We were being watched.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Solace
“Idon’t think that’s the best use of my resources. The rebellion is not of our concern at this moment. We need to be focused on Vespera and uprooting that seat of power first before—” Sasori’s whiny voice muffled as I covered my ears with a sound-blocking Air Shield.
The woman was insufferable.
I’d desperately tried to feign interest in her diatribes, but there was just something about her that curled my nose in disdain. How my brother’s last descendant hadn’t killed her was a feat I had to begrudgingly admit was impressive.
Even now, with her voice a low hum, the words indistinguishable, I had to consciously keep my power wrapped, lest it sneak out and unintentionally strangle the Pain Vessel. The move would be . . . regrettable and not without recompense—shewasthe ruler of Samyr—but even mortal kings were beholden to the whims of the gods.
Sasori should know that better than anyone alive.
I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to watch her thin lips form word after word and only opened them again when I felt an aggressive tap on my shoulder. Sasori stood in front of my chair, her eyes hard and unblinking as her lip curled in what I imagined was unbridled disgust.
Her lips moved soundlessly again when I raised my eyebrows petulantly.
I could just kill her. Take her army.
The thought grew more appealing by the minute.
“What?” I dropped my Air Shield, and the sounds of the room rushed back in, disorienting me for a moment. A brook ran through the center of the bone-whiteroom, and water bubbled happily as it lazily flowed from one end to the other. The ceiling was covered in blossoming trees, all in tones ranging from vibrant pink to a muted blush. The fragrance was light and not nearly as overwhelming as I expected when we first arrived in Samyr. Apart from the natural foliage that dominated the space, the rest of the room was militantly sparse. A table in a matching white hue that resembled the twisting branches of the trees above sat in the middle of the floor, a spattering of chairs surrounding it.
While the room was clearly meant for a plethora of generals and men to sit around and discuss military tactics, I was the only one to fill a chair, and the only other here with me was Sasori.
I found it oddly poetic that such a male-dominated culture was now overpowered by two females, even if the other woman here was fraying my last nerve.
