When he’d finished, the blindfolded woman gave a slight bow of her head. Smiled again. The voice seemed to come directly from her, and only her, this time—though it still shook my entire body as if rushing in from everywhere, all at once:Truth spoken. Truth accepted.
The words Aleks had carved flashed like fire before fading to a dull glow. He dropped to one knee, gasping for breath.
Then the woman turned to me.
Another dagger had appeared in her hand, this one darker than the one Aleks had used—black crystal that seemed to drink in the light around it, much like Grimnor did.
I took it but shook my head. “This is manipulation. Just because you forced him to voice his fears doesn’t make them his truths.”
The woman canted her head.Why do you fear the truth so loudly, Daughter of Shadow?
“I don’t,” I snapped.
But it was a lie.
And the chamberknewit was a lie, and it seemed to be punishing me for telling it; the pressure in the air doubled, tripled, making it hard to breathe.
The dagger in my hand grew hot.
Compulsion seized me; my lips were moving before I could stop them.
The knife seemed to lift of its own accord, guiding my hand to a blank section of wall. Words flashed upon it before I could turn away.
I was cutting into the stone an instant later.
I KNOW WHAT HE IS.
Deeper, said the blindfolded woman.
My body shook with resistance, but the words kept appearing, and my hand kept carving against my will.
A MONSTER?—
The knife slipped from my shaking grasp. I caught it awkwardly, the blade slicing across my palm. I didn’t think todrop it, didn’t think to pull away. I just kept carving, even as the edge of it dug into my skin, filling my palm with blood.
A MONSTER THEY CREATED TO DESTROY?—
It felt like my chest was caving in. My body locked up, fighting the final word. The knife clattered to the ground. I couldn’t carve the last word.
Iwouldn’t.
I felt the woman watching me. The whispers rose to a deafening crescendo. The walls seemed to shift and writhe, the carvings moving like living things.
TRUTH.
The command slammed into me like a physical blow.
“…Me,” I gasped the word out, and the chamber snatched it up like a dragon seizing prey. It was blazing on the wall in the next breath, completing the sentence I’d so desperately tried to leave unfinished.
A MONSTER THEY CREATED TO DESTROY ME.
I didn’t pick up the dagger. Didn’t carve the last word. I just stared at it, my vision blurring with tears I refused to shed.
Aleks rose unsteadily to his feet, his gaze fixing on the wall as well.
I opened my mouth to lie, to offer false comfort. But I couldn’t manage it, of course—the chamber wouldn’t allow it. I stopped myself from even trying.
“I…I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I should have told you before now. I just…”
