Beside me, Thane tenses. I don’t need to ask—Xaroth told him just like Calryx told me. The others’ faces sharpen—the quiet shift that always follows when their dragons speak.
Thane reins in his horse sharply, signaling the others to stop. They follow without hesitation. A heavy stillness settles over the group, the only sound the soft huff of our horses’ breath in the cooling air.
Valen’s voice cuts through the hush. “What is it?”
Thane scans the trees, eyes narrowing. “I don’t know,” he says at last. “But something’s here.”
I feel it too. A pulse, deep and unmistakable, not in the air, but inside me. Thane stiffens atop his horse and I meet his gaze. The bond hums between us, a quiet thrum of energy curling under my skin, tugging me toward something unseen.
Then I see it.
The forest looks the same—dense, unbroken. But something’s off. The way the trees lean. The curl of moss over a jutting ridge of stone. It blends too perfectly.
My breath catches.
I turn to Thane. He sees it too.
I swing down from my horse before I can second-guess myself. “Here.”
Thane follows, dismounting in one fluid motion. The others stay mounted, alert, eyes tracking our every step.
Someone asks why we’ve stopped, but Thane and I are too focused to notice who.
To a casual passerby, it’s just stone, camouflaged by terrain. But the longer I stare, the more it clarifies. It’s well hidden. The way the vines twist, the unnatural smoothness of the rock beneath the moss—it wants to disappear.
Valen steps closer, frowning. “Thane, Amara—what is it?”
I don’t answer right away. This shouldn’t make sense. But it does. I don’t know how I know—only that I do. The bond is showing me, leading me.
I reach out, fingers trailing over the cool stone. At first, it’s solid—unremarkable. But then—a pulse. A hum stirs beneath my fingertips, faint but unmistakable, beating in time with the bond pulsing in my chest.
My heart stutters. This place is waking something in me—in us.
“The bond, Valen. It’s pulling us both here,” I say over my shoulder.
My body moves before my mind can catch up. Like I’ve done this before. The bond isn’t just leading me—it’s remembering something for me.
I press my palm firmly against the stone. The warmth beneath my skin intensifies, spreading deep, slow and steady, like something ancient stirring beneath the surface.
It feels right. Familiar. Like touching the memory of something I never lived.
Beside me, Thane’s fingers slide through mine, his grip strong, grounding. He lifts his free hand and places it besidemine, the space between us vanishing as the air hums with quiet energy.
The thrumming under my skin isn’t just mine. It echoes in him too. I feel it—through the bond, through his stillness beside me.
A low, deep groan rolls through the forest floor.
The vines tremble. Roots shift, drawing back like living things, revealing something hidden beneath—a sigil. Dim at first, then pulsing like a fading heartbeat.
Behind me, Valen inhales sharply.
The rock begins to slowly move. The moss-covered stone retracts, drawing inward, revealing the narrow entrance of a passage. The air that spills out is cold, stale, smelling of iron and mildew.
A stillness lingers there, ancient and waiting.
Garrick lets out a low whistle. “That’s subtle.”
Jarek exhales. “Gods.”
