“Shadow Clan,” he murmurs. “It’s difficult to reconcile how a people that were considered to be corrupt and dark could create something so breathtaking.”
No one responds. We are all thinking the same thing.
I step closer, brushing the carvings with my fingers. The same jagged, interlocking symbols from the tunnel. This place belonged to them. The Shadow Clan.
A few steps away, Lyra runs her hands over the walls, fingers tracing the markings with quiet concentration. Garrick stays close, watchful.
Rian exhales, his voice tinged with awe. “I’ve never seen markings like this before.”
Jarek rakes a hand through his dust-covered hair. “Neither have I.”
Garrick’s gaze sweeps the chamber, his voice low, certain. “Makes sense. No one was ever meant to find them.”
The air shifts. My thoughts snag on one name: Calryx. My heart stutters. I reach out for her, instinctively searching for the steady, familiar presence that has been with me since our bond first awakened.
Nothing.
A cold wave of unease ripples through me. I try again, stretching my awareness outward, reaching through the bond. Silence. The emptiness feels wrong.
I turn sharply to the other riders. “Can you feel them?”
Their expressions darken immediately as they each attempt the same.
Thane exhales, his jaw tightening. “No.”
Jarek shakes his head, his usual smirk absent. “It’s like they’re . . . gone.”
Rian frowns, rolling his shoulders, as if trying to shake off the discomfort. “Not gone. Just—too far.”
We exchange uneasy glances. We knew we were deep underground. But this? We are so far down that we cannot feel our dragons. The thought leaves something hollow inside me.
We stand in the heart of something forgotten. Time thick around us. No one speaks. We take it all in, standing beneath the stars, deep underground.
Then the bond pulses again.Stronger.
It curls deep in my chest—an energy pulling, remembering.I look up. Thane’s arm is still around me. His shoulders tight. Eyes fixed on the wall, jaw locked. Tension in every line.
This place appears to be affecting him. Slowly, I slide my arm around his, a quiet reassurance. A silent I see you. I’m here.
He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t look at me. After a long moment, his breath escapes, slow, measured. Then his body shifts. Just enough. The tension in his muscles eases as he draws me closer.
Thane glances down at me, his grip still firm around my waist. “You steady?”
I take a slow breath, testing my legs. My body is still heavy with exhaustion, but the worst of the weakness has passed. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
His arm slips away, the warmth of his support lingering as his fingers lace with mine. Not holding me up anymore—just holding me.
We move together, stepping carefully through the cavern, our hands still joined as we trace the markings, absorbing the weight of this place. The chamber hums with a quiet, unseen energy. The walls glow—soft, steady. A heartbeat beneath stone. The markings—Shadow Clan script, jagged and deliberate—line the smooth surface, whispering of a past long buried.
The bond pulls. Not painful. Quiet. Insistent. Like it’s done waiting for us.
I turn toward Thane, already knowing he feels it too. He stands motionless, his breathing steady but controlled. His eyes stay on the far wall—unmoving. Unblinking. His posture is tense, but not from fear. From recognition. His fingers twitch at his side, his body drawn forward, like a thread is pulling him to something unseen.
“Thane?” I murmur.
He doesn’t answer. His feet move, pulling me with him. The bond wants this.
He stops in front of one of the walls, the star-like flecks inthe stone shimmering beneath his presence. He lifts his hand. Hovers it over the markings.
