She turned to Kaelith, searching his face. “I think ones like you—shifters, elemental-born—already faced what’s coming now. And held the line. Sealed it away.”
Her hand drifted toward the carved stone. She didn’t touch it. The energy pulsing beneath its surface made the fine hairs along her arms rise.
“But not without sacrifice,” she added.
A muscle ticked beneath Kaelith’s cheekbone. “And now we’re here to undo their barrier.”
“No,” Fenn said. “We’re here tofinishwhat they started.”
The wind picked up, cutting through the gorge, and the crystal veins in the stone door flickered once—dim, then brighter—then went still.
Rynna stepped forward between them. “We can’t afford to hesitate.”
“The others are fighting a losing battle.” Fenn agreed. His voice had gone quiet, but firm. “They’re relying on us. And we could already be too late.”
Rynna reached out, taking Fenn’s other hand in hers. “Then let’s find out.”
Kaelith hesitated for a heartbeat, then stepped up beside Fenn and placed his hand directly over the other man’s.
Fenn gave him a sideways look, questioning, but said nothing. There was a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes—surprise maybe, or recognition—but it vanished just as quickly. Rynna caught the movement, the choice, and the way Fenn didn’t pull away.
Then the walls hissed.
Seams split open on either side of the gate, and a thin spike jetted out without warning, driving clean through their joined hands.
Fenn grunted as Kaelith swore through clenched teeth as their blood mingled, running down the carved surface, and feeding the grooves like the gate had been waiting for it all along.
“Oh shit. Hold on—” Rynna surged forward.
She grabbed them both just as the spike retracted with a wet hiss, catching their weight as their knees gave out. Fenn sagged against her left side, Kaelith to her right, breath shallow, hands dripping. Then the door groaned, stone grinding against stone in a long, scraping arc, releasing a cloud of dust into the space around them. And as the debris settled, Kaelith eased himself off Rynna’s shoulder. Grunting, he stood under his own weight, then wiped his bloodied palm across her shoulder with practiced indifference.
She shot him a look. “Seriously?”
“Didn’t want to get it on my pants.” But then he paused, blinking down at his hand. “Wait…”
Fenn frowned, wiping blood on the side of his trousers before inspecting the damage. There was none. The punctures were gone—no torn skin, no scar. Just smooth, clean flesh where a moment ago, bone had been pierced through.
Fenn flexed his fingers. “Already healed.”
“Because why not?” Rynna exhaled and, without waiting, she crossed the threshold.
Chapter fifty-five
Theinteriorwascolderthan she expected. Not desert-cold, but death-cold. The temperature dropped with each footstep, and the stone beneath her boots felt slick with condensation despite the air remaining dry.
“Anyone else feel like we just walked into a burial mound?” she muttered.
Kaelith brushed past her, his hand grazing the stone wall. “I think that’s exactly what it is.”
Fenn followed without comment, but his hand rested on the throwing knives belted at his waist.
After several minutes of walking, the corridor opened into a larger chamber, the ceiling so high it vanished into darkness. Along the walls, light shone from the crystal veins, illuminating reliefs carved directly into the black stone. The scenes were gruesome: great beasts of fire and water locked in battle, men and women half-transformed into monstrous forms of wind and ash, claw and flame. Ancient warriors, mid-shift, fighting an enemy that looked…
Bile surged in Rynna’s throat, and the world lurched as her knees gave out.
Fenn caught her under the arms just as Kaelith closed in from behind, their bodies bracing hers between them. But she barely noticed. Blood roared in her ears, a relentless drumbeat that drowned everything else out. While pain ripped through her skull, shattering her vision.
She wasn’t in the chamber anymore.
