She gave the smallest nod she could manage. Then his hand found her shoulder again.
The next wave was already building. She felt it in the air, in the pull against the shifted hand within the orb. In response, her mind stretched outward, reaching for both men and the presence on the other side. Threads of connection formed, thin at first, then weaving together into a fragile lattice. She wrapped herself around them, not physically but with every scrap of Will she possessed, drawing them into the circle of her mind.
You can do this, she told herself.What’s a little more pain after lifetimes of agony and emptiness?
She set her feet, and the scales on her arm shimmered as she flexed her shield, pulling it tight around the three others. Then, the wave struck, and her knees wobbled at the onslaught, but her men held her upright.
It was like…being flayed from the inside, layer by layer, until only raw nerves remained. Her vision fractured, and a scream pierced its way out of her throat, ragged against something too vast to comprehend. But she held, even as the agony rebounded against her shields, shredding through her soul instead, wrenching pieces loose she hadn’t even known were there.
Still, she held.
Thoughts broke apart. Time became immaterial.
And the last thing that crossed her mind as darkness took her was a single, quiet relief:I’m glad they didn’t have to feel that.
Then everything went black.
Chapter fifty-six
Warmthpressedagainsthercheek—Kaelith’s chest, slick with sweat, shifting beneath her as he adjusted his grip. Voices echoed around her, distorted, like she was underwater.
“…barrier’s down. The presence faded.” Fenn’s voice, low and hoarse.
Her lashes fluttered open. Stone arched overhead, but the once-blinding orb had guttered to a dull blue ember. Crystal strands hung slack like severed nerves, and Fenn moved ahead, his fangs still half-dropped, one arm braced against the tunnel wall.
One arm hooked behind her knees, the other beneath her back, Kaelith’s heart thudded steadily against her side. She tried to speak. Only a rasp came out, the effort tugging at the ends of the dull, insistent throb radiating from her wrapped arm. It wasn’t the searing agony from before, but every heartbeat pressed against the bandages like a reminder of what waited beneath.
Kaelith glanced down. “Welcome back, little martyr.”
“Shut…up,” she managed, though her lips barely moved.
Fenn glanced back. “You’re awake,” he said, relief flickering across his face before his usual focus snapped back into place as they emerged into the corridor.
Around them, the previous oppressive weight of the structure had been replaced by a stale chill through the passageways. And the low hum of power slowly faded into silenceas fine gravel trickled from the seams overhead—the ancient machinery falling silent now that its long vigil was over.
Nearing the exit, the floor lurched beneath them, stone groaning as fractures split the chamber walls.
“Time to go,” Kaelith pulled her closer, picking up speed as they cleared the final door.
Rynna blinked against the sudden darkness, the cool air biting at her skin as her vision struggled to adjust. Shadows pressed in from all sides, the only light the weak, flickering blue that traced the gorge.
Not slowing, the men charged straight up the winding trail, feet light as the mountain trembled behind them.
They were only halfway up when another deep rumble shivered through the crevasse, and light sputtered out entirely on the lower stretches. Over Kaelith’s shoulder, Rynna watched the earth drop away. With a deafening crack, the ground beneath the structure split wide, stone plunging into darkness as the mountainside tore itself apart. The roar chased them upward as a storm of dust and ruin swallowed the path behind them.
“Move!” Fenn barked, vaulting over a jagged break in the path.
Kaelith lunged after him, hauling Rynna with him as the ledge beneath their heels crumbled into the abyss. They hit the slope hard, scrambling upward—feet slipping, rock breaking—until, with a final surge, they crested the rim and burst into open air, the gorge collapsing behind them in a thunder of stone.
Rynna twisted in Kaelith’s arms to look back, and the blast struck her full on. The gorge convulsed, a sound like the world’s spine breaking echoing up from the depths. Then, the walls slammed together, grinding the trail to nothing as a column of blue-white light detonated upward, hurling rock and hot wind in all directions.
Her hair whipped back across her face as debris stung her cheeks and sand scratched at her eyes. She squeezed them shut against the onslaught, heart hammering while the nightfilled with the roar of a place dying. Then, suddenly, silence. And darkness. Only their breathing filled the space where the structure’s pulse had been.
Fenn dragged a hand down his face, streaking away dirt as his shoulders rose and fell, before he stepped toward them, hand out. “Switch.”
Kaelith shifted without protest, and Fenn scooped her easily from his arms.
“I can walk,” she muttered, though her legs felt like they were made of water.
