Kaelen pressed his face into my hair, inhaling deeply. "Breathe, fireheart. We are here. You are here. What the bird talks about is a possible future. Not what is happening right now."
He was trying to ground me, but his skin was burning. The dragon inside him was pacing, scratching at the back of his eyes, demanding blood for the offense. It was a volatile comfort, like hugging a volcano, but it was better than the cold void of my own thoughts.
A sound cut through the spiraling tension.
Click. Clack. Slither.
It came from the tunnel entrance where Thane had been guarding the perimeter, or rather, just slightly past him, in the shadows where I vaguely sensed the Skal.
Alert,a voice rasped in my mind.
It didn't sound like the telepathic bond I shared with the princes. That connection was gold and fire and warm, woven light. This voice was wet. It sounded like bubbles popping in thick mud, or the squelch of boots walking through a swamp. It tasted of salt and pressure.
Alert. Biological signatures detected. They are close.
I stiffened, my head snapping toward the tunnel mouth.
Kaelen felt my tension instantly. He shifted, putting his body between me and the darkness, his hand dropping to the hilt of the stolen sword he had laid across his knees.
"What is it?" he demanded, his voice dropping to a combat whisper.
"The Skal," I murmured, staring into the gloom.
The creature emerged from the shadows, dragging its bulk across the stone floor. It moved with a strange, scuttling grace, its multiple limbs coordinating in a way that should have been clumsy but was terrifyingly efficient. Its chitinous armor scrapped softly against the rock.
It stopped just outside the circle of firelight, its three sets of eyes adjusting to the glow. They were no longer the muddy yellow of submission, but a pulsing, alert chartreuse.
Master,the mental voice gurgled, directed solely at me.Intruders. Not-Wolf. Not-Pack.
I blinked, surprised by the clarity of the communication. When I had first rewritten its command structure, it had been a sledgehammer blow, a crude, desperate forcing of will. Now, it felt nuanced. I could feel its agitation, a cold, reptilian shiver in the back of my brain. I could taste the briny flavor of its thoughts.
"It says there are intruders," I told the others. "Not Flynn."
Thane was on his feet in an instant, his bulk filling the tunnel entrance, a wall of living earth. Elias vanished into the upper shadows of the cavern ceiling, moving with silent, unnervingspeed. Kaelen rose, pulling me up with him, keeping me tucked behind his back.
"How many?" Kaelen asked, staring at the monster.
I looked at the Skal. "How many?"
The creature shifted its weight. Its heavy, wet tail thumped against the ground as it raised one of its massive, serrated claws and clicked the pincers together.
Many,it projected.Small. Soft. Smelling of iron and fear. They carry the sun in tubes.
"Torches," I translated, a strange fascination warring with my fear. "Or magic lanterns."
They hunt,the Skal added.They taste of the White Room.
My stomach dropped. The only white room I could think of was the one we had just been discussing, but how did the Skal know about that? Whether it was the same room or not didn't matter. Not now.
"The Keepers," I whispered. "They found the tunnel."
The Skal pulled itself closer, ignoring Kaelen’s low, warning growl. It stopped three feet away from me and lowered its massive, armored head to the floor in a gesture of abasement. Its mandibles clicked softly, a sound that oddly reminded me of knitting needles.
Permission to consume?
The thought was hopeful. Eager, even. Like a dog asking for a treat, if the dog was a three-ton crustacean nightmare from the abyss.
I stared at it. It was hideous. Wet muscle exposed between black plates, eyes that rolled independently, a stench of low tide that made my eyes water. But looking at it, really looking at it, I saw the way it trembled with the desire to please. I felt the simple, brutal loyalty I had burned into its psyche.
