"We almost fed the circle more power than it would ever need," Flynn muttered, running a hand through his shaggy hair, his expression twisting in disgust. "Damn it. We would have walked in there and handed them enough power to birth a titan in seconds."
"Exactly," I said, my knees shaking as the adrenaline crash hit me. "We can't go in there. Not like this. Not blazing. We'd be doing their work for them."
"Then how do we stop them?" Thane asked, his voice heavy with frustration and the weight of his unspent strength. He looked at his hands, capable of crushing stone, now useless. "We cannot throw stones at wizards, Aria. And we cannot watch while they desecrate the dead."
I looked down at the tunnel floor where the darkness seemed to pool, thick and impenetrable. Something chittered in the gloom behind us. The Skal dragged itself into the faint light, its multiple chins quivering, its odd collection of eyes fixing on me with mindless, terrifying devotion.
It was a monstrosity. A biological nightmare of claws, slime, and chitin. But compared to the nuclear reactors that were the Princes, its magical footprint was negligible. It was a hammer, not a battery.
"Skal," I said, my voice gaining strength as the strategist in me took over.
The creature perked up, mandibles clicking together in a wet, eager sound.Master?The word appeared in my mind, slimy and eager.
"I have a new directive," I said, looking up at the princes. "It doesn't have enough magic to trigger an overload in the circle. It’s physical. Biological. It’s just hungry."
"Aria," Kaelen warned, stepping closer, his golden eyes narrowing. "You cannot send a scavenger against a circle ofblood mages and traitorous Keepers. It will be carved apart. It is not a warrior."
"It's armored," I countered, my voice hard. "And it's hungry. That’s enough."
I turned my attention back to the beast. I pushed my will into the bond I had forged, feeling the wet, briny texture of its mind. It felt like dipping my hand into a tidal pool filled with teeth.
"Forward," I commanded, pointing down the tunnel. "There are people in white robes. And people chanting. They are enemies. They are meat."
The Skal’s eyes brightened from muddy yellow to a hungry, glowing chartreuse. A low hiss escaped its throat, a sound of pure anticipation.
"Eat anyone who is chanting," I ordered, my stomach twisting at the cruelty of it. I had to bury the revulsion under necessity, under the cold logic that High Keeper Seraphine had drilled into me. "Especially the woman in white. But do not eat the contents of the jars. Do you understand? The glass containers are not food. They are... mine."
Meat,the Skal agreed, a ripple of sadistic joy shuddering through our mental link.Soft meat. Loud meat. Not glass. Meat.
"And Skal," I added, grasping the mental leash tight, forcing my own mental barriers down. "Keep your mind open to me. I want to see what you see."
Compliance.
"Aria, no," Elias protested, stepping forward, his face etched with genuine fear. He reached for me, but stopped short of touching me . "Merging your senses with a creature like that while it feeds? The psychic backlash could shatter what little stability you have left. You’re not built for that kind of violence."
"We don't have a choice!" I snapped, turning on him. My amethyst eyes met his turquoise ones, pleading with him to understand. "If you go in, you power the weapon. If we donothing, they will make a monster out of my blood and Titan magic. The Skal goes."
I turned back to the creature, my heart pounding against my ribs. "Hunt."
The Skal didn't hesitate. It surged past us, moving with a terrifying, scuttling speed that defied its bulk. It disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel, the clicking of its claws fading into the sound of the distant, grating chanting.
"This is a mistake," Kaelen murmured, standing beside me. His body was tense, coiled like a spring that had nowhere to release its energy. "It is a blunt instrument. A clumsy move."
"Sometimes," I said, closing my eyes and forcing my mind to ride the connection with the beast, "you don't need a scalpel, Kaelen. Looking three moves ahead doesn't help when the board is on fire. Sometimes, you just need a wrecking ball."
I felt the Skal’s anticipation bleed into my mind, a cold, wet hunger that had nothing to do with food and everything to do with violence. The chanting grew louder in its ears, my ears. The smell of the incense and rotting magic filled my nose through the link, overpowering the scent of Kaelen’s ozone and smoke.
"It works," I whispered, my hand finding Kaelen’s in the dark. I squeezed his fingers, needing an anchor to my own humanity as the monster’s instincts began to overlay my own. "Its magic is too low-frequency. The circle isn't reacting to its approach."
"Yet," Flynn muttered, pacing relentlessly behind us.
We waited in the dark, five breaths held in unison, as the monster scurried toward the woman who had stolen my future, ready to turn the holy circle of the ritual into a slaughterhouse.
THIRTEEN
Aria
The transition was not like entering the Threshold where I had visited with the princes in my dreams. The Threshold was a place of mind and magic, a chaotic storm of color and emotion. This? This was plunging headfirst into a bucket of ice water and rotting kelp.
