“I’m here.” I clutch her against me, breathing in the scent of blood and fear andfamily. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
“They said—“ She can barely speak through the tears. “They said you were dead. That you’d never come. That I was going to?—“
“I’m here.” I pull back just enough to look at her face. The bruises. The cuts. The evidence of what Valdris has done to the only family member I have left who actually loves me. “And I’m getting you out.”
“Aisling.” Rurik’s voice, sharp with warning. “Company.”
I look up.
Shadow-creatures pour from the chamber’s far entrance. Not the rogues I expected—these are worse. Darkness given form, writhing shapes with too many eyes and claws that gleam like obsidian. Valdris’s personal guard.
“Get Niamh out.” I position myself between my cousin and the approaching threat. “Through the channels. Back the way we came.”
“I’m not leaving you?—“
“Selene.” I turn to meet the other Fire-Bringer’s gaze. “Please. Get her out.”
Selene hesitates. Looks from me to Niamh to the shadow-creatures closing in. Then she nods, reaching for my cousin with gentle hands.
“Come on. I’ve got you.”
“Aisling—“ Niamh’s voice breaks on my name.
“I’ll be right behind you.” The lie tastes like ash. “Go.”
Selene half-carries Niamh toward the channel entrance. The shadow-creatures surge forward?—
And I let my fire loose. Not the controlled flames I’ve been practicing. Not the precise bolts Rurik taught me. This is rawpower, grief and guilt and fury channeled into an inferno that fills the chamber with white-gold light.
As I fight, I notice Selene handing Niamh off to one of our younger dragon guards and he immediately leaves with her.
The shadow-creatures scream. Some dissolve instantly. Others press forward, fighting through the blaze, and I meet them with everything I have.
Rurik appears at my side, blades flashing, cutting through darkness that tries to reform around him. We fight back to back—my fire creating openings, his steel finishing what I start.
“That’s my girl,” he growls between strikes. “Burn them all.”
“Working on it.”
The mountain shakes. More impacts from above. Drayke’s assault is intensifying.
And beneath our feet, something ancient begins to wake.
“She’s coming.” I feel it through the blood channels carved into the stone. Through the Relic energy that still hums in my veins from weeks of draining. “Valdris. She knows we’re here.”
“Then let’s not be here when she arrives.” Rurik grabs my hand, pulling me toward the channel where Selene disappeared behind the guard and Niamh. “Move!”
We run.
Behind us, the chamber fills with crimson light. The temperature spikes—hotter than my fire, hotter than anything I’ve ever felt. And through it all, a voice that haunts my nightmares:
“Little flame. I’m here.”
NINETEEN
AISLING
The tunnels blur past in darkness and terror.
