SoulTakers swarming Stone’s Edge, shadow-bodies pouring through narrow streets carved into the cliff.
Masielle standing her ground with nothing but old wards and older bones between her and Idris’ madness.
“If he gets her,” Thorne says, voice low, “he won’t need to claw at the Vein and sanctums from the outside anymore.”
“He’ll know where the joints are,” Kael murmurs. “Where to crack the shell.”
My vision tints red.
“Not while I still draw breath,” I grind out.
The zareth bond pulls tight in my chest, a pressure behind my sternum that has nothing to do with SoulTakers and everything to do with the woman above us.
Alina.
Her presence is a warm weight at the edge of my awareness—steady as bedrock, curious as new growth.
The earth at her feet has already begun to hum to her touch.
The Barrow has wrapped itself around her like a second skin.
For once, she is safer here than at my side.
It does not make leaving any easier.
“We can’t all go,” Alaric says, breaking the silence. “That’s what we just agreed. Idris wants us scattered.”
“He’ll have to be content with three,” Thorne rumbles. “The Broken Plains can spare me. The Ember Vein’s wards hold for now.”
“The Eyrie is fortified,” Alaric adds. “Jules would gut me if I abandoned her libraries again, but she will understand a tactical strike.”
Kael’s mouth flattens. “Castletide is guarded. The tide wards are set. If Stone’s Edge falls, none of that will matter anyway.”
They all look at me.
Because it is my land. My call.
“The Barrow stays manned,” I say at last, voice like grinding stone. “The Crown remains here. I will not leave it unguarded, not when Idris is probing every flank.”
“You want one of us to stay,” Alaric guesses.
“Yes,” I answer. “One Lord, with our viyellas to anchor The Barrow. The wards will answer you almost as they do me, Alaric. You’ve worked them before.”
He grimaces, then nods. “Jules is nearly at term. I won’t drag her into another battle zone. We’ll hold the Crown and The Barrow. You three?—”
“We go to Stone’s Edge,” Thorne finishes, embers burning hotter in his eyes.
Kael inclines his head.
“The cliffs are not my favorite, but I can keep SoulTaker fire from spreading to the lower terraces.”
“It is decided,” I say.
The roots beneath us thrum in agreement.
It should be satisfaction that fills me. A clear course. A clean strike.
Instead, there is only that pull.
