“What is it?” Skylar asks.
I…AM NOT SURE.
“Does it not feel a little too easy?” Astrid says.
“Let’s not look a gift dragon in the mouth. And you’re forgetting, we’re the rightful guardians of the Heart now—maybe the place recognizes that. Has let us pass.”
“Maybe.” But Astrid is doubtful. There’s a prickling along her neck that she just can’t shake, telling her something is amiss here. A pang of guilt sticks her right in the ribs when she thinks of the four guards—four lives snuffed out. It shouldn’t be that easy to take a life, but what choice do they have when the Vatrans have proven they want Astrid and her family dead? Want Skylar dead.
They carry on, Astrid ignoring the wrongness she feels as they pass the two slumped bodies, until the tunnel opens up into a vast cavernous space, large enough that Bastet would be able to fly high above them. It looks oddly like the inside of a giant beehive, with thousands upon thousands of tall hexagonal cells set in the cliff faces, only they seem to be made of tree bark. Ropes of vines and branches sprawl around and between the cells, connecting each one to thick trunks of bark that run vertically and disappear into the ground. No, not the ground. But streams that run either side of the path. Astrid is perplexed.
“What the Vaar is this place?” Skylar whispers, and for the first time she sounds afraid.
Bastet paws at the earth, nervous. It smells of decay and damp, a little coppery and unnatural. Astrid raises her hands and the witch lights disperse, their soft orange glow lighting up the cavern as they go.
Her knees almost buckle.
Skylar grips Astrid’s arm, and she’s glad, because Astrid’s not sure she’d still be standing.
Inside each cell the branches and vines merge and twist, creating a cocoon. And inside each cocoon is a person.
All of them dead.
A strangled sound comes from Skylar, and Astrid manages to catch her before she stumbles forward.
“Cam.” In that one word Astrid can hear her heart break. She drags Skylar, who looks like she’s about to climb the walls and check every cell for her friend.
“Don’t, Skylar, no.”
Bastet nudges his big head into the dragon heir, supporting her other side.
This, this is what they’ve been doing with the Champions. They’re not being brought to the Heart to guard it; they’re being brought here to, what? Astrid forces herself to look at the nearest hexagonal cell, at the young woman captured within it, only her waxen face visible beneath the winding branches. Her eyes are wide open, milky white, indicating to Astrid she’s been dead for a while. Astrid scans down, andwhat she sees makes her vomit. It splatters noisily onto the ground. Skylar lifts Astrid’s hair back, rubs between her shoulder blades. Like Jessa once did.
“They were put in there alive,” she whispers. “Look at her hands.” Skylar does, and Astrid feels her flinch. Because the woman’s nails are ruined from where she tried to claw the branches off her. “Those vines, they’re not flowing in. They’re taking something out.” She doesn’t want to say what. She doesn’t want to be right.
Skylar slaps a hand over her mouth. “Blooded,” she finally manages. “That’s why they’re taking Blooded: to drain them of their magic.”
Astrid wishes she could argue, wants to say that’s not possible, but the evidence is right here in front of her. The dead don’t lie.
“That’s how they’ve kept the Vitalas supply up. By using people.Killingpeople.” Goddess, she’s going to be sick again. “They’ve been powering The Rok, kept theair-conditioningrunning by sacrificing their own fucking citizens!” She’s yelling—she can’t stop herself. “Bastet, can you sense anyone alive here?”
The panther shakes his large head, eyes downcast. ICAN SENSE LIFE, BUT IT IS FAINT AND FAR AWAY.THERE IS TOO MUCH DEATH HERE FOR ME TO KNOW.
“We have to find them,” Skylar says, frantically, but Astrid shakes her head. She hates herself for what she’s about to say.
“No, Skylar. We will help whoever is still alive, but not yet. We don’t know how many Blooded there are, or even where they are, and we don’t have time. We find Zryan. We find the Heart. Then we get the prisoners out.”
A growl slips from Skylar. Her grief has morphed into something more insidious.
“They brought him here,” she says quietly. “They put him in one of these abominations and they drained him of his power—hislife. He died here. Alone. Scared.” She looks at the woman’s ruined hands again, and Astrid recognizes the stillness that settles over her mate.
Astrid takes her hand. She can’t allow Skylar to lose herself, not here. Not yet.
“It’s unfathomable, what they’ve done. And I’ll help you deliver justice when the time comes, I promise you that. But we need to findZryan.” She places a palm on Skylar’s cheek and forces her mate to look at her. “Please, Skylar. I need to get him out of here.” Her voice is raspy, unfamiliar. She’s trying to hold it together, trying to stay calm, for Skylar. But this place. This graveyard. The king wouldn’t put Zryan here, there’s no way. He’s his son.
Astrid’s fear seems to bring Skylar back to herself. She pulls the pin from her hair, then silently tugs Astrid along, guiding her through the cavern. They don’t speak, just walk, Bastet’s low, disturbed snarls the only sound as they make their way through more caverns, trying to avoid the unseeing eyes of the Blooded they pass. Astrid doesn’t miss Skylar glancing at the cells, checking for anyone who might be alive. Astrid does the same.
Eventually they exit into another tunnel, following the path that zigzags up, leading, Astrid thinks, to the top of the canyon. She’s panting by the time she reaches the top. She wipes her forehead with the back of her hand and takes in the black granite antechamber they find themselves in. Across from them there’s a single solid oak door.Oak. They all look at each other, then back at the door. What fresh horror might be beyond, a part of Astrid doesn’t want to find out, but Zryan could be through there, so she strides up to it and clutches the brass handle. Better to get it over with.
