“He knows we’re in the Forsworn Deep. He doesn’t know exactly where.” I pull her closer, wrap my arms around her trembling body. “And he’s scared. That’s what this is—intimidation. He wants you off-balance when you face him.”
“Gror.” Her voice breaks on her brother’s name. “What he’s made of Gror?—“
I pull her into my arms. Feel her trembling against me—not with cold now, but with fear. With fury. With the desperate love of a sister who raised her brother, protected him, sacrificed everything for him.
“We knew this was coming.” I force my voice steady. Force myself to be the rock she needs right now. “Madame Viscera told us. Your brother offered himself to the Ledger Master. He’s been transformed. Weaponized.” I tilt her chin up, make her meet my gaze. “But he’s still in there. And when we destroy the founding contract, when the Ledger Master’s power breaks?—“
“She said the contracts might void themselves.” She finishes for me. “Might.”
“It’s a chance. Better than no chance at all.”
She closes her eyes. Takes a deep breath. When she opens them again, the fear is still there—but so is the steel I’ve come to depend on.
“Then let’s not keep him waiting.”
We dress in silence. My wounds have stopped bleeding—her gift, still working its impossible healing. My strength is returning, hour by hour, the grinding wrongness in my ribs fading to a dull ache. I’m not fully healed, but I’m functional. Ready to fight.
Ready to die, if that’s what it takes to get her to that contract.
Ivalys takes my hand as we prepare to leave. Laces her fingers through mine. The mark glows warm against my skin—her gift, recognizing me. Claiming me.
“Whatever happens up there,” she says quietly, “whatever Gror has become, whatever the Ledger Master has planned—I’m not facing it alone.”
“No.” I tighten my grip on her hand. “You’re not.”
We ascend toward the throne room. Toward the founding contract. Toward the monster who murdered her mother and caged her brother and wants to bind her gift to his service forever.
Toward the end of everything.
