Stone scraped against my skin as I pressed the disk into the centre of the eye, driving it deep. I Prayed it would do something while those hands continued to tug at me.
The lights flickered once. Twice. And then they blinked out, every single one of them. Seraphina's voice rose, louder thanbefore, her chant cutting through the dark like a blade. My head burned..
The whispers in my mind returned, rising louder and sharper. This time, the word spilled from my lips.
“Velarki. Velarkaki. Velarki.”
The floor moved beneath my feet as if something underneath the Manor was trying to escape. Inhuman screams echoed from the doors behind me.
“Tilly, stop!” a voice shouted. Then another called, “Tilly!”
Seraphina rushed to the bars, a torch blazing in her grip. She struck the floor, and fire surged, racing in a circle around me.
“She speaks the lost dialect of the First Marked,”Seraphina said, the torch blazing in her hand.
Her voice pierced through the roar of the flames. “Nothing can come out. Nothing!”
She was willing to burn me to death. Just like the others.
I ignored her and continued chanting.
“Velarki, Velarkaki. Velarki.”
The flames clawed higher. Smoke choking me, my lungs burning as weakness tangled with the fire in my veins. The floor groaned beneath me, stone grinding and turning, as if the Manor itself were being split open.
Then the lights flickered for just an instant.
I had barely uttered the words when the Manor began to tremble, a low, ominous vibration that rattled through the stones and into my bones.
Seraphina's chant cut sharply through the air, causing the iron bars to shudder. She stumbled back, her torch flaring, her frightened eyes lifting to the ceiling. “They’re coming for her!”
Cillian was the first to remove his mask. To my shock, it wasn’t Cillian at all—it was Fionn. His voice echoed though the room. “It’s impossible! They can’t know where she is. The power we used should have blocked everything!”
But the walls groaned, and dust fell from the rafters. The door behind me tore free from its hinges.
The Ecliptuari staggered back, their steel blades clattering as they raised them in defence. The brothers shouted, their voices breaking, while their masks tilted toward me in horror. Even Seraphina faltered, her torch wavering as the circle shuddered beneath her feet.
THIRTY TWO
THE RETURN
Some of the Ecliptuari moved toward the doors, their steel swords flashing as they vanished into shadowy hallways. The ones left behind watched with their soulless eyes, and their whispers travelled through the air in a language I could not understand.
Flames roared higher as I pulled uselessly at the bars, my lungs burned from the smoke.
Seraphina’s eyes scanned the chamber, her torch blazing brightly.
Two knives glowed faintly, slid into the slits carved into the floor, almost as if they were the key to this caged prison. I staggered, my eyes stinging. I blinked to clear my vision and focused on the knives. When the Ecliptuari drove in the blades, the bars had risen. Now, through the haze, I understood. If I pulled them free, the bars would fall.
I dropped to my knees, feeling the sting of blood from the cuts on my trembling hands.
My fingers wrapped around the first hilt. It burned against my wounds, but I resisted the pain. I pulled with everything I had. The knife tore free, causing the bars to shudder and shriek. The bars shook, so did I, but not from fear. Fear had already had its turn. I ignored the panic and focused.
I lunged for the second knife, my body shaking with adrenaline as the smoke clawed at my lungs. I gritted my teeth, pressed my weight down hard, and summoned every ounce of strength I had. The hilt seared my palm, but I wrenched it free.
The floor groaned loudly, the bars convulsed, and then a seam split open. The iron shrieking as the cage began to release. Under my feet, the invisible hands that had been tugging at me finally let go. For a moment, I felt unnaturally cold, even though flames surrounded me. I swore I saw a silhouette rise from the floor and escape into the air.
“They’re coming,” Fionn said, sniffing the air and moving toward the outer circle.
