She laughs shakily and nods, following after me as I move toward the waiting steps.
The final room isn’t like the others, either. It’s dark and entirely empty save for a simple stone altar in its center.
I glance around. No inscriptions on the ceiling. No seams for pressure plates. No holes in the walls for spikes to shoot out from.
Just a dagger.
It glints on the altar, which is already ringed in a subtly flickering silver flame. I dismount Anassa and approach.
This room looks eerily familiar. Like something remembered from a dream.
My visions flash before my eyes again, the ones I saw using foresight—the tower. The waves. The body on the floor…
There’s an ancient script in the stone, carved so deeply that the words almost look burned into the surface. They’re written in a spiral along the rounded edge of the altar, and I start to read them aloud, circling the stone as I go.
NOCTURN’S CHILDREN MAY WALK WHEN CRIMSON CROWNS THE STONE.
LETSTRATEGOS MAKE THE CHOICE, WHERE STEEL MEETS BONE.
ALIFEBLOOD WHOLE MUST ANSWER ITS CALL.
HESITATE, AND DEATH TAKES ALL.
A sacrifice. A dagger. Crimson crowning stone.
The meaning seems pretty damn clear. The vision I had of this tower, the body lying prone, Stark leaning over it: This is it.
The test where one of us must die, one of us children of Nocturna.
A part of my mind detaches at the thought, spinning away as if watching this from above.One of us must die.
Die. One of us must…
Fitting. A final sacrifice to prove our worthiness to whatever sick person put this series of deadly tests in place.
There’s a clicking sound, and a low hiss fills the air, interrupting my spiraling thoughts.
Tiny jets of smoke spew from the cracks where the walls meet the floor. A stinging smell fills my nose, like the spray of a skunk.
I cough and cover my nose, eyes stinging. “What is that?!”
“Gas. Meryn, I think… someone has to die,” Venna says, putting together the riddle as well. She steps forward and gestures at the dagger, face pale.
“Hesitate, and death takes all.” Noemi’s voice is full of dread.
Horror strangles me. The knife. It’s for me. This room demands blood.
I can’t simply cut my hand and bleed a little. It said lifebloodwhole.
Someone’s entire life needs to be drained onto the stone. And if I don’t choose someone to go, we’re all going to die choking on noxious fumes.
How long do I have? Seconds?
“Take me,” Venna says quickly, gagging against the gas.
“Why?” I snap, my eyes stinging from the fumes. “So you can be with your sister?” She jolts. Probably thinks I’m being cruel. But I can’t stop to spare her feelings. She needs to hear it. “Right! Because Iz would want you dead, Venna. Are you serious?”
“Meryn!”
