Thane was right there though and he scooped me up and ran, his heavy strides eating the distance. We dodged the wreckage of the clockwork hounds, arriving at the gate just as Elias dismantled the last guardian.
Kaelen was attacking the door, slashing at the metal, shouting, desperate.
"It won't open!" he yelled as we arrived. "The mechanism is locked from the inside! It ignores the dragon fire!"
"Put me down," I whispered to Thane.
He set me on my feet, supporting my weight. I leaned against the warm iron of the gate. I could feel the vibration of the great hammers inside, the heartbeat of the mountain’s industry.
I placed my hand on the metal. The gray skin of my palm hissed against the iron.
I pushed my will into the slithering mass of runes on my skin. I focused on the urgency, the explosive potential, the sheerneedfor transformation. It wasn't anger but desperation that I sent, the same way it had been desperation that allowed me to take control of Steve's orders and stop him back in the cavern.
Reforge,I projected into the iron.Unmake me. Remake me. Please.
The iron groaned.
The massive gears inside the door began to turn, grinding centuries of rust into dust.
"It's opening," Flynn breathed, stepping back.
The gates swung inward, revealing a long staircase that spiraled downward. At the very bottom was a faint red light, giving the whole thing the appearance of an eye looking up at us.
Not creepy at all.
"Welcome to the outer layers of the forge," Elias said, sounding grim. "Let's get moving."
SEVEN
Aria
The spiral staircase was a throat of iron and shadow, swallowing us whole. It didn't just go down; it bored into the foundation of the realm, corkscrewing through layers of rock that radiated a heat so intense it tasted like copper on the back of my tongue.
Every step was a calculated negotiation with gravity. My left knee clicked with a sound like two stones striking underwater, a dull, wet sensation that vibrated up my thigh. I felt heavy, denser than I was used to and colder than the stifling air around us.
We descended into the red gloom. The air grew thicker, creating a pressure in my ears. To my left, the central shaft of the stairwell dropped away into a vertical abyss illuminated by the rhythmic, pulsing glow of the forge fires far below. It looked like the beating heart of a mechanical beast.Thump. Hiss. Thump. Hiss.The sound of the mountain breathing fire.
Then, the air pressure shifted.
It wasn't a change in the altitude or the heat. It was a sudden, violent drop in the atmospheric weight of the room, as if the oxygen had been sucked out by a massive intake of breath. My ears popped painfully. The runic script crawling up my neckstopped its slithering movement for a fraction of a second, freezing in anticipation.
Found you.
The voice didn't come from the shadows or the shaft. It bloomed inside my skull, behind my eyes, expanding outward like a drop of ink in a glass of water. It was regal, terrifyingly calm, and layered with the harmonics of a thousand bells tolling at once.
Hera.
I stumbled, my stiff leg catching the edge of a step. Kaelen caught me instantly, his arm banding across my chest to keep me from pitching forward, but his body had gone rigid as iron against my back.
"She’s here," Thane rumbled from above, his voice vibrating through the metal stairs. He halted, turning to look back up the spiral as if he could physically fight a mental intrusion.
Do not bother looking up, Earth-shaker,the voice crooned, smooth and cold as polished marble.I do not need to be physically present to discipline my wayward children. The bond you forged, it is a two-way street. You opened the door to the mortal girl, and now you have left the windows open for me. Did you think I couldn't hear you before? I was always listening at the door, but the lock was tight. But now? Oh, Aria. You are cracking. Your soul is cracking, and those cracks leave you wide open.
It wasn't just me hearing it. I saw Flynn stiffen ahead of us, his shoulders bunching up around his ears. Elias, walking behind Thane, let out a sharp hiss of pain, clutching his temples.
"Get out of my head," Kaelen snarled, the air around him shimmering with heat distortion.
Hera’s laughter didn't come through the bond this time. It vibrated directly in the rigid silver of my knee, traveling up my thigh bone like a tuning fork struck against a hard surface.
