Her tone had turned dark. Her jaw clenched as raw determination entered her eyes.
“We should gather the others. And the caeluma, for this part. Speaking of caeluma…” Selvina paused. “I have a request, Bonder.”
Selvina’swhite hawk perched on the stone wall outside the Onyx Tower, her snowy feathers glowing a soft blue in the moonslight.
Nishanth’s keen eyes tracked me as we approached, and I opened a sliver of emotion toward the bird. Aquila’s trill sang from above before he swooped down and landed a few feet away. Tiberius’s clomping hooves crunched in the snow behind me as he approached. Nishanth ruffled her feathers as the two caeluma surveyed her.
She’s the one, Tiberius confirmed in my mind.We both agree.
And with that, I lifted an ear to the golden, lilting tune inside me and pulled a strand of Transcindiel power to the surface. My fingers spread wide as I sent the power of transformation and rebirth spearing toward the snowy hawk.
Moments later, a showering of gold and blue sparks lit up the night, forcing back the darkness that loomed off the Onyx Tower.
Selvina fell to her knees in the soft powder as Nishanth spread her massive wings, showering us in a magnificent blast of illuminated snow. The giant hawk bowed to her Bellator before sending a wave of gratitude and something likedutyto me. I returned it with a nod before mounting my own caeluma.
All of them,Bellator or not, human or elf, the leaders of this world, thegoodin this world, needed to see this together, I decided as the two Nivisian elves shared where we were headed.
My stomach twisted.Drystan should be here, I kept thinking. My friend was a Bellator. He should be here with all of us, with his brothers and sisters.
Dawn still distant, the hills of Kayj were eerily quiet as the easy beat of Nishanth, Aquila, and Tiberius’s wings thumped in the distance, carrying the last of our group to the cave entrance carved into the foreboding cliff edge.
I suppressed a shudder as the sinister yellow glow pulsed from deep within the cave, only bits of it dancing against the entrance. The same yellow glow of the dark king’s eyes. A sickening yellow… The yellow of disease, of pus, of dying things.
Nerissa and I flanked Bayne as we approached the entrance, followed closely by Carina and Kresida. Vulcan had remained behind with Isla. Aeriden lingered toward the back of the group, staring out at Kayj’s black coastline.
Kellan slid off Tiberius’s back as his hooves slammed into the rocky footing. He stepped forward, ignoring the rest of us as he slid his gaze from Selvina, who stood at the entrance of the cave,and the chilling glow beyond. His dark brows narrowed as he surveyed the manmade gap, and his lips curved up in a snarl for the briefest moment.
Carina stepped forward, passing the rest of us, as she adjusted her glasses, frowning.
“Vael’s Lacrima,” she breathed, barely audible for the rest of us to hear.
Selvina’s eyes shot to hers, scanning the small elf.
“Hopefully not,” she murmured to Carina, turning toward the small group now. “For thousands of years, Kayj was merely an outpost of the Kingdom of Nivis, a small, sacred land of rocks and hills,” she said, sweeping her hands out to the landscape surrounding us.
“It was a cash hold of Larimer stone,” she continued, nodding toward Aeriden and the other humans gathered nearby.
A strange sort of quiet drifted toward me, as if that little bit of air connecting me to Kellan had suddenly stilled. I stole a glance at the pirate, who, even in the little blue moonslight that was left in the sky, had gone pale.
“King Saros’s interest in the stone hundreds of years ago and his deal with Dark King Daimos is what brought the darkness here. Humans for stone, humans for protection, or so it went. Until the last of the Larimer was mined, and the dark king created the camps.”
I couldn’t tear my gaze from Kellan. His eyes were near black in the night, every trace of silver gone. His body was poised and ready for attack.
“There is no Larimer stone left in this place?” Kellan’s words were clipped and hollow.
Selvina shook her head, looking to Ursa before continuing, “But in those years of mining and digging for Larimer and gems, the slaves of Kayj stumbled upon something far more dangerous.”
Bayne shifted closer to me as Selvina turned toward the entrance of the cave, motioning us forward.
“Stop.” Kellan’s voice was a hard, unyielding demand from behind.
My feet slowed.
Selvina turned and scowled at him, the rest of them slowly shuffling in through the cave entrance. A massive, hollowed-out space the size of Mount Telum’s throne room opened to a large chasm in its center, the source of the sickening yellow glow. A stone walkway jutted through the center, a bridge connecting the two ends of the cave. And in its center was an elaborately carved archway.
My lips parted as I gazed at the sight, unease twisting my stomach. What would Drystan think of this?He should be here. My mind spun, continuing to drift back to my friend.
The air in the cave smelled different…like a window from distant shores had opened. Carina slowed her pace, lingering at the cave’s entrance as her eyes scanned the massive space before snapping them at Kellan.
