Alone with the block of stone, I let myself sink into the beat of the bone’s fluttering. Though the amatohk had no wings.
The stone container holding Enya’s bone of power was a puzzle. I tried twisting the sides of it, but the etching wasn’t mismatched. This wasn’t a puzzle. Gods, I wished Drystan was here.
I blew out a breath as I turned over Xenelpha’s words and recited the riddle we’d seen on the lid of the tunnel leading to the tomb. Did I need to speak to it for it to open?
Who will you be?Xenelpha had asked. Maybe I could try answering that? A list of ridiculous names cycled through my head.
“I am Lyvia. I am a Bellator.”I think, I added silently, in my head. “I am a scholar…”
This was fucking stupid. Icy anger slithered into my growing frustration, and I let the words flow.
“I am afraid. I am changed. I am… a murderer…”
My breath came out in a soft, gray cloud. I was fucking afraid. And I deserved to be. What awaited me in Tynan’s Hell after the lives I’d taken?
The round stone sat in my hands, utterly unchanged. I stuck my tongue out at it, some feeble attempt to quell the realization that had hit me.
I searched inward for that unbreakable bond, that thread of steel that connected me to Tiberius. As I grabbed hold of it, throwing myself into its connection, a brief, salt-filled whiff of wind hit me before Tiberius’s consciousness twined with my own. I let out a soft sigh.
Are you alright?
His answer came several moments later.
Yes. Are you? What happened? I tried to hold your cast to show you Bayne, but… Did you find the bone?
I had the strange, yet familiar sensation of Tiberius gazing through my eyes, but fatigue ripped at my mind. And his voice was strained, stressed. We were too far for this.
Yes,I replied, We’re with the Rhashtai. Safe for now, I think. They are the Guardians of the Dead, the people of the Death Dunes.
Fitting, they found themselves a death digger.Tiberius’s tone returned to his usual light-heartedness. I responded with a chuckle, sending a wave of warmth down the bond to him. I recited the riddle on the entrance to the tomb. Ti was silent, and I looked up, scanning the rest of the burial chamber for him.
Any ideas?I urged, already feeling him slip.
Several moments passed.
Ti?
I’m coming to you.
What? You’re flying this far, alone?
I’m not alo?—
