My powers surged beneath my skin and lingered in my palms, the two of them well-rested and quick to my call, though for some strange reason, I suspected we needn’t fear this place. Our cautious steps echoed against the stone walkway, and we wound around the room until we came to the stairs leading to the altar. We climbed cautiously, my heart slowing its beat as we reached the serene landing.
“No markings,” Kellan mused as he circled the wide altar. I shook my head in agreement. The marbled carving was completely bare, not a scratch or etch of a chisel, the hard stone almost soft as I ran my fingers over the wide top.
“I wonder who was worshipped here,” I murmured, straightening and tugging my hair out of the loose knot, letting it fall over my shoulders in a soft hush of waves. “Perhaps a god before the Starlings arrived in this world?”
Kellan had stilled, and I snapped my face in his direction, tensing as I waited for whatever danger he’d sensed.
But as my gaze caught his, an unwavering confidence and contentment smoothed his features. His dark eyes softened as they landed on me, and his lips parted. His gentle stare dipped to the loose waves of my hair before skipping to my lips.
My throat bobbed, and I tore my gaze away.
“Let’s be quick,” I breathed. “Check for any signs of the key or the lock.”
Kellan grunted his agreement after a heartbeat, and we quickly swept through the holy space.
“Damn,” I muttered. “There’s nothing here.”
Kellan scanned the crystal walls of the cavern as he straightened, and he squinted.
“I think they’re changing color,” he noted, moving toward me and pointing to the opposite side we entered. Across the chamber, the pink light slowly softened into a violet beforedarkening into a deep purple. “And I think that’s another door. Let’s keep going.”
I followed his gaze to the purple crystals at the far end, slowly shifting to a midnight blue.Beautiful.
We hurried across the winding stone path, reaching the other end of the chamber. As we pushed through the translucent door, a spear of wind shot through the tunnel ahead of us, slamming the crystal door shut and forcing us out of the serene chamber of crystals and several feet into the waiting path.
Kellan’s hand gripped my arm, and my powers surged at the drastic shift in energy, the sparkling, holy light from the previous chamber vanishing. A thick, oppressive darkness choked out the light attempting to filter through the altar chamber. The crystals shifted from lovely, standing gems to a labyrinth of razor-sharp glass, the jagged pieces thin and sharp enough to slice off a hand.
My powers reared in response, slamming into a thick, unyielding wall as we stepped forward.What?
“Rubelline lines,” Kellan murmured, his body pressed against my back as we stayed utterly still, so as not to step into the waiting knives surrounding us. My head tilted up, the back of it sliding against his chest as I traced the barely perceptible, marbled red lines spiderwebbing along the black walls into the darkness above.
“Think this means we’re getting close?” I asked, taking a steadying breath.
“Yes,” he replied, loosening his grip on my arm. His eyes traced the darkness beneath my skin, the living ebony lines stagnant and frozen under the power of the rubelline. “Walk very,verycarefully.”
I slid my boot against the damp floor, reaching past a long, thin spike of glass and winding around its jagged edge. The airaround us grew colder. A wet breeze filtered in from whatever lay ahead, and a strange clicking echoed from above.
“Eghan House,” I said after a moment, needing a distraction from the deadly labyrinth we strode through. “You told me once there wasn’t an ounce of goodness in you.”
Kellan’s steps paused behind me.
“That’s true,” he murmured, resuming his steps. “There is no limit to the evil I’d commit to protect the people I love.”
My stomach flipped as the last word rolled off his tongue.
“That doesn’t make you all bad,” I responded after a moment. “In fact, I think it could make you a hero in the eyes of some. Your mother for one… The children at Eghan House… Even the people of Borva seem incredibly indebted to you. You’ve protected them.”
The huff leaving Kellan’s lips brushed against the back of my head.
“Of that, I’ve failed,” he spat, a bitterness edging the words.
My brows pinched, but I kept my focus on the sharp line of barely visible glass. I opened my mouth and paused, recalling what he’d shared with me in the Death Dunes and Mother Eghan’s devastation.
“Morwyn,” I breathed, slowing to a stop and carefully turning toward him. “You think you failed your sister.”
Shadows draped over Kellan’s face, but his white scar lightened as his lips pursed. My hand paused as it hovered over his chest. I gently shook my head as I replayed Kellan’s words from the Death Dunes last summer when we were tied together in that ice hut.Bayne has stolen much from the Lords of Marisarma… Iamtalking about people…
“Morwyn went willingly with the crew of theEvecta,” I said gently, letting my hand rest against his chest. “She thought you and your mother were dead. She escaped the violence in Votruvia, and she had a wonderful life.”
