Page 111 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

A cave.

It looked haphazard, like someone had chosen it quickly rather than carefully. No carved wards on the outer stone. No elegant defenses. Just concealment and arrogance, the belief that the shield itself was enough.

Faith peered into the darkness. “This is either brilliant or stupid.”

Aurora’s mouth curved. “Sometimes it’s both.”

Nishi drew a blade and stepped in first. Aurora followed with the quiet ease of a white wolf in human skin. Eve’s hands glowed, ready to conjure flame if something lunged at us.

The cave smelled of damp stone and something acrid, like burned herbs. The floor was uneven, scattered with debris. Someone had been living here, temporarily. I saw an empty coffee cup, crushed, and a torn wrapper near a pile of cloth that might have been a blanket. Chalk marks were scratched into the stone wall in messy lines, not careful ritual work, more like frantic notes.

A small table had been dragged in, crooked on the uneven floor. On it sat a cluster of odd items. A cracked mirror. A vial of dark liquid. A handful of dried flowers that looked dead even by dried standards.

And a box.

It didn’t match anything else.

The rest of the lair looked thrown together. The box looked intentional.

It was medium sized, dark wood reinforced with iron bands. The surface carried runes that shimmered when I looked at them directly. The air around it felt colder.

Tegan went still. Her trail led to the box.

“That’s it,” she whispered.

Faith’s voice dropped. “You sure.”

Tegan nodded once, eyes fixed on the box. “It’s in there.”

Whatever sat in that box was not just a stolen relic.

It was the heart of the calling.

And we were finally close enough to touch the source.

CHAPTER 17

Tegan did not hesitate.

She crouched in front of the box like it was a venomous animal pretending to be furniture, then ran her fingers along the iron bands. The runes shimmered under her touch and flared once, bright enough to cast pale light across the cave walls.

The box recognized her.

That was the first problem.

The second problem was how much it liked her.

The latch clicked open on its own.

Faith stiffened beside me. “That’s not ominous at all.”

Aurora’s mouth curved. “It’s adorable. Like a cursed jewelry box that wants attention.”

Tegan ignored both of them. Her focus narrowed until the rest of us could have been wallpaper. She lifted the lid.

Cold rolled out. Not the damp cave cold. Something deeper and older, like the memory of tombs and sealed stone.

Inside the box sat the relic.