Page 84 of The Fifth Heir

All of us turned toward the floor.

He was right. Violet had already dimmed around his feet. Silver flickered beneath Rafe, while Torren’s red line withdrew toward the sealed Fire entrance.

My clear rune continued glowing.

“We have to activate them again,” I said.

“We already did,” Torren replied.

“Not intentionally. They responded because you all returned.”

Leander pushed Torren’s coat from his shoulders and handed it back. “What do you suggest?”

I looked at the elemental points surrounding the center.

The four paths had taken the men when each stood on his corresponding rune. Those same marks had connected to mine when the Trial opened. They remained arranged like parts of one larger design.

“Stand where you were when we entered.”

Rafe glanced at his Storm rune. “The last time I did that, the room tried to throw me off a mountain.”

“The mountain was inside the room.”

“That didn’t improve it.”

“Stand on the rune.”

He went.

Torren took Fire without argument. Sebastian moved to Shadow, and Leander returned to Frost. When all four men were in position, their torcs brightened again.

The lines beneath them did not move.

“What happened when you entered your paths?” I asked.

“The rune pulled me toward the fire,” Torren said.

“Mine drew power from the torc,” Leander added.

Sebastian looked toward the center. “Because the Trial was opening a connection between the heir and his assigned route.”

“The routes are sealed now,” I said. “Perhaps we need to direct the connection somewhere else.”

Rafe pointed toward me. “At the woman standing in the middle.”

I looked down at the clear rune.

“No.”

“Every line leads there.”

“They led here when the gate opened too. That doesn’t mean you should direct elemental power at me.”

“I wasn’t suggesting we set you on fire.”

Torren folded his arms. “Good.”

“I was suggesting we activate the torcs.”