Page 98 of Wraithwound

“It might be best if we have Dauen check you over,” Leonid said to Laney. Then he turned to Lena. “We’ve started searching for anything that might give us an indication of where the entrance to the Tower may be.”

“The Tower of Two Worlds?” Laney asked. Everyone else turned to look at the maiden.

“Yes,” Leonid confirmed.

“Why are you going there?” Laney asked, looking around and trying to glean information.

“It’s likely the Goddess is trapped there, and Lena may be able to free her,” Riley said.

“I know where that is.” Laney’s soft voice echoed in the space. “I met an acolyte of the Goddess in my travels, on my way to Enora.” When no one spoke, she added, “She was stranded on the road, and we helped her. She travelled with us for some time. She was quite the oversharer whenever she had vanilla wine.”

They all gawked at her.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” she asked, raising a small hand to her cheek.

After Leonid assured Lena he’d take Laney to the healer, Lena left the others to figure out the details for where the entrance to the Tower was located. She needed time and space to think, to collect herself. Henry was gone. She could feel the empty space where his energy had once been. The very last of her family and the final barrier between herself and the monster that resided within had disappeared. Now she was well and truly alone. The ache in her heart was so deep Lena had to rub her chest to coax the ache away. She’d run out of time, and it had cost Henry his soul.

The threat of losing herself and hurting others was more real than ever. Likely an inevitability.

No.

She would have Cross end her life before it could get to that. But there was still one thing she could do before that happened. To honor her family, to honor Ada and Eduard, and their sacrifice. If she could free the Goddess, she could do so much good. Perhaps it would end the Commander’s reign, free the moon maidens, dissolve years of suspicion and distrust that had wormed its way into the people of Reimar like a festering rot. Maybe the land would heal. And maybe, just maybe, if she succeeded, she could give Henry one last gift. Perhaps she could ask the Goddess to restore his soul so he could still enter the afterlife.

Cross trailed closely behind her as she made her way to her room, his presence more reassuring now that there was nothing else holding the wraith back. Pulling the door to her room open, she headed straight for her pack. Cross waited at the threshold.

“You’ve decided to go to the Tower,” he said.

“I finally got the answer I was looking for. Turns out there is nothing else I need here,” she said, collecting her things.

Cross walked into the room, his presence filling the space, and stilled her hand with his. “We can head out at first light.”

“I don’t know if it’s safe for me to stay another night,” she said, staring at their connected hands.

“I’ll make sure of it,” he assured her, the flecks of gold in his eyes coming alive. She could drown in those eyes of his.

“We?” she heard herself say, just realizing that was the word he’d used a moment ago.

“I figured I could get you as far as the entrance to the Tower,” he said.

Lena nodded, unable and unwilling to look away. She didn’t know what it was about the warrior, but she’d never been drawn to someone like she was to him.

A knock at the open door interrupted the moment. Riley stood there, a solemn look on her face. “Our scouts reported the Aurynn has circled back. And that’s not all. There’s another soulbound out there too. Friend of yours, Cross?”

“I doubt it,” he said.

Lena thought back to how she was drawn to the presence of other wraiths and considered the Aurynn could have been drawn back after the eruption of power in the cavern beneath. That was, if the creature was somehow part wraith.

“Taya’s men are monitoring the situation, but she’s asked you join us in case we need to head off the other soulbound. He seems intent on searching the area,” Riley said.

“Fine,” Cross said to Riley before turning back to Lena, giving her a curt nod before striding out of the room.

A little while later, she heard the click of the lock and a knock on the door, but it wasn’t at the main door of her room but the adjoining door. Lena pulled her side open to reveal Cross standing there.

“I’m going to use the washroom, but after that, I thought we could get something to eat. If you’re hungry,” he said.

“I don’t—” Lena started.

“We’re not going to the dining hall. There is a place I wanted to show you, somewhere we can go eat and talk. It’ll be safe.”