Mag-log inAurelia's POVThe heart chamber was exactly as horrible as everything leading up to it had suggested it would be.Black vines covered every surface, walls, ceiling, the broken remains of whatever this room had once been, thick and pulsing with that slow, breathing rhythm that made your eyes want to look somewhere else. A mist crawled across the floor, ankle-deep, cold enough that I felt it through my boots. And in the center of it all, a mass of residue the size of a cart wheel, beating like something's heart. We spread out automatically, blades up, torches high, everyone doing their own rapid inventory of how bad this was."Right," I said, mostly to myself.Then the shadow rose.It came up from the center mass slowly, which was almost worse than if it had been fast, taking its time, assembling itself from the dark. It built into something shaped like a person, if a person were made of smoke and bad intentions, its edges bleeding into the air around it. The voice came without a mout
Aurelia's POVWe hit the wall of the narrow corridor and stayed there.My chest heaved. My arms had moved past the stage of complaining. Around me, everyone was doing their own version of the same thing, backs against cold stone, heads dropped, pulling air in like it was rationed.One of Kade's men, not the scarred woman, a younger one I hadn't caught a name for, was pressing his palm hard against his thigh, blood seeping through his fingers in a slow, steady pulse. He wasn't making a sound about it, which either meant he was tough or in shock, and I didn't have the energy to determine which.The sounds from the main chamber hadn't followed us. But the feeling of being watched had, and it sat between my shoulder blades like a thumb pressed into a bruise.Kaelen broke the silence first."I need to tell you something," he said, his back still against the wall, his eyes on the passage ahead. His voice was even, which was how I knew it was bad."That's never a good opening," I said, my vo
Aurelia's POVWe found a corner of the ruins where the air was slightly less determined to kill us and collectively decided that was good enough.I dropped against the wall and let it hold me up. My arms had graduated from burning to something past burning that didn't have a good word yet. Across from me, Torin was pressing folded cloth against Rylan's forearm with the focused expression of a man who had done this before and was annoyed about having to do it again."How bad?" I asked, nodding at Rylan's arm."Fine," Rylan said, his jaw set."It needs pressure," Torin said, over him, pressing harder, which made Rylan's jaw go tighter. "It'll close. He's had worse."Kade's men sat in a cluster at the edge of our makeshift shelter, checking weapons, speaking in voices too low to carry. The scarred woman had a cut above her eyebrow she was ignoring with impressive commitment. The broad man with the scarred chin was sharpening his blade like the last hour had been a personal insult he inte
Aurelia's POVKade's route was better than the one we took to drakos last time we were here, significantly better, but none of us chose to say it out loud because he didn't need the satisfaction or ego boost. Not now. The cave path was narrow and dark, but it moved, no doubling back, no dead ends, no moment where we stood in a tunnel arguing about which direction smelled less like death. His torch cut through the dark ahead of him and the rest of us followed on a straight line, the sound of boots on stone and the occasional drip of water the only company.It was quiet, oddly quiet. No creature tracking us from the shadows. Just the cave, doing what caves do."Just by how you move and know that this cave exist, it's clear you've been here," I said, keeping my voice low, watching the way he moved through the dark, unhesitating, his footing certain. "And effectively more than once too""Yes." Kade didn't look back."How many times?" I asked, stepping over a low ridge in the rock floor.
Aurelia's POVThe land got worse every mile and didn't even try to hide it.Blackened grass spread out in wide patches like something had burned it from underneath. Trees stood there stripped down to bones, bark gone, trunks slick with dark slime. We passed two dead animals within an hour of leaving camp, both leaking that black gunk, both surrounded by dirt that had turned the wrong color. My wolf kept stirring in my chest, restless and uneasy. She didn't bother saying anything because it was obvious, this place was rotting.Kade pulled his horse up next to ours sometime mid-morning. He did it smooth and easy, like he just happened to drift over."The last time you were in the ruins," he said. He stared at the road ahead, his voice doing that fake-friendly thing people use when they're actually interrogating you. "What did you find in the main corridor?""Stone," Rylan said. Flat as a board. "Lots of it."Kade's face didn't twitch. "And the residue on the walls? Did you make contact
Aurelia's POVI woke up before the sun even decided to show up.I just lay there for a bit, staring at the ceiling. My stomach was twisting in knots, doing this weird flip thing that wasn't helping anyone. I sat up, threw my legs over the side of the bed, and started getting dressed. I needed to focus on buttons and laces so my brain wouldn't wander to all the bad shit waiting for us.I pulled on a warm shirt. Then a heavier jacket. My boots were broken in finally, so at least they wouldn't chew up my feet today. I slid Kaelen's spare knife into the hidden pocket inside my jacket and pressed my hand against it. Still there. Good.I headed downstairs.Rylan was already at the table. He had his blade out, running his thumb along the edge like the thing had insulted his mother overnight.and he was about to get revenge in a slow and steady pace. I plopped into my chair. "Morning.""You're late," Rylan said. He didn't even look up from the knife."I'm exactly on time." I grabbed a piece
Rylan's POV.The passage behind the hooded figure split into two.Not obviously, not with any signage or indication Just two openings side by side, each sealed with a door made of something I didn't recognize, material that was neither stone nor wood nor metal but caught the torchlight and threw it
Rylan's POV.I heard Kaelen and Aurelia's footsteps fade into the left passage and then there was no more time to think about them."Let's take this thing down together." Torin said, beside me, blade up."Together." I said.The creature came.It was fast in a way that made no sense given the size o
Aurelia's POV.Something shook my shoulder and I came up out of sleep like breaking the surface of water, hand going for my blade before I was fully awake."Easy." Kaelen's voice. Close. "It's me."I exhaled and let my hand drop. "How long was I out?""Long enough." He was crouching in front of me,
Aurelia's POV.The scream went through my skull like something physical.I had my hands over my ears before I'd decided to move them and it made no difference because the sound wasn't coming through the air, it was just everywhere, inside the walls and inside my chest and inside every space between







