Semua Bab The Luna's Deception : Bab 91 - Bab 100

Kieran's heart stopped under my palm.Not slowed. Stopped. One beat, then silence where the next should have landed, and the silver light pouring from my hands turned useless in an instant, pushing against a wound that no longer had a pulse to carry it forward."No." I pressed harder, both palms now, silver flame surging without rhythm or command behind it. "No, you do not get to do this."Alexei's fingers closed around my wrist, not to stop me but to turn my attention to the blade he had finally pulled free, wrapped now in cloth soaked through with black fluid that should not have come from any wound this fresh."Soul Eater," he said. "I have only heard of it in old warnings, never seen it used. It does not poison the blood. It poisons the space between heartbeats. Silver flame heals flesh. This is not flesh anymore.""Then what stops it?""I do not know if anything does."I refused to hear that as an answer. My hands stayed where they were, silver light straining against a wound wi

The prisoner was dead before I reached the cell.Alexei stood over her body, jaw tight, one hand still gripping the bars as though he could somehow reverse what had already happened. "Poison. Hidden in a tooth. She bit down the moment the guard turned his back.""She knew something," I said. "That is why they killed her.""That is exactly why they killed her."Kieran arrived beside me a moment later, steadier on his feet than he had any right to be a day after nearly dying, and studied the dead woman's face like he might get information out of her by sheer will alone. "Whoever is behind this does not want us finding the ring's owner.""Then we keep looking," I said. "Quietly. No one outside the four of us."Alexei nodded once, grim, and gave the order to have the body searched again for anything overlooked. I left the cell with my hands still shaking, the reminder that someone close to us wanted Kieran dead, settling deeper than I wanted to admit, but there was no time to sit with

The rope snapped without warning.One second Alexei's warrior was descending steadily beside us, torch strapped to his back, and the next the rope gave way with a crack loud enough to echo through the entire shaft. He fell only a short distance before catching a ledge, but the sound alone brought every torch in our group swinging toward the darkness below."Everyone stop." Kieran's voice cut through the chamber, sharp with command. "Check your lines. All of them."I gripped the rope in my own hands, testing it, and felt my stomach twist when I found a clean cut near the fraying edge, not a natural wear but a deliberate slice partway through the fiber."This was not an accident," I said, showing Kieran the cut end.His jaw tightened. "Someone tampered with the ropes before we left the surface.""Or someone among us is still working against us," Alexei said quietly, low enough that only Kieran and I could hear him over the warrior below calling up that he was unhurt.I said nothing, th

The passage did not open on its own.The moment I stepped forward, certain the sealed stone would give way the same way the cellar door had, an arrow struck the wall beside my head instead, close enough that splinters of rock cut across my cheek."Down!" Alexei's shout came half a second before he tackled the nearest warrior aside, another arrow burying itself where the man had been standing.Kieran pulled me flat against the cavern wall, blade already drawn, eyes scanning the dark ledges above us. "Someone followed us into the caves.""Or someone was already here," I said, breath tight. "Waiting for the passage to open."A figure dropped from the ledge above, cloaked, face hidden, blade catching torchlight as it lunged toward the sack of Moon Salt still strapped to Alexei's back. Alexei twisted fast, catching the blade on his own, steel ringing loud enough to echo through the chamber, the bow he kept slung across his shoulders forgotten for now, too close a fight for anything but st

Alexei crouched over the dead attacker before anyone else moved."Sera. Kieran. Come see this."I pulled back from Kieran reluctantly, the warmth of the moment interrupted but not gone, and crossed the clearing to where Alexei knelt beside the fallen cloaked figure, cloth pulled back from the man's face. He was young, younger than I expected, and around his neck hung a chain with a small crest pressed into dull metal, the same design etched into the ring pulled from the woman at the feast."Same mark," Alexei said grimly. "Whoever is running this, they are not sending strangers anymore. They are sending people bound to something specific enough to wear it openly.""Do you recognize the crest," I asked."No. But someone in the village will."Kieran studied it a moment longer, jaw tight, before shaking his head slowly. "Not now. Whoever is behind this will still be there tomorrow. Tonight, the curse is gone."Alexei glanced between us, something almost gentle crossing his usually guard