Page 171 of Blade of the Nightking

We were walking through something's nest.

At first I thought the shapes emerging from the darkness ahead were nothing more than shadows cast by the webs. Until the first slab of stone came into view.

Ruins rose between the trees, half-collapsed beneath centuries of neglect. Massive roots split the weathered stone apart while vines claimed the broken walls and crumbling archways. Thick webs veiled one section of the structure, loose strands swaying gently across the entrance. Worn carvings lined the façade. Broken columns lay scattered along the ground. What remained of the roof had long since collapsed inward.

It was a temple.

The Vein curved abruptly away, disappearing into the undergrowth.

Rìan’s strides slowed, as though he were forcing himself through deep mud. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

Power radiated from the temple—ancient, immense, and wrong. It settled over the ruins like a weight, muting the sounds of the forest and making each step feel heavier than the last. Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to turn around. To run.

The very air crawled against my skin.

The feeling only intensified as we stepped through the archway. There, at the center of a weathered mosaic floor, stood a well.

We both came to an abrupt halt.

We'd found it.

It was far larger than any well I'd ever seen, its circular wall built from giant blocks of rough stone fitted together so perfectly that, unlike the temple surrounding it, it hadn’t crumbled at all. A thrill of excitement fluttered inside me—then died just as quickly. The longer I looked at the well, the stronger the urge came to back away from it.

I was here to break the bond, wasn't I? I forced my thoughts away from the first Gate of Othyr and onto Levinica. Dannis. Nadja's tongueless mouth. Solmire burning.

I thought of Aedric. The male waiting for me beyond all of this. For him, I could face any fear. For him, I could endure the terrible unease pressing down on me and do what I'd come here to do.

Willing myself forward, I crossed the remaining distance and peered over the edge. Darkness stared back. The shaft plunged so deep that I couldn't see the bottom, only an endless pit, black and still.

We were here.

We'd found the first Gate.

I was one step closer to breaking the bond.

I straightened and turned to Rìan.

"Now what?"

CHAPTER 36

He pulled a piece of paper from his pack and unfolded it carefully. Levinica's prophecy, in Segolayne’s slanted hand.

I read it silently over Rìan's shoulder and felt a pang in my chest at the knowledge that only a few short weeks ago, I wouldn't have been able to read it at all. It was Levinica who’d taken it upon herself to teach me. This ability to read, to touch knowledge that would otherwise have been locked away from me forever, was because of her.

And now she was gone.

She would never know whether we'd managed to break the bond.

Not that she'd cared to know, in the end.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat, trying to chase away the grief threatening to overwhelm me again. Rìan lifted his eyes from the page and glanced back at me, his expression unreadable. Was I standing too close? I took a step back.

Carefully, he folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket. Then he drew a knife from his belt and turned to face me. When he spoke, his deep voice echoed through the chamber.

“Three gates sealed in ages old,

Long forgotten, power cold.