Page 304 of Blade of the Nightking

"You can smell them too?"

I'd never met anyone who shared my gift. Never met anyone who could smell the Infected before they drew near.

He gave a curt nod, his attention already returning to the map. "It's because we're Firstborn, Eidra."

Saskia hesitated before finally gesturing for the Bone Women to lower their weapons. Nevertheless, they remained vigilant, their eyes scouring the forest.

I stared at him, stunned. Another missing piece of the puzzle that was my existence had finally clicked into place.

"Can you see the black veins too?" I blurted.

He looked up just long enough to fix me with a withering stare. "Did you have a well in Midland or not?"

Midland.

The word yanked me from my thoughts. I looked back down at the map. My gaze followed his finger to the last location marked in red. Eldrath.

Beyond it, two other names framed it in a broad triangle. Nareth. Valethis.

"I don't recognize any of these."

"Look closer, Eidra," he said stiffly, tapping the red circle again.

I frowned and bent nearer. Nareth lay inland to the north. Valethis hugged the southern coast… My gaze moved between the three points.

North.

South.

West.

My breath hitched. It wasn't the names I recognized. It was where they lay in relation to one another. I knew that arrangement.

Annapolis.

Greyharbor.

My eyes landed on the final circle. Eldrath.

"I'm not very familiar with the mortal lands," Rìan said. "Does that look like Midland to you?"

It had to be. There were no settlements farther west than Midland. When the Veil still stood, it had been perched almost against its edge.

I nodded weakly. "I... I think so."

The red ink seemed to stare back at me, like the laughing eye of fate.

How could the third Well have been so close to me my entire life without my ever knowing it? It was impossible.

Rìan's patience was wearing thin. "I'll ask again. Was there a well in Midland, or not?"

"We had several wells," I said slowly. "Most of them had long since run dry."

"Then we'll visit every one."

I blinked up at him. "And do what? Bleed into each of them?"

"If that's what it takes."