Lia looked at me, something old and sad in her eyes. “Then you better pray she reaches him before the other part does.”
Rigg stepped to the wall. “Ready when you are boss.” He said to Lia.
She paused, taking in each of us in turn.
“Do it.”
**
Elira
Thorne’s grip was cold around my arm as he led me deeper, down into the bowels of the dungeon. Through one door, then another, down, down, down into the darkness. The tower seemed very far away.
Our footsteps slapped against stone with every step.
The monks glided ahead with a kind of malicious grace, their robes brushing the ground like shadows. They moved as if making way for a storm.
Vael walked in front, dragging Maddie behind him like she was nothing but a burden. I followed, head high—but my heart was buried in my boots.
A light appeared ahead, faint at first, then growing brighter with every step. And a sound—soft, broken. A whimper, maybe. Faint. Too faint.
Water, too. I could hear it running now, steady and close. A stream… or a spring. And beneath it, a rhythm that sank into my bones.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
My stomach turned.
We reached a wide chamber carved from the mountain’s rock. At its centre stood a stone slab, marked with ornate symbols and deep, blood-dark grooves.
And above it—
Gods. No.
A woman hung suspended from a star-shaped frame bolted to the ceiling. Her arms were bound. Symbols had been carved into her flesh.
And her blood—
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Even Thorne stopped beside me. His breath caught—like even he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
“What the hell…” he muttered.
Without a word, the monks glided forward and formed a circle around the stone slab. Two broke off and returned with a long, silver-white robe embroidered with symbols that shimmered faintly in the low light.
They held it out for Vael. He slipped it on with a majesty that made my blood run cold.
He released Maddie with a shove. She hit the ground hard, crumpling into a heap of torn skirts and shallow breaths.
I moved to go to her.
