Though his cheeks swell with a smile, he doesn’t look up, still focused on his bloody task. “I’m not taking youractualspine. Atimespine. Like tugging a thread between this moment and the one where you gave Sereme your blood.”
I blink at him, then meet Kaan’s perplexed stare. “I’ve never felt more stupid.”
Ahvi giggles, like a chime. “You’re not. It’s really complicated. I only understand it because of the song inside me. It helps the runes make sense in my head.”
Kaan and I pass each other another look.
“Okaaaay,” I say, watching Ahvi slash and slick my blood across the ground like he’s charming a language into submission. “So you tug this time thread, then what?”
He paints three more runes, then slows with only enough space for one more, getting halfway through the angry-looking shape before he peeks at me, chewing his bottom lip.
Something that looks too much like a nervous twitch.
My heart is already trying to bust free by the time he seems to find the courage to speak. “These runes create a cage that momentarily manipulates time.Because you’re standing in the cage, you’ll— Well …”
“I’ll what, Ahvi?”
His cheeks burst red. “You’ll revert to how you were the moment before you made the bind.”
I gape, certain I’m misunderstanding. “You don’t mean—”
“Physically. Yeah …”
My blood runs cold, panic rising so hard and fast saliva gathers beneath my tongue. “Nope.”I’ve dropped a knee before my next blink, gripping Ahvi’s wrist, holding his offending hand at bay so he can’t finish the final rune. “Not happening.”
“But it’s the only way!” he blasts. “I didn’t warn you because Iknewyou’d say no. But you have to do this, Raeve. Youhave to.”
He doesn’t get it.
I was almostdeadwhen I dripped my blood into that vial—something that gave Sereme a tether to save my life and shackled me to her whim in the same ugly beat.
Without the bind, I would’ve been a skeleton garnishing this tunnel for eternity.
If my body breaks down to the state it was in before the drip, I’m gone. With no blood-binding tether to stop me from slipping over the brink while I’m mended, this cavern will be my final resting place.
Ahvi’s brows pinch together. “I do too!”
I frown. “Do toowhat?”
“Get it!” He uses his free hand to point at the Book of Voyd, and realization stabs me so hard I drop my other knee to the ground.
He’s binding me to the Book of Voyd. To the mythical object that’s apparently mauled folk to death over the phases.
Creators, I really need to start asking more questions.
“Okay, let’s take a moment”—or a lifetime—“to think this through.”
“It’s going to work out,” Ahvi says with too much enthusiasm. Like he’s trying to convince a youngling to take their tonic despite knowing full well it tastes like spangle shit. “I promise.”
“Can somebody do me the honor of explaining what’s happening?” Kaan grinds out, a tremble in his tone. Like he’s one loosening pebble away from falling into a rockslide.
Same, honestly.
Trepidation packs my chest full. A feeling that only intensifies when I look up and realize Kaan’s arms are shaking. Probably the reason he’s got them crossed. To try and hide it.
“It’s … a little hard to explain.”
“Try.”
