Behind us, Tomek screams. A sound of rage, not pain. Then silence.
Kharvek’s expression shifts—love, fury, resignation. Then he wraps his arms around me, and we drop into the darkness.
The fall is longerthan I expected.
We land hard in ankle-deep sludge, the impact jarring my bones. Kharvek absorbs most of the shock, his body curling around mine, protecting me even as we hit.
“You okay?” His hands run over me, checking for injuries.
“Fine.” I’m not fine. Tomek is dead. We’re somewhere beneath the Sanctum with no clear path forward. The Matron knows we’re here.
But I’m alive. Kharvek is alive.
It has to be enough.
“The processing system.” I force myself to focus. The tunnel we’re in is cramped—even I have to hunch.
“Then we move.”
He takes my hand. We walk.
The passage twists and turns,sometimes so narrow we have to move single file. Kharvek’s shoulders scrape the walls constantly. The sound is like nails on stone, setting my teeth on edge.
I count our steps. Calculate our position. The processing system runs beneath the Womb Chamber—we should be getting close to the maintenance corridors Tomek mentioned.
“Stop.”
Kharvek’s voice is barely a whisper. His hand tightens on mine.
I freeze. Listen.
Ahead of us, a sound. Not footsteps—something else. A humming. Low, constant, vibrating through the stone itself.
“Blood-wards.” I recognize the frequency. “Active ones. Strong.”
“Can you get us through?”
I pull Tomek’s key from my pocket. The iron gleams faintly in the dim light.
“Perhaps.”
We approach the ward junction carefully. The humming grows louder. Crimson light pulses ahead, rhythmic—synchronized to a heartbeat that isn’t human anymore.
The maintenance door is set into the wall, almost invisible in the shadows. I fit the key into the lock. Turn it.
The wards flicker. The humming stutters.
The door swings open.
Beyond is a corridor, better lit than the tunnels, lined with pipes and conduits that carry the Chamber’s magical infrastructure. The air is warmer here. Humid. Like stepping inside a living body.
“We’re in.” I step through. “The Womb Chamber is close. I can feel it.”
Kharvek follows. The door swings shut behind us with a soft click.
And the Matron’s voice echoes from the walls.
“Welcome home, children.”
