“I don’t know what is left of that,” he mutters, more to himself than to me.“But I know what they’ll do if they catch you.”
His voice is different—exhausted, almost fractured.My pendant warms against my skin, and as it does, he rubs his wrist, swearing under his breath at whatever mark lies beneath his sleeve.
“Why?”I ask.“Why help me now?”
His boots scuff against the stone as he steps closer, his fingers raking through his snowy, ash-dusted hair.“Because you called my name,” he says simply.“In the chamber.”He swallows, the sound loud in the tunnel.“And I need to know what that means.”
I shake my head, my breath fogging in the cold.“It doesn’t mean anything because it didn’t happen.Why would I call for you?You’re exactly like the rest of them!”
I step out from the archway.He flinches as if the accusation carried physical weight.“I amnothinglike them,” he snarls.
My shadows coil tight around his legs, and I watch him stiffen under the pressure.
Let him try, my child.Her words slither across my skull.
With a flick of my wrist, I command the shadows to loosen.They slide back to me, pooling at my feet like obedient hounds.“Something tells me I can trust you—for now.”
Tension bleeds from his shoulders, the hard lines around his eyes finally easing.He nods.
“Betray me, Lightborne, and I will let the shadows crush you as they did Solmir.”
“I would expect nothing less,” he says—and for the first time, he sounds relieved.
Footsteps echo in the distance, a rhythmic thunder that sets us both moving.We fall into silent agreement, following the tendrils of shadow as they slither into the dark ahead.
“We need to find a shrine beneath the city,” I say, my pace quickening.
“A shrine?”He turns his head back to look at me as we navigate the damp halls.
“Yes.A shrine to Nyx…I think.”
“There’s nothing under Auria but pipes and catacombs, Seren.Everything relating to the Shadowborne was outlawed—burned or buried a century ago.”
“After what you’ve seen, you of all people should know better than to believe that.You’re a shadow-scholar, for the Mother’s sake!You should know where the history of my people is kept!”
“And after whatyou’veheard,” he bites back, “you should know there are things hidden even from me.”
My pendant burns against my skin.For a heartbeat, a shape forms behind my eyelids—a circle of stone, a pool of water, light blooming from below.The memory is crisp, a vision traced in burning crimson that pulses in time with my own heart.
The lines beat harder.My legs follow suit, running through the narrowing tunnel as the floor slopes downward.
“What are you doing?”Kael asks, his voice a frantic whisper as he struggles to keep up.
“I think I know where it is.”
Somewhere far below, water moves with a slow, deliberate rhythm.The smell of salt and ancient stone rises to meet us.Nyx’s voice is a hum at the edge of hearing.Deeper, child.The world below still remembers my name.
I glance over my shoulder.Sweat slicks Kael’s brow, and his glasses sit crookedly, as if even the light refuses to sit right on him anymore.The sound of running water grows into a roar with every step.I stop abruptly, and Kael nearly crashes into me.I ignore him, my hands tracing the stone walls, searching for the secrets within.
“How do you know where it is?”he pants.
“Just follow me.”I feel for an opening in the dark until a tug at my spine pulls me toward the shadows on the right.“In here,” I whisper.
The small room is empty.An earthy-musk hangs in the air—a scent I haven’t smelled since the Hollow.
Kael’s hand illuminates, projecting a soft amber glow into the room.My shadows crawl along the walls, congregating around a circular opening in the centre of the floor—a black, bottomless pit where the rush of water intensifies.
“I’ve never been down this low,” he says, his voice laced with a raw uncertainty.A century of lies is unfolding right in front of him.“I—I don’t know what’s down there.”
