Page 109 of Soul of Fire

Inky, but for a faint blue glow deep, deep down.

The upper portions of the castle had already fallen, lost to the void below, and the rest of the city fared no better. What hadn’t fallen into the darkness was burning, acrid smoke making the air thick and gray. There were screams in the distance, and a putrid stench mingled with the burning to make the air practically unbearable.

Corpses,Eisa said, as Idunn searched the ground below. Bodies littered what remained of the streets, some burned, other mauled or partially consumed. Hundreds, if not thousands more, must have fallen into the chasm as it broke open.

Odemarksdyr,Baldur replied with a growl.I can smell them. In the distance.

How? Why here?Idunn searched the darkness, a puff of smoke emerging from her nostrils.What is special about this place?

I don’t know,I admitted. I had expected the Scar to break open again, but not here. Had believed that Stalheim was still safe as long as we watched the Rift.It shouldn’t be possible.

It smells of sorcery,Baldur growled.The magic is wrong.

Who could have done this?

Perhaps your father.Baldur rumbled, every scale pricking in alert as we crossed the remains of the outer wall of the castle.We left and thwarted his plans.

Why destroy a kingdom you hope to save?I reasoned. The whole point of my father’s plans to use the drage to invade fae lands was his misguided attempt to save our people.

Maybe he didn’t actually care about saving it.

“I have no desire to be king over the ashes.” It was what Edvard had told me before the Althing. Before my father told me of his plans to invade the fae realm and name me as heir. Had he known what my father planned? That he would summon something far worse if I didn’t cooperate?

Perhaps I should have fucking listened instead of assuming every word out of his vile mouth was meant to provoke me.

We need to stop this, Kjære.I reached out to Eisa, relieved to find her easily across our mental bridge.We need to close the Rift. At least this section.

I know.She sounded determined, even though I could feel her terror, and a wave of pride that she was my mate—my wife—swept through me.How?

You have the Tear. Perhaps you can close it like last time.

I don’t know how I did it last time! I just…felt it. When you were in danger.

Pretty sure we’re all in danger now.

Focus.Baldur was tense as a bowstring, his normally good-natured grumpiness replaced by terror. For his mate. For us.We will land near the widest section.

The castle walls rose beneath us, half crumbled in ruin on either side of the Rift. The great hall still stood, and half of the keep, but the training ring, the stables, and most of the surrounding walls and courtyards were now at the bottom of the Rift.

We landed in the middle of the broken courtyard, the ground littered with the remains of guards and servants whose bodies had been ripped to shreds or charred to ash. The place should have been crawling with odemarksdyr or filled with anguished cries of the dying, but it was utterly silent. Still.

Idunn snorted and I felt Eisa’s horror down the bond.They’re alldead.

Panic warred within me. Was my mother alive? Had she been in the part of the castle that now lay in ruins?

Or fled.I had to try and stay calm, even though my heart was thundering in panic.Let’s hope for the latter.

Idunn edged toward the chasm, smoke billowing from her nostrils.Do you think I need to stand somewhere particular?

I have no idea,Kjære. Baldur cast his senses out, as if something might appear that screamed, “stand here.”I don’t know that your position matters as much as your intent.

Goddess help me, Eisa murmured as Idunn began breathing deeply, preparing her fire.Stand back. Just in case.

For a moment, nothing happened. All was still as Idunn stood on the edge of the crevasse, the blue gem around her neck glowing faintly against her scales in the darkness.

And then fire, brighter than the bottom of the Rift itself, poured out of her. Idunn’s flames engulfed the entirety of the hole before us, spreading wide and filling every visible portion of the Rift.

Is she doing it?I asked Baldur, looking for some sign that something was happening.