Page 74 of The Fifth Heir

A stone section extended from the wall, covering half the gap.

“The opposite lamp,” he said. “There must be one across from it.”

I could not see through the darkness on the other side.

“Rafe’s wind carried your Shadow ahead. Pull everything back toward you.”

“That may relight several lamps.”

“Do it.”

Shadow moved through the corridor.

One lamp ignited, then another. More bridge sections extended across the gap until the path became whole.

Sebastian stepped onto it.

The central chamber shook.

I pulled my hands from the channels.

All four elemental lines blazed at once.

Fire roared beyond Torren’s door. Frost spread across the wall beside Leander’s. Wind tore at my hair, and Shadow covered the ceiling.

A new inscription appeared around the clear center rune.

I leaned closer.

Four commands had been carved into the stone.

FIRE MUST RISE.

FROST MUST HOLD.

STORM MUST TURN.

SHADOW MUST FALL.

Each described an individual objective.

Together, they formed a mechanism.

Torren’s third brazier fed heat into Rafe’s vanes. Rafe’s wind carried Sebastian’s Shadow. Sebastian’s darkness cooled Leander’s water, and Leander’s Frost contained Torren’s bridge.

They were not merely sabotaging one another.

Their paths required one another.

And the only person who could see the whole mechanism was the heir without a path.

I touched Fire.

Torren stood before the final brazier with both hands raised. A sphere of flame gathered between them, bright enough to ignite the stone from several feet away.

The third brazier connected directly to the Storm path.

Rafe stood near the edge of a platform already weakened by Shadow. If the final vane turned before Sebastian withdrew enough darkness, the combined wind and fire would break it beneath him.