Page 133 of A Thread of Breath and Bone

He turns, taking the bough before I can, looking over his shoulder once to make sure I’m following. When it comes time to make the jump, he turns to face me, pulling me into a hug. I’m about to tease him about being handsy, but then he falls, pulling me with him.

When I curse at him midair, he has the audacity to wink at me before telling me to hold my breath. He twists us, so we hit feet-first. The water closes in, and I’m pulled from his arms. I swim for the surface, sputtering when I breach.

I look around, searching for him. I panic until he wraps his arms around my waist and tugs me down. I scream at him under the water until we both surface again.

“Asshole.” I giggle, swimming for the shore.

It takes us a few minutes to hike back upstream. When we reach the vines, I challenge him to a race. When he’s about to take the lead, I leap, my body slamming into his.

He laughs. “Playing dirty, Princess?” He wraps his legs around me, causing me to lose my footing until I’m dangling by my hands.

He knows that if we fall, these little vines will reach out and pluck us out of the air. I huff and pull myself up. He does the same, his legs locked around me, and we climb without touching the wall. When we reach the top, the forest air thickens unnaturally.

It’s never felt like this, and when I take a step, Ryker grabs my hand, pulling me close. “They set something,” he mutters. “A trap.”

My skin prickles, but I nod.

Right…a trap.

Magic can leave a cold feeling in the air sometimes.

We’re halfway through when a gateway rips open in front of us, and the world yanks us through before we can decide.

I take in the surroundings of the forest we’ve been pulled into, and something tells me we aren’t on Auralis anymore. No—this place feels wrong. Starved. Lifeless. Ryker’s hand tightens on mine, but neither of us dares to speak.

The trees surrounding us are thick, knotted, and crooked, like disease took root before they even had a chance to sprout. The bark twists into faces—mouths stretched wide, frozen mid-scream.

A shiver rolls up my spine. It’s dark, but somehow lighter than where we came from. Milky-white fog coils around my legs, swallowing the ground to my waist. I don’t want to think about what might be moving beneath it. Neither of us has weapons, and neither of us has been able to access our magic.

Ahead, a towering structure looms forgotten and half-devoured by the forest, like something that was never meant to be found again. Its tall columns, once glittering white, are blackened with age and rot, strangled by creeping vines. Cracks run the length of the columns. Overhead, an ancient script once named this place. Now the letters lie shattered on the steps.

Ryker studies the words, looking up with a crease in his brow. “The Hall of Silent Echoes,” he mutters to himself.

A gust of wind comes from our right, unnatural and foreboding. A moment later, Caelus steps through the thick fog. He looks around, taking it all in, the armored clothing somehow still bright and shiny even here, as if it contains its own light.

If it wasn’t obvious before, it is now. There is no doubt Caelus is a god. His golden wavy hair blows in the breeze, and those fiery blue eyes are alight with amusement when he sees us.

Ryker angles his body in front of me.

“Ah,” Caelus muses, “so you’ve finally been summoned.” He gestures to the crumbling building to our left. I swear I hear a ghostly chant leaking out through the cracked doors. “I’ve just come from speaking with Riven. They all know you’ll return by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I ask, unsure if I heard correctly. Surely we aren’t staying here…overnight.

Caelus nods like it isn’t a big deal. “Your awakening, Light Bringer. You both must enter the hall together. I cannot say what trials you may face, but the fates of the universe have always been just.”

I swallow a laugh. Because no, they haven’t. If they were just, I wouldn’t have been created and then separated from my twin. I definitely wouldn’t have the damn weight of the universe on my shoulders.

Caelus blinks, his gaze reading me like he knows exactly what I’m feeling. To be fair, he is a god. “Complete the awakening, and when you leave, there will be another gateway that will take you back.”

He dips his head, and with a single step back, he vanishes.

“What?” I whisper. “He can’t just…leave us here.”

Ryker looks around, taking in the hall once more. “Well, he just did. C’mon, time to face the universe.”

When Ryker takes the first step, I stop him. My body refuses to move. Gods, I need to press pause on my life. I suck in a sharp breath that doesn’t fill my lungs.

I am human. I knew exactly how I wanted to live out my average lifespan. I could picture it down to the smallest detail. I’d be crowned queen someday, my parents at my side. They would grow old in the palace alongside my family, chasing their grandbabies around. I’d attend meetings, sign treaties and decrees. I’d travel our system and understand as much as I could about the people and our histories.