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I wanted to wake up. I could not find a way out.

Fadey’s eyes were black as scorched tinder when he looked up. “Tell me, did the firstborns find you? It will make it much simpler to gather the bones with the lot of you together.”

My heart cinched. He knew we’d reunited with Thane and Yrsa. No. I looked at the fading wound. They must’ve discovered Thane and Yrsa were gone; they must’ve used the blood spell to track my movements.

Perhaps it was an assumption we’d reunited, but I had no time to refute his insinuation before Fadey took another step toward me. “You know, our first meeting at Stonegate ended rather abruptly—”

“When I melded your hand to your leg? Tell me, how painful was it to break the bones away?”

A shadow crossed his face, ugly and harsh. “I’m convinced that even with our growing connection, I don’t know if the wards against me would’ve cleared without you if I’d killed you in Stonegate. So that is why I’m here. I will let you go retrieve what is hidden. Then, you will return it to me. After, I swear to you, I will send you to Salur with no pain.”

“What an offer. I think I will decline.”

“You think I do not know where you’re going all because you managed to heal a spell from your blood? It’s too late, Lyra. I can sense the truth of it in your mind, you know I will find you before you can use anything against me.” One corner of Fadey’s mouth curved. “Take care over the Night Ledges. Unfettered clans are not always hospitable.”

Heat drained from my face. A dream or the mirror, dread stacked heavy in my belly. “We aren’t going to the Night Ledges.”

“No point in lying.” He tapped the side of his head. “You will bring me the final piece, hidden by the royal house of Dravenmoor. And that is the final piece. I know how to claim the rest. You do not.”

Damn the gods. Without Nivek’s and Roark’s actions during the raids, Fadey would have had all of the firstborns and the female melder within grasp. Did Prince Nivek know that by shadowing his bone shard and stealing away the melder, the hunt for the Wanderer would be halted?

For a man like Fadey, such a disruption in his plans would bring out his brutality.

My brow furrowed. “Did you kill the firstborn prince of Dravenmoor?”

Fadey barked a laugh. “How I wish I had gotten to him first. Not only did he take you, but his blood spilled before I could take it for myself.”

He wanted Nivek’s blood?

“I once thought the hunt was pointless after the firstborn of Dravenmoor died, until I sensed the hidden power still existed, kept from me, but there. What secrets the firstborn of Dravenmoor must have kept.”

I flashed my teeth. “And when I find Nivek’s shard, I will see to it that you never touch the Wanderer’s craft.”

Fadey didn’t threaten, didn’t snarl, didn’t shout. He did nothing but widen his smile, as though he knew something I did not. “I figured you would say such things. Never fear, Lyra. I’ve already seen to it that there will be little choice in the matter. You will do as I ask and bring me whatever you find in the Unfettered lands. You will have no choice.” Fadey stepped back. “You were created to be a piece of this fate, Lyra. The sooner you accept it and bend to my will, the less those you love will be harmed.”

Fadey’s laugh cut across my mind, stirring me from rest as shadows enveloped me.

I woke gasping, Roark’s arms holding me close. He cupped one side of my cheek. Nightmare?

Furs and blankets across the cot were askew, my hair was in tangles, and my breaths were sharp. The way Roark held me half underneath him, I took a guess that I’d been thrashing. A dream. It’d been a terrible dream.

My shoulders slumped in relief, and I buried my face against the steady thrum of Roark’s heartbeat. He stroked my back. All right?

I nodded, never lifting my brow from his chest. “I simply want to find what your brother hid and destroy it.”

If we destroyed Nivek’s shard, Fadey would never have all the pieces. One by one, I would ruin every shard, every burial mound, whatever power held the lost craft of the Wanderer’s bloodline.

I would do it as the dark melder chased us until, at last, we turned our blades and destroyed him.

37

Roark

First light came far too quickly. Lyra rubbed sleep from her eyes, weary from all that thrashing during the night. She’d mentioned that her dreams were haunted by Fadey but insisted that we move swiftly, even more desperate to reach Nivek’s hidden bone.

There were passes on both Myrdan and Draven lands, narrow canyons with old switchback trade routes that were once used when Unfettered clans still ventured into the lands of Stìgandr often. Centuries before my birth.

All my life Unfettered Folk were the mysterious clans, their laws, culture, and any hint of craft unknown.