Page 119 of Wraithwound

“What do you mean?” she asked, her mind unable to fathom any sort of process that would result in implants such as these.

“The crystals help the body integrate the magic that binds our souls to the sorcerer. They don’t hold any magic; they’re more like a conduit.”

“What if you’re unable to integrate it?” she asked.

“If your body rejects the crystals, then that makes you ineligible to continue. If your mind is incapable of integrating the magic, then it fractures. You only find out by submitting yourself to the process,” he said plainly.

Lena was horrified at the thought of undergoing such a brutal process.

“How long does it take?” she asked, tracing over the bandage to ensure it would remain adhered to his back.

“It’s different for everybody.” He shrugged.

“But for you?”

“Just short of three months.”

“And you did it for Kiara?”

Cross nodded. “When we learned she was sick, we did everything to find her a cure. We took her to the best healers, researched similar ailments and possible cures. I visited some of the last remaining scholars, even chased down rumors. For months, I rode out to village after village asking after information that might help her. Eventually, this was the only path left.”

“It’s incredible. What you did for Kiara. But what about your brother? Couldn’t he have⁠—”

“My brother is dead,” Cross said, replacing his tattered shirt as he stood.

“Oh. Cross, I—” she started.

“We should get some rest,” he said, turning to lie on his side.

Lena’s shoulders sagged as she watched him settle in for sleep. She should have known better than to ask him something like that. She wasn’t exactly forthcoming about Henry and how he died either. Hopefully, she would have the opportunity to revisit the conversation once they’d had some rest and apologize for prying.

With that thought, she lay down her cloak and settled in, remembering what was at stake if she didn’t free the Goddess. Sleep came at her harder and faster than it ever had before, whisking her away into its embrace.

Chapter

Sixty-Five

When she awoke, she felt refreshed, and that sent a spear of panic through her. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Lena sat up and looked around. Cross was gone. She exited the cave and glanced around. Perhaps he’d gone to relieve himself.

But Lena knew that wasn’t the case; she felt it in her bones. She looked around frantically, searching for any sign of him, but there was nothing.

“Cross!” she called out, praying he would answer, but it was her own voice that echoed back, sounding like a mockery of her desperation.

Think, Lena, think!

There had to be a way to find him. Cross wouldn’t have just left her here. She walked around the cave, studied the ground near the opening, and shouted his name again, hoping to catch a glimpse of him or hear him call out. Something. But the only thing she could see was the gods-damned moss.

This couldn’t be happening. Not again. She couldn’t lose Cross, too. They had survived so much, the latest of those dangers being those absurd butterflies.

Lena blinked. The butterflies. Moss. Lena whirled around. When they’d first found this cave, Cross had instructed her to describe everything she saw in detail. How many stone structures stood near the mouth of the cave. Exactly how many feet away they’d been in their respective directions and whether they were covered with moss. But now, several stone structures were devoid of the strange hanging plant. She almost laughed, hysteria climbing up her throat.

Lena ran to the nearest pillar of rock. No moss. She looked around. There. Several feet east, or what she could only assume was east, there was another structure that was also devoid of moss. She kept going, having to backtrack several times, and retreating slowly from structures that were still covered in moss, all the while hoping she wasn’t following the trail on baseless conjecture. The trail ended at the edge of a cliff, and below, nothing but dark abyss.

No. It couldn’t be.

Lena squeezed her eyes shut, her mind spiraling with the possibilities, but they all ended here, with Cross being lost to the darkness below. She looked around, walking up and down the edge, thinking she might see signs of a struggle or blood. There was nothing except for the last remaining stone structure that held no moss. No razor blades with wings. Desperation crept in. Where could he be? Why would he have come here?

Lena sank to her knees unable to stop the tears that spilled onto the ground before her. She had no idea what to do next. Lena had really believed following the vacated stone columns would lead her to him, and now she had wandered so far, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to find her way back. In her haste to find Cross, she’d left her pack in the cave.