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Desperation tightened its hold on my sanity, as I breached the threshold with Farryn in my arms and strode through the cave along the same path Soreth and I had taken before, until I finally reached the archaic skull’s hollow. Through the black moss, I entered the room with the enormous pyre, which flickered as I stepped inside, reaching toward the fossilized ceiling.
Venefica stood before it with her back to me.
“Lord Van Croix,” she said on a long, raspy drawl. “You do not possess the heart that I requested. Therefore, I do not know what compels you to return.”
“You are correct. The heart was destroyed. And I failed to deliver it to you.”
“And by failing to deliver, you–”
“But if it pleases you, I do have the key to Eradye.”
The old woman swung around, a look of disbelief coloring her expression. “Show me.”
I laid Farryn down on the floor of the cave, planting a quick kiss to her forehead, and pulled the key from my pocket where I’d stuffed it. The metal gleamed in the firelight as I held it up, twisting it in front of her.
“The key to Eradye.” Her voice held a hint of awe as she stared back at it. “I held it for centuries before it was stolen from me.”
“Centuries? You never once tried to open the portal?”
She chuckled and hobbled over toward her table of specimens and jars. “What use would I have for that barren land? It was only the power of possessing it that I enjoyed. But then it was taken from me and offered as a gift to Letifer.” Her shadowy eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked upon it again. “And now it’s returned to me.”
I gathered the key into my palm, hiding it away from her. “Only on the condition that you bring Farryn back to me.”
Her lips stretched to a smile, and she turned away, busying herself at the table. “I cannot say I’ve ever met a man so determined as you, Lord Van Croix. You bring new meaning to the wordlove.” She spoke the last word like a bitter taste on her tongue.
I said nothing in return, watching her shoulders jerk with her toil, as she smashed something together with a mortar and pestle.
“Very well. I will awaken her from slumber. But know this: no one returns from the black abyss the same. She will be changed.”
“Will she remain human?”
“Of course.”
“And her soul?”
“No more claimed than yours.”
I nodded. “Bring her back to me, and the key is yours.”
A moment later, she turned, holding a small snifter in her hands filled with a white, cloudy fluid, from which steam rose over the rim. She hobbled toward me. “Unsheathe your blade and cut across your palm.”
Without a beat of hesitation, I did as she asked, removing my blade and slicing a line across my palm. One handed, she curled my palm into a fist, her hands icy against my skin, and she held the snifter beneath, where drops of blood fell into the cloudy fluid on a hiss. “Heart of your heart. Blood of your blood.”
“She is still human, though,” I clarified.
“Yes. Albeit a very differentbreed.” As she crossed the room toward Farryn, my muscles twitched with the urge to push her away.
“The vitaeilem will not harm her?” While toxic to demons, its potency would’ve sent a human into cardiac arrest.
“No. It won’t.” She knelt to the floor beside Farryn and poured the substance, which slid into Farryn’s mouth like white smoke. “In three days, she will wake.”
“Three days?”
“You must give her time to find her way out of the darkness, Lord Van Croix.” She stroked a hand down Farryn’s hair. “But she will. She has a strong soul.” On a sigh, she pushed to her feet and held out her hand.
I placed the key onto her palm. “Who stole it from you?”
Smiling, she curled her bony fingers around it. “My sister. Syrisa of Soldethaire.”
