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The sound of her name twitched my muscles. “Your sister?”
“Yes. Much like you, she was driven by reckless desires. She stole the key to the barren world for one who would never love her in return. A foolish girl, held captive by her unrequited love for Letifer, and imprisoned to Claudius's evil quest for ruling all five realms.”
“Why Farryn? Why wait centuries for her?”
“At first, Syrisa sought to kill Claudius in order to awaken Letifer, and Farryn would be the ultimate gift to win her lover’s adoration. Delivering a Met’Lazan who hadn’t yet passed on to the afterlife? Who still lived and breathed vitality. What a gift indeed! But her revenge would become twofold after Claudius stripped her soul. Your father had to die in order to set her free, as that is the curse of the unbound. And since you were the only being powerful enough to destroy Claudius, Syrisa found asylum in Farryn’s body. Your incorruptible love for her served as the catalyst for Syrisa’s freedom.” She stared down at the key in her palm, stroking a long-nailed thumb over the demon’s face etched in its bow. “Unfortunately, my sister underestimatedmyvindictive nature.”
“How was Letifer sent into slumber?”
“Your father came to me many centuries ago, on anoblequest to banish the evil of Letifer, knowing that I sought vengeance for the stolen key. I concocted a poison, much like the one given to your dear Farryn, which he struck into the beast’s skull. In exchange, I asked only that he return the key to me. But his good and righteous heart could not hand such power over to a witch, and therefore, I enslaved him to Eradye and Letifer for eternity.”
“If it was the key you sought all along, why have me retrieve the heart?”
The old woman’s smile widened even more. “It seems I miscalculated your love for this woman and your loyalty to the heavens. After all, what kind of hero hands the key to the barren world over to a witch?”
“The kind who does not choose anyone else over the woman he loves.”
On a dark chuckle, she backed herself away from me, straight into the flames.
68
FARRYN
“Farryn.”
The voice called to me in the darkness, and I opened my eyes to the dim light of a room.
I took in my surroundings. The windows along the wall, the dark and dreary masculine decor, the domed ceiling above, and the armoire across from me.
Jericho’s room.
On a gasp, I kicked myself back, my spine knocking into the headboard.
Memories filtered in.Long gray corridors. Widow in the woods. My father. Vespyr. The little boy. Jericho in chains.
Frowning, I touched my fingers to my cheek, where the dip of a scar passed beneath them.
“It wouldn’t heal completely. I tried.” The voice arrived from the shadows, and I lifted my gaze to find Jericho emerging from them.
My heart swelled at the sight of him in his black buttoned-down shirt and slacks, his imposing presence that filled the room. A magnificent relief that sent a ripple of panic across the back of my neck. Was he even real? “Are we … still in the labyrinth?”
“No.”
I looked around, a sinking feeling of betrayal settling beneath my skin. “How can you be sure?”
“I closed the portal.”
A strange feeling in my gut told me that was bad, but I couldn’t pinpoint why at first.
Burning in my throat. Black smoke. Shadowy ghost. Black liquid.“But your father … he gave me the elixir.”
Hands in his pockets, he rounded the edge of the bed and took a seat alongside me. “The heart was destroyed. I traded your soul for the key to Eradye.”
I recoiled at that, frowning back at him. “What does that mean? Key to Eradye? As in, the means of opening it?”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
