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“Our only choice is to keep moving,” Lorian said.
We continued our progress, all of us silent. There was an empty spot where Thol should have been walking, and I spent the time imagining all the various ways I would kill Regner one day.
I was so lost in blood lust, it took me a moment to realize we’d stopped moving. Lorian reached out his hand and prevented me from slamming into Demos’s back.
The path had split. We had two choices—continue straight or turn to the right. The path to the right was so narrow, just looking at it made my breath short. It appeared to be a dead end. But Lorian was studying it.
He pulled his dagger, stepping down the path. “Wait here,” he ordered, disappearing into the gloom. My heartbeats quickened as I lost sight of him.
Just moments later, he returned, expression triumphant.
“This way.”
I’d been able to manage my claustrophobia up until that point, but within a few steps down the narrow passage, it was as if the walls were moving, edging closer and closer, about to squeeze my body like a grape.
I shuddered, counting my steps in an attempt to slow my breathing. The air was musty, damp, and my skin broke out in goose bumps.
We slowly made our way down the narrow passage, until I was standing directly behind Lorian. And then I saw it. It wasn’t a dead end at all. One side was a recessed continuation of the passage, bending sharply away from the viewpoint of anyone who approached.
“It’s a natural illusion,” Asinia said, peering over my shoulder.
Lorian’s light orb slid farther from us, lighting our way. It was so narrow, we would need to shuffle sideways.
Even Lorian looked unhappy at this. But he slid into the cramped crevice, and his eyes met mine, his gaze steady, unrelenting. “You can do this.”
I swallowed, my mouth bone-dry. “I know.”
He began to inch his way down the passage. I followed, Asinia behind me, with Demos and Cavis guarding our backs.
“I’m glad I didn’t have a second helping of dinner last night,” Cavis called in a clear attempt to distract me.
“If I didn’t already want to kill Regner, this would do it,” Asinia muttered. She was too close. I was surrounded on all sides by rock and people and—
My throat constricted, my fingertips tingled, and my stomach spiraled until I could only focus on my feet, shuffling one at a time, over and over again.
Just when I was sure I would freeze, unable to move any farther, the passage spat us out into a cave so small, there was barely enough room for all of us to stand and face the next cavern entrance.
Lorian swept his gaze over me. “Behind me,” Lorian ordered, and I didn’t bother arguing, my head still spinning. He stepped through the entrance, and we filed in after him.
And there it was.
Barely bigger than my hand, the hourglass sat on a stone pedestal, a chain draping from a tiny hoop on the top. Its polished gold surface seemed to glow in the dim light of the cave. Twin reservoirs held the sand—not ordinary grains, but some kind of glittering manifestation of moments past and yet to come. I’d only seen the hourglass in Ysara’s vision, yet some part of me recognized it deep in my soul.
My breath caught, and I took a step closer. Lorian caught my arm.
“It’s protected by a ward.”
Now that he’d pointed it out, I could see hints of the ward, flickering around the pedestal.
“Can you break it?” Demos asked.
Lorian’s gaze stayed on the ward. I knew that look.
“Give him some time,” I said.
I took off my pack and rolled my shoulders, already dreading the trip back through that fucking passage.
Lorian cut his forearm and flicked his blade toward the hourglass. The ward was suddenly visible, marbled with black and red.
