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The thought tore through her, one last desperate plea for help.

“What did you do?” Talos demanded, still pinning her in place.

The Bifrost writhed in the back of her mind, spitting angry sparks as it clawed its way closer to her, as if trying to close the distance between them.

It was trying to help her.

She let the ghost of a smile turn her mouth as she looked up at Talos through a veil of tangled red curls. “I called for help, you clod,” she breathed without remorse.

As the Bifrost continued to writhe, he leaned so close their noses could have touched. “What did you do?” he screamed. Spittle flecked her face, but she stared into his narrowed eyes without responding.

He cursed and shoved away from her so hard she went down to her elbows and almost smashed her face against the ground. “Hold her down!”

She felt more hands on her shoulders, then her wrists, yanking them out to her side. A new sort of terror bloomed inside her. What did he intend to do? Beat her senseless? Lop off her head? Drive a blade into her heart? Something much, much worse? She panted with terror but refused to scream. There was no time for that, no energy to be spared on something so primal yet useless.

Instead, she stared up at Talos as he snatched the book from a pocket in his cloak and wrenched it open. She watched his eyes flicker as he flipped through the pages, skimming for whatever horrible thing he wanted. The moment he found it, she knew by the pleased lift of his cruel mouth. He began to mutter words, dark and terrible words in a language she had never heard. Blue flames flickered from his fingers as he tented one hand over the pages of the book.

“What are you doing?” The words wrenched out of her unbidden. Whatever it was, if it came from that book, the one Jael deemed so dangerous... “That book isn’t safe.”

“I know.” Talos held her gaze. “And I must thank you for your part in bringing it to my attention. If it weren’t for you, or your precious goblin princes, I might never have found it.”

“What do you want with it? What are you going to do?”

The fire flickering at his fingertips burned a little brighter. “There is a world beyond ours, you know.” His voice had taken on an eager, reckless quality that frightened her more than anything else had. “And there are things in that world that can make or break kingdoms.”

“I know! It’s breaking Agmon apart, literally!”

“Better them than us.” A hateful smile touched his mouth. “It won’t be my kingdom that breaks. We’ll rise from the rubble and free ourselves from the cursed Shadewood, take our proper place in the world. Our world.”

He was mad. Truly mad.

“And this—” His gaze shifted to caress the hateful book in his hand. “—this may be the key we’ve been looking for, the way we gain true access to the shades, to their power. Until now, we’ve only seen hints of it. But this…this could change everything. I should also thank you for your sacrifice,” he continued. He stepped toward her with the playful grace of a cat stalking a mouse. “It’s so kind of you.”

Bile rose in the back of her throat. “Sacrifice?”

“Yes, of course. This sort of magic works best with blood, you know.”

One of the elves twisted her arm, lifting the tender side of her wrist toward the ceiling. She shrieked as he whipped a blade from his belt. She saw the blood spilling from her arm before she felt the searing streak of pain. Talos continued to mutter as he kneeled beside her and positioned the book beneath her arm to catch the drops of blood.

Of her blood.

Her stomach dropped in horror. Whatever he was doing, if it required a blood sacrifice…even she with little knowledge of magic knew this was bad. Blood magic was the worst sort, the forbidden kind.

The book flared to life with a hiss and a growl that sounded like thunder beyond the mountains.

“What are you doing?” she moaned.

At last, Talos glanced her way, flashing a smile that revealed white teeth. “Calling for reinforcements.”

The thunder of the deep, unseen places surged to a roar that threatened to shake the mountains down on them.

Chapter 36

A premonition of imminent danger drove Jael through the tunnels at a run. The Bifrost yanked him along, all but screaming his name. Its power lanced through his head, down his veins, into his bones. He didn’t know what was happening, but it must be something of the worst sort for the Bifrost to be calling to him in this way. He rounded a bend in the tunnel leading to the last great chamber on the far end of Agmon, the place that lay adjacent to Gelaira and ran parallel to the rivers.

His connection to Anrid had been growing stronger by the minute, her emotions reaching out to him like pleading arms.

Behind him, Rig and Math puffed for breath. They were close behind him, Rig hiked onto Math’s narrow shoulders because the goblin boy couldn’t keep up. True to his word, Rig had pointed them in the right direction. Jael could feel it in his bones.