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“A necromancer’s cache,” the firewolf explained. “A place to store the undead. They’re enchanted to help preserve them.”

“Inarus madevaults?”

Zayne stiffened. “No, Pyrian did.”

“Pyrian…” The same necromancer who had controlled the black diamond before.

“Allegedly, he made several of them, but I don’t have a record of where any of them are.”

“Once, there were three vaults,” Ninti corrected, her voice lowering. “Dusk, Bog, and Shadow Isles. I never knew the precise locations, but their regions were impassable during the war. After Pyrian died, I assumed they were lost to time.”

“Apparently not.”

We walked in silence, our destination invisible to me while obvious to Zayne. Through him, I sensed the heavy weight of death long before we reached the large black slab. So smooth it caught our reflections, it was large enough that a dozen shades could stand shoulder to shoulder.

Cautiously, Ninti sniffed at the edge. She shifted into her full-sized firewolf form, her flames licking the dark stone.

Zayne walked to the center and crouched, reaching for the stone with his hand. As his consciousness drifted away, I scanned the horizon, confirming no one and nothing was near.

“How do we get inside?” I asked. “Is it a door we need to open?”

“It’s not meant to be opened by the living,” Zayne whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s called a death gate, and it’s only breached by moving through death, securing the vault on the other side for necromancers only.”

My breath hitched. Wherever he was going, I couldn’t follow. I forced my nerves to steady.

Zayne held my gaze as he took a proper seat upon the slab. “I’ll see what I can learn from here.”

I nodded, glancing around nervously as he quieted his body and dropped into death. Ninti sat at my side, facing the opposite direction as me.

Moments passed in eerie silence as Zayne’s body grew still, and soon, not even his chest moved as he wandered away. The tether stretched as the distance between us grew. Ninti’s flames grew hot against my legs, but I didn’t ask her to step away. Despite our silent surroundings, everything set me on high alert.

Under the tension of the moment, my focus honed.

Nothing moved. Nothing changed. Breaths passed.

Then Zayne’s mood darkened. Something he saw in the vault troubled him deeply, something far too complex for me to understand through our connection. Anticipation rushed my heartbeat as I reassured him through the tether that the coast was clear and he was safe to investigate.

More minutes passed in wary waiting. As he journeyed further away, his emotions grew dull.

What happens when we’re apart?

My throat tightened with the thought.

When he finally approached the surface of the Underworld, I felt him rising, the bond increasingly vibrant. It was a reassurance to know he’d return soon, but all the same, my breath stilled as Zayne took his first one, sucking in life again. At long last, my shoulders relaxed—for all that I trusted him in the Underworld, watching his descent still made me nervous.

It always would.

“The shard is definitely inside,” Zayne began.

I waited, lips pursed. He’d been down there far too long for that to be all. Ninti glanced from him to the distant sea, where theUmbral Starbobbed in the water.

Zayne’s fist clenched, and I felt the rising pulse of his concern. “There’s also a shade army inside. Thousands strong, I think.”

Oh.