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A servant turned a corner. We needed a place to hide—

I pulled Zayne into the barn. During our observations, we hadn’t seen any Shades coming or going from the structure. It would be empty inside.

The decision disguised itself as a tactical maneuver, but the moment I saw the ice-blue coffins, I knew—the Brand had guided me here to die.

Zayne

There were storage shelves near the barn’s entrance. We hid behind them, staying out of sight of the Shades within.

Two Shades lay dead upon medical tables. Blood trickled from several long incisions, collecting in buckets beneath their bodies.

drip… drip…

The echo of death lingered.

My mind expanded, finding the lens of the Underworld, and I discovered their bodies were fresh, their minds not fully reawakened. They had been branded and killed. They lingered in the process of rebirth.

Another Shade sat nearby, resting while they supervised the metamorphosis. Shades making Shades. The one in charge was likely under Inarus’s direct influence.

Ayla shook, a small gasp escaping her. Following her wide-eyed gaze, I examined the other side of the barn.

Ice-blue coffins. One contained a branded body—not quite dead.

The branded were frozen to death. Cold for a hypothermic death, cold for preservation. The process was sterile with necromantic controls, yet the air was tainted with Inarus’s signature decay.

Ayla heaved beside me, hand pressed to her chest. She paled.

“The Brand,” she explained. “I’m supposed to enter the coffin… It wants to kill me, and I would go like a willing lamb.”

Ninti nuzzled Ayla’s cheek. Ayla’s mouth opened and closed, gulping like a fish.

She didn’t ask for ashflower; I wasn’t sure she had the mind to. I trusted my instinct—I knew what she needed.

Careful not to leave a single petal behind, I plucked the ashflower from my satchel. Her Brand grew—expanding furiously. She pushed against me, trying to get away.

I held her tight.

Ayla shook. Her foot shifted, stepping closer to her death.

“Don’t go,” I begged.

Her gaze turned far away. Her body tensed.

I shoved the ashflower against the Brand. “Shade’s Brand,”I commanded with a whisper. “Let Ayla be.”

Ninti backed my words, her fur turning a dusty orange. She warmed Ayla, and I extracted the darkness. We held the spell until the ashflower withered.

Slowly, the color returned to Ayla’s face.

“Thank you.” She swallowed, squaring her shoulders. Her eyes flicked to the ice-blue coffin, then to the doorway. “I think Eleanor is near. Let’s go.”

“Shouldn’t you rest—”

“I can’t stay here. We need to keep moving. Quickly.”

I nodded. “Where’s Eleanor?”

Ayla pointed to a door along the side of the longhouse. “I think we should enter there. She’s not far.”