Page 33

A MURKY SITUATION

GAVREL

A s if we were rancid morsels of food, the mouth of the portal spewed our bodies in a heap, the stench of decay filling my lungs. Seryn’s howl followed us as we slammed into the pallid, cracked ground. The portal spun until it collapsed and vanished in a puff of sparks.

A heavy sense of hopelessness immediately blanketed me, all color sucked from my sight.

I glared at the gray, dreary hues around us, infuriation blistering over me and replacing the despair.

Pushing onto my elbows, a grunt tumbled from my throat.

An acrid breeze rustled the strands hanging over my forehead.

The Stygian Murk was always such a fucking pleasure.

Marek, Breena, and Rhaegar splayed in a tangle of monochrome limbs, and Seryn trembled next to me. She sobbed once, dragging herself upright. Without thinking, I pushed onto my knees, ignoring the ache in my ribs, and gathered her to my chest.

“She’ll be all right,” I murmured, cupping her head and brushing my thumb over her strands .

She sniffled, choking around another sob. Her words were scratchy, as if her throat were raw from screaming. “We don’t know that, and there’s no use pretending otherwise.” She squeezed her arms around me for a moment before clumsily standing, surveying the land.

I stared up at her, my mouth set in a rigid line.

She was still forcing down the hard feelings so they wouldn’t break her.

The weight of them pressed into my stomach as if they were my own.

I’d need to remind her later that she could break in front of me.

That I’d help put the pieces back together so they didn’t cut her soul to ribbons.

“Ah, always a treat visiting the Murk. I just adore my will to live being sucked from me.” Breena’s sardonic tone sounded as the others gathered around us.

Marek brushed the dust off his bare chest and picked up his staff. “Yaya?” He stared at Seryn expectantly. She shook her head and glowered into the distance.

“Melina and her Akridais showed themselves, and Neoma pushed us through the portal before it closed,” I informed him.

His biceps tensed, and he looked away. “Bloody stubborn woman,” he muttered.

“The traitor,” I added. “Caelora Aundyne.”

Marek sneered at the name. “The half-borne will get what she’s owed. I knew she was more trouble than she was worth.” My brow lifted to the sky as Marek reached for Seryn, and I stood. “We will rescue Yaya, cousin,” he breathed.

She planted her feet in a wide stance and gave him a curt nod. “They’ll pay. And I choose to believe that she’s alive.” Marek squeezed her shoulder once before gripping his quarterstaff with both hands.

Following Seryn’s line of vision, I squinted. Not too far ahead, a deep, shadowed valley loomed between monstrous mountain peaks. Above it, the sky was enraged, coal-colored clouds heaving and crashing into one another.

“That’s the valley I spoke of.” Seryn’s thumb rubbed along the pommel of her dagger. “This is where I ended up at the start of the last Dormancy. ”

“Did you—” Marek began, studying the horizon.

“No,” she responded without letting him finish. She glanced at him apologetically, speaking more softly. “No. We went the other way toward the Surrelian portal. But”—her hand brushed against her nape—“but my ember wants me to go that way.” Like a wraith, she moved toward the valley.

Her ember was true. I knew it in my marrow. My own hooked around my bones; its insistent energy urged me in that direction as well.

Kaden was in there. I was sure of it.

A fleck of black caught my eye in the space she’d left. Reaching down and picking up the gleaming stone, I ran my thumb over its etching. It was Seryn’s protection talisman. She went nowhere without it. I pocketed it and trailed after her like the shadow I was.

I’d follow her anywhere.

Behind us, the booming crash of rock sounded. Powdered clay sprayed over our backs, and a distinct fissure carved the ground between my steps.

“Bloody void!” Rhaegar hollered while running past me, followed by Breena and Marek. Pale dust coated their backsides. Seryn and I glanced behind at the massive boulder that had plummeted from one of the teetering, hovering islets overhead and sprinted after them. No need to be crushed today .

As we dashed across the desiccated terrain, nearing the vale, the floating landmasses above quaked violently, shaking loose more and more chunks as they wept tears of stone. We darted and dodged the dropping rocks but couldn’t avoid being pelted entirely.

Fortunately, the islets were shrinking as we neared the entrance, so mostly it was pebbles that rained down. Still unpleasant, but they weren’t enough to cave in our skulls.

We paused, gawking at the angry, parched expanse before us. Shadows and shades of taupe and muddy gray mixed across the mountainous dips and ridges.

A crack above Seryn’s head had me whipping my attention to her. A few gravelly shards struck my cheek as the tail end of Marek’s quarterstaff jerked toward him, a massive cobble as big as my fist crashing in front of Seryn’s feet.

He’d save her skull from being bashed in. Forehead furrowed, I nodded at him, and he did the same in return, digging his weapon into the ground.

“Thanks … cousin.” Seryn blew a shaky breath out, her puffing cheeks turning a darker shade of gray. I could have sworn Marek’s eyes softened before he muttered no thanks were necessary.

From the corner of my vision, a frenzied flurry of darkness buzzed on the horizon. “Shades are getting curious. Let’s move.”

Breena hurried forward. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

“I overheard the Elders discussing them once.” Rhaegar clutched his baldric, his axe handle bobbing against his back. His lips twisted to the side, and he exhaled heavily. “Apparently, they’re Druiks who never escaped limbo.”

Seryn’s head dipped, and she rubbed her hand down her face. “Ancients, that’s horrific. Those poor souls.”

Breena gave Seryn a side hug, her hand rubbing her biceps. “Lesson learned. Don’t linger in the Murk,” Breena groused. She lifted her chin, her eyes shiny with unspent tears. “We’re making it out. We’re not shade material.”

A sad smile lined Seryn’s lips as she looked at her friend.

Breena’s grandmother had perished here. Seryn put her arm around her, and Breena crinkled her nose with a sniffle.

Then they both marched forward, one stride in front of the other, with determined expressions. These women were made of pure backbone.

We traversed the arid, rocky terrain, following the empty riverbed carving down the center of the valley. This realm had likely never seen water a day in its existence, so who the void knew how it came to be.

This plane offered no remorse or logic. Its sole purpose was to suck the will to live from you while you tried to escape its clutches.

“The Ancients wanted to make it as difficult as possible for mortals to stumble into other realms, eh?” Marek grumbled as if reading my mind .

Rhaegar chuckled. “Why make anything easy for mortals? That would hardly be as entertaining. Eternal life, I suspect, becomes rather boring in time.”

“Living is never boring,” Breena snorted, bumping her hip into Seryn’s. “And if it is, you’re doing it wrong.”

Seryn’s lips wobbled, a small smile threatening. My heart lurched, overwhelmed with gratitude for Breena’s ability to make Seryn smile. I nodded at the female, and she wiggled her brows at me, the corner of her mouth curling.

Every so often, thunder would crash as if upset that we dared walk through the vale. Lightning blazed above us, stirring the clouds into a frothy vat of agitated gloom and illuminating the living shadows stalking us. None yet were bold enough to attack.

With shades, it was best to go about your business unless they pounced. Their hunger for ember seemed collectively linked, and as a whole, they became more ravenous and menacing the instant one of them got a taste.

The deeper we went, the narrower the path became as the jagged edges of the mountains squeezed together like guards forming a barricade. The atmosphere became thick and oppressive, crushing into my muscles and making it more difficult to drag air into my lungs.

“We’re not wanted here,” Rhaegar said, rubbing a palm against his chest. “The very air is shoving against us.” He glanced back and brandished his axe. As I drew my sword, both of our tattoos ignited, lighting up our blades.

“Fecking fantas—” Breena muttered at the same time Marek huffed, “We’re doing something right then.

” They looked at each other, Breena rolling her eyes, her vibrant cherry-red ember snapping and sparking over her form.

Marek’s frown dug deeper into his jaw, and he clutched his quarterstaff more tightly while a halo of flicking ebony flames embraced him.

Seryn’s gaze bored into me, and I met it. My sword’s radiance reflected in them. She breathed slowly, allowing her aura to bloom in a dazzling display of fragmented rainbow hues. It was as if her body were a crystal prism that shattered her inner light and caught the broken fragments in her orbit.

My lips parted as I lost myself for a moment, my arm wilting and heart skipping several beats. Amusement flirted with the corners of her mouth. Tilting her head to the side, her smile never fully formed before concern darkened her face.

The intensifying buzz of swarming bees came closer, stealing my attention away from her. The shadow creatures advanced quickly now, their darkened mist coiling hungrily as they neared, yellow eyes blazing. They were ravenous for our activated ember.

An image of Seryn trapped within a shade’s gluttonous smog flashed through my mind. Last fall, when one of these beasts attacked her, I had almost lost her. Acid boiled in my gut, threatening to burn through muscle, bone, and skin.

Back then, I hadn’t been able to reach her in time.

I failed her … once again.

But I wouldn’t allow that to happen now.