Page 102

Chapter

Sixty-Nine

Nuo

T he prayer chamber revealed nothing. “It’s not going to work. I need to be underwater—every Sea-leg knows that.”

“Try harder,” Brekt groaned. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”

“No kidding. We flew to Aethar lands in Falizha’s ship. There’s a female Aethar out there who we are helping alongside the Ikhor.”

“It’s something else.”

Brekt brought up the recurring dream he’d had of me.

I wouldn’t admit to him I was nervous, too.

No one wanted to face death, but here? With the blue one being the most significant threat?

Doubtful. “I will avoid those blue rippled lights for the rest of the search. Today will not be the day that I die. That would be too pathetic for someone as skilled as me.”

“This isn’t the time to joke,” Brekt grumbled. He paced the room, scratching at his head. “Falizha brought nearly a hundred Guardians to the Aethar lands.”

I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from cursing.

How was I supposed to pray when Brekt was feeling chatty?

“The Ravins have explained very little,” I said.

“Aeden’s not open with his sister. Shocking, who would be?

I can’t stop thinking about Aeden possibly being connected to the Lost Lands.

There was a piece of Falizha’s journal I wrote down back when we first boarded her ship with Liv.

Once I translated it, I thought it was useless.

But now that I’m thinking about it … fuck, I almost forgot! ”

“What?” Brekt asked, pacing.

“The last line from the section I copied said, ‘All the while, Aeden has not returned from the island, and I have not been told what he’s doing there.’ ” I waited for Brekt to understand, and when he did, he turned my way.

“See? I was right. Aeden is connected to the Lost Lands. They’re experimenting up there with more than these Deathmakers. ”

Brekt nodded. “You could be right, but we may be missing something. What other experiments do you think they are doing?”

“Bastane told us of the liquid they used on Liv to knock her out cold when Falizha kidnapped her and took her to the burning field.” I crossed my arms as I watched Brekt continue to walk in circles.

“So we know they are messing around with the magic in the crystals. On top of that, how did they produce so many Deathmakers without it being known? Why did they bring so many Guardians with them?”

“My guess? To end the Guards. They want an excuse to execute us and leave no witnesses.”

Brekt stopped, gaping at me. “Then why the ship full of Guardians?”

“They need witnesses to confirm the stories. Or perhaps they plan to attack the big city the blue ones are from and take us out in the process.”

Brekt chewed on that while I went back to praying, but it wasn’t long before he broke my concentration again. “That Aethar is an interesting one,” he said. “She knows her stuff. She’ll be a big help to Liv.”

I forgoed trying to call for Mayra, she wasn’t coming. I eyed him, noticing no traces of the yellow eyes or swirling darkness under his skin, but something was off. “You are more worried than usual. Even when you used to go dark, it was never like this. You’re not hiding it very well.”

Brekt cursed, and it set my nerves alight. I’d seen him worry, but this was something more … he was scared.

“I used to go dark, fearing what I would become,” he said. “Now I’ve become it and have learned there are worse things to fear.”

“Listen, man,” I began, but was cut off by loud shouts outside the room.

A loud bang rang out, accompanied by screams. We grabbed our weapons and rushed to the door. Maybe Brekt sensed more than he let on.

Before he threw open the door, I shoved him back. “If you want to remain unseen, then stay here.”

I followed the yelling back into the main chamber and skidded to a halt, unable to understand what I was seeing.