Page 57 of Beyond the Treaty
Blood will open the way.
I swallowed hard. We were here. Now, there was no turning back.
CHAPTER 31
Azrael reached for his blade, his fingers tightening around the hilt. “Elara,” he murmured, his gaze locking onto mine. “Are you ready?”
I took a steadying breath, then nodded. “Do it.”
He unsheathed his dagger, its edge gleaming in the pale light. He took my hand without hesitation, his grip warm against my skin. His gaze held mine for a moment longer before he pressed the blade against my palm. A sharp sting followed a thin line of crimson welling up from the cut.
When my blood touched the tome, the runes flared brighter, rapidly shifting. The magic surrounding Ebonshade trembled, an unseen force unravelling before us.
Darius tensed, his hand resting on his weapon. “Something’s happening.”
A deep rumble echoed through the night. The fortress groaned as though awakening from a slumber. Then, with a sudden jolt, the massive iron gates shuddered and began to creak open, revealing nothing but a yawning darkness beyond.
Azrael sheathed his dagger, his expression grim. “This is it.”
I clenched my wounded hand into a fist, ignoring the dull throb. “Then let’s finish this.”
We stepped forward, into the shadows of Ebonshade Keep.
The air inside was heavy and thick with the scent of old magic and decay. The torches that lined the walls flickered with an eerie, bluish glow, casting elongated shadows that moved even when we did not. The deeper we went, the more the silence pressed in, wrapping around us like a living thing.
I snapped my gaze to my hand. The wound was healing, and the vampire within me was showing now.
Darius shifted uneasily. “Something about this place makes my skin crawl.”
“Because it’s alive,” Azrael murmured. “The walls, the stone, all of it, it remembers.”
A shiver ran through me. I had felt it the moment we crossed the threshold. Ebonshade Keep was not just a fortress, I remembered. It was now a prison. A tomb. And Kaelen was at its heart.
I tightened my grip on the tome, its runes pulsing faintly, guiding us deeper into the darkness. The path ahead twisted and shifted as if the corridors themselves sought to confuse us, but I would not be deterred.
Not when he was waiting for me.
Not when time was running out.
A low whisper slithered through the corridor, an unnatural
sound that sent ice crawling down my spine. I halted, my breath catching as the shadows along the walls thickened, writhing like living tendrils.
Darius swore under his breath. “Tell me that’s just the wind.”
Azrael’s hand hovered over his blade. “Stay close. And do not listen to anything you hear.”
The whispers grew louder, forming words that barely scraped comprehension. My name. My mother’s voice. Kaelen’s voice. Each word was twisted, distorted, laced with a venom meant to burrow under my skin.
“Elara...”
I froze.
That was Kaelen.
It wasn’t a trick; I knew his voice, its cadence, and the raw
edge of pain laced within. The tome in my grip pulsed as if urging me forward.
