Ström glances at her, giving her the saddest smile, though he’s grateful for her support.
“Aesa told me she recognized my Excommunication curse as her sister’s ancient magic—Hedda herself,” I say now, thinking it through. “When we traced that curse to its origin, however, it was Litha. So somehow, Litha can either wield Hedda’s magic, or has magic so similar to Hedda’s that even Aesa couldn’t distinguish it.”
“Bad news, either way,” Bjorn grumps as he crosses his burly arms.
“Hedda is dead, though.” Baldur lifts an eyebrow at me. “If her soul is tethered to the Black Dragon and flying around as discorporate malevolent black energy right now, it’s not in the Void to help place this curseupon you. It’s tied to the Black Dragon’s Void. A different place than the Void of Ancestors. Which is the entire problem with the Usurper.”
“Besides the fact that Rikyava was cursedbeforewe let the bitch out of the proverbial Pandora’s box atUnhaemmerten,” Ström adds as he glances at me. “Which leaves our mysterious enemy Litha acting on her own, most likely.”
“Litha’s group has at least one of Hedda’s black rings—Emil has it.” Lærke pipes up now as her vivid lavender eyes pierce mine. “We haven’t seen a similar ring on Litha anytime she took us on in battle. But perhaps even having one ring of Hedda’s gives Litha’s Bloodbond access to magic from Hedda. At least, in part.”
“I really dislike that thought, sister.” Mikkel scowls now. He looks at me. “Do these silver rings give us access to Aesa’s power?”
“Some.” A deep sadness fills me then, as I glance at Bjorn’s and my hands, then the rings upon the table. “But Aesa gave us her all, to get us out of a tight spot with that Excommunication curse. I think she considered the gamble and knew it had to be done. She traded her energy and protection right then for any future benefit we might get out of these rings. I can only hope that their ancient craftsmanship, which goes back thousands of years before Aesa, has a benefit of its own. Independent of her energy-imprint still upon them.”
“Like her protection around this place.” Bjorn nods as he scowls more. “Which is going to crash and burn the moment her energy at last leaves us, you can count on it. Which is why we need to figure out how to trap those wights of the Black Dragon Five, before Aesa’s protection on this place comes crashing down and they find what they’re looking for: the birthplace of their Jörmungandr. And re-imbue themselves into the creature… giving it its full power again, at last, to devour the world.”
“Yay. I love Armageddon.” Mikkel grins with his sky-high energy now, though his black eyes flash, vicious.
“So, how do we find this secret hall where the Black Dragon was created?”Ström’s gaze flicks to me. “Do you feel any pull towards it, Rikyava, in your power?”
“No.” I shake my head, though I already have an idea of where to get started with Ström’s query. “But each time our magics have created our auric fire down here, they’ve burnished the runes upon the walls. It’s like those runes gather our fire and wield it somehow. They directed me towards the vault with the mirror and rings, even though I wasn’t consciously asking for help. I think that maybe, if we create our fire again and focus our intention this time, of what we wish to find?—”
“The runes might just reveal it.” Baldur’s eyebrows lift. “Magic of necessity.”
“Excuse me?” I ask him, frowning.
“It’s an ancient trick, used in runic libraries by sigilwrights,” Baldur explains, as he looks around at us. “Because runic libraries can be so vast, with so many spells catalogued,magic of necessityis often used to lead those who need a certain spell right to what they seek. It would make sense that it was used down here, if this entire place is basically its own library.”
“How does it work?” Ström asks.
“You simply focus on what you wish to find, and runes in the library light up, leading you to what you seek.” Baldur shrugs. “Here, that focus may need an additional layer of auric fire to activate them, as Rikyava’s discovered.”
“Our ancient Ancestors made this place, before they were split in their Blood and Bone Magic,” I say now as I consider it. “They were all essentially Bloodwalkers. Perhaps this auric fire was common for them. A talent we lost when our magic became split and Bloodwalkers became far less common.”
“In any case, it seems we need to produce our auric fire again.” Mikkel claps his hands, boisterous. “Well. Shall we get to fucking, then?”
“Seriously?” Bjorn growls at him. I set a hand to Bjorn’s arm, though Ström speaks before I can.
“Mikkel’s right,” Ström says as we all look at Mikkel. “Our fire comes most naturally when we have sex, even though it seems it can be provoked by any high-emotion state. It’s had several different appearances, however, depending on what emotions of ours were driving it. Last night, we were in a state of ecstasy as we cleansed Baldur’s curses and came together. What if the runes on the walls don’t light unless we’re in a high-heart state like that again?”
“Or what if we find something wereallydon’t like down here, if our auric fire goes black?” I say now, as I recall how terribly oilslick-black my fire went as I was facing off with the Black Dragon.
“Might lead us into some dangerous, lost oubliette.” Ström nods, catching my drift. “I imagine a place like this has fail-safes against the wrong people finding certain information down here. Information that could end the world, if they were in a really awful state.”
“Hedda discovered the place of power that aided her in creating the Black Dragon, and the knowledge to do it.” Baldur is quiet now as he looks at me. “She was in a terrible state, grieving for her dead First Drake. Perhaps this place has no fail-safes; perhaps it simply gives you what you resonate with, what you seek. Which is even more dangerous than if it had magical oubliettes, to trap those who wished to do harm.”
“She wanted to punish everyone in the War of Blood and Bone for what happened,” Mikkel says as his energy spikes, vicious. “And she found everything she needed down here to do it.”
We all sit silent now, digesting Mikkel’s dark but immensely acute words as our group energy churns.
“Well.Weneed to do something far better with this place of power than she did.” Ström is decisive as he glances at me. “How do we get started? Do we don those rings first, or do we simply get naked and do each other first to make our fire flare? Because I’m game, either way.”
“I don’t know, exactly.” I glance at Bjorn, then at the rings. “When Bjorn put his on a few hours ago, it produced some kind of intensemagical resonance with mine, and between our dragons. I think before we have our next group encounter, we should put on the rings. Get as much benefit from them as we can to help us.”
My statement makes everyone pause, however, as a deep silence envelops the table. It’s then I realize I just asked three drakes to get hitched to me with wedding rings, although we’re already life-mated.
“No time like the present, I suppose.” Ström is the first to rise as he comes around the table to where Bjorn and I sit. He lifts an eyebrow at me, then nods at the rings. “Which one do I take?”
