Page 87 of Soul Forge

“The king has sentries posted throughout the valleys around Saeryn, as well as sending aid to Eden’s borders,” Reiner added. “He’s promised me updates when he receives new information.”

“Can’t we just go to Bratus and look for Arden ourselves?” Lillian asked, flipping her blue braids over her shoulder. Despite the tension the others displayed, her shoulders were relaxed, ankles crossed under the table. Elda watched her manicured nails drum rhythmically against the marble.

“For what reason?” Reiner countered, frowning at the fae. “The vampires were assisting him with the infestation when he was captured. They saw what happened. Arden was carriedawayfrom Bratus.”

“The Corrupted rode wraiths bigger than any I’ve ever seen,” Clover agreed. “We tried to stop them, but they were barely troubled by us. They came down from the clouds. We didn’t even see them until they were on top of us.”

“Arden told us to go after the escaping demons from the infestation, so we did. When we returned, he was gone,” Yani said.

Lillian arched an eyebrow. “How do you know they didn’t just kill him?”

“If Cynthia killed him, she would have left his mutilated body behind for the vampires to find,” Reiner pointed out, shaking her head. “I’ve seen her handiwork before. The Corrupted only clean up their mess when they have bigger things in mind.”

Sypher nodded. “They do everything for maximum impact. They didn’t attack the rest of Bratus when they showedthemselves.” The furrow in his brow deepened. “Clover and Reiner are right. They wanted Arden for something.”

“So how do we get him back?” Elda asked.

“Until we know more, we can’t,” Gira sighed. “They could be anywhere.”

Lillian’s head jerked back, her boredom becoming a glower. “So, we just sit around and wait for intel? What if we never get any? Wielders don’t sit and wait for information; wedosomething.”

“And what, exactly, do you want to do?” the ex-captain asked, resting an elbow on the tabletop. “Going to Bratus is a waste of time. Time Arden might not have. We can’t blindly stumble through Valerus, hoping to bump into him.”

“I doubt they’ll be silent for long,” Sypher reasoned, folding his arms across his chest and throwing the runes on his exposed forearms into sharp relief. “They have a plan, and we’re on the back foot. Which leads me to problem number two – Elda’s premonition. I think it has something to do with whatever plan the Corrupted have cooked up.”

“It wanted me to go somewhere,” she agreed, “but I don’t know where. Or why.” A cold finger of fear trailed down her spine, phantom screams ringing in her ears.

“Useful,” Lillian scoffed, rolling her eyes. Reiner shot her a look that could melt steel.

“Shut it,” Sypher snapped. “If you have nothing constructive to add, leave.” The fae glared at him but held her tongue.

“My premonition took me to a white mountain,” Elda explained. “The walls leaked something red, and the whole place just seemedoff.” She looked at the group. “Has anyone heard of anywhere like that?”

She was met with blank stares until her gaze fell on Lillian. Her pale blue brows were raised, violet eyes rounded.

“I have,” she admitted, nodding slowly. “I used to tell my children a story about that place. It was something passed down in our family. It was called the Weeping Mountain, and it’s a real place in Cenet.”

At the sound of its name, Elda knew her premonition and Lillian were referring to the same place. The thread twined around her heart gave an insistent tug, confirming that she was right.

“What can you remember about it?” the princess asked.

“The mountain was said to cry the blood of the dead, and anyone that entered it went mad.” Elda remembered the pleas for help, the desperate fear permeating the premonition, and wondered if that was what the people entering it would feel. “The mines inside it were closed off, and when that happened, the story was eventually forgotten. The tips of the mountains in Cenet are solid moonstone, which is naturally white.”

“Can you tell us the story?” Sypher asked.

Lillian shook her head. “I can’t remember most of it. I haven’t told the story in almost four centuries. When I lived there, it was folklore. Nothing more than superstition encouraged by a group of miners with an overactive imagination.”

“Can you remember any of it?” Julian pressed.

“Only that it was to scare the children away from playing near the mines.”

“I think it’s urgent. I can still feel the pull to go there,” Elda told them, and the thread tugged again, hard enough to make her pause. “Whatever is waiting there is horrible, though. The feeling I got with the premonition was...loss. Hopelessness. Absolute despair.”

“We should split into two groups,” Reiner suggested, her eyes glued to Elda.

The Soul Forge nodded. “Gira, Julian, and Reiner, you can come with Elda and I to Cenet. Yani, Clover, and Lillian, thethree of you need to find out whatever you can regarding Arden’s whereabouts and recent activity. We need to know if anything he did in the last few months could have led to this.”

“I want to come to Cenet with you,” Lillian argued. “Stick the vamp with his ilk and let me tag along. Or swap me out with the stony soldier.” Reiner looked like she might smash Lillian’s tapping fingers with her mace, but Sypher put his palm flat on the marble to look Lillian in the eye.

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