Page 43 of The Serpent’s Shadow

“There are many ways to see the same thing,” she echoed from before, and I thought she threw a wink at the elf beside me.

I felt awful for Corym, who seemed so determined. But Elayina was old, had seen enough, and was resistant to change after staying so long in this place.

How long has she actually been here?I wondered.

I didn’t feel it was my place to ask.

She flicked her wrist, shooing us. “Go,” she said. “Transcend the serpent’s shadow, and find your own truth within the tragedy of ancients.”

Chapter 15

Ravinica

THERE WAS SO MUCH TOunpack from Lady Elayina’s words, I didn’t know where to start. My head ached from everything she’d shared—trying to parse which bits were important and which were rubbish.

I didn’t know if she was a wise old bog-crone, as speculated, or if she was a woman mad from delirium and too long spent living in a damned tree.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to do any unpacking or thinking.

When Corym and I exited the seer’s cave, the elf took a few steps forward before freezing and plastering his gaze to the sky in the distance.

“Has the Ancient One addled my mind, or do you see that also,lunis’ai?” he asked, pointing over the treetops of Delaveer Forest.

I had so many questions to ask him.

They all died on my lips when I walked up to see where he was pointing, and squinted.

My squint flipped, eyes widening. “That looks like—”

“Smoke,” Corym grunted.

I nodded. It swirled in thick, black columns, blotting out sections of the moon.

We exchanged a worried glance.

“Corym,” I said, speaking aloud what we both saw. “It looks like it’s coming from . . .”

His lips firmed into a menacing visage that scared me. His wheatfield eyes darkened to burnished gold. “The tragedy. . .” he muttered under his breath, trailing off.

Then he dashed into the swampy route in front of us, all but sprinting as he found his footing. “Come on!” he yelled.

I gasped and the world blurred by as I pumped my legs and took off running.

Grief hit me in the chest, weighing down my heart as I recalled Lady Elayina’s grim tidings.The tragedy of the serpent’s shadow. Elayina said she was staying in Midgard, “To oversee the tragedy that will soon fall. To make sense of it all.” That must be what Corym is muttering about!

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