Page 73 of Of Blooming Embers
“Stop. I know what you’re doing,” Seryn hissed.
I didn’t stop. Melina and her enforcers were getting closer, and there wasn’t time to distract them further.
Melina narrowed her eyes. “Ready the nearest pod,” she snapped at the Akridais. “It’s time for a culling.”
“Now!” Neoma screamed as one of the Akridais’ embers shot forward. She threw her weight into me, effectively pushing Seryn and me into the churning haze of the portal as greasy tendrils locked around her waist.
Seryn called out her grandmother’s name, her fingers grasping for Neoma as the woman’s body jerked backward into the moonlight.
And then we fell, mist and firefly-like lights cocooning us.
29
A MURKY SITUATION
GAVREL
As if we were rancid morsels of food, the mouth of the portal spewed our bodies in a heap, the stench of decay filling my lungs. Seryn’s howl followed us as we slammed into the pallid, cracked ground. The portal spun until it collapsed and vanished in a puff of sparks.
A heavy sense of hopelessness immediately blanketed me, all color sucked from my sight. I glared at the gray, dreary hues around us, infuriation blistering over me and replacing the despair. Pushing onto my elbows, a grunt tumbled from my throat. An acrid breeze rustled the strands hanging over my forehead.
The Stygian Murk was always such a fucking pleasure.
Marek, Breena, and Rhaegar splayed in a tangle of monochrome limbs, and Seryn trembled next to me. She sobbed once, dragging herself upright. Without thinking, I pushed onto my knees, ignoring the ache in my ribs, and gathered her to my chest.
“She’ll be all right,” I murmured, cupping her head and brushing my thumb over her strands.
She sniffled, choking around another sob. Her words were scratchy, as if her throat were raw from screaming. “We don’t know that, and there’s no use pretending otherwise.” She squeezed her arms around me for a moment before clumsily standing, surveying the land.
I stared up at her, my mouth set in a rigid line. She was still forcing down the hard feelings so they wouldn’t break her. The weight of them pressed into my stomach as if they were my own. I’d need to remind her later that shecouldbreak in front of me. That I’d help put the pieces back together so they didn’t cut her soul to ribbons.
“Ah, always a treat visiting the Murk. I just adore my will to live being sucked from me.” Breena’s sardonic tone sounded as the others gathered around us.
Marek brushed the dust off his bare chest and picked up his staff. “Yaya?” He stared at Seryn expectantly. She shook her head and glowered into the distance.
“Melina and her Akridais showed themselves, and Neoma pushed us through the portal before it closed,” I informed him.
His biceps tensed, and he looked away. “Bloody stubborn woman,” he muttered.
“The traitor,” I added. “Caelora Aundyne.”
Marek sneered at the name. “The half-borne will get what she’s owed. I knew she was more trouble than she was worth.” My brow lifted to the sky as Marek reached for Seryn, and I stood. “We will rescue Yaya, cousin,” he breathed.
She planted her feet in a wide stance and gave him a curt nod. “They’ll pay. And I choose to believe that she’s alive.” Marek squeezed her shoulder once before gripping his quarterstaff with both hands.
Following Seryn’s line of vision, I squinted. Not too far ahead, a deep, shadowed valley loomed between monstrous mountain peaks. Above it, the sky was enraged, coal-colored clouds heaving and crashing into one another.
“That’s the valley I spoke of.” Seryn’s thumb rubbed along the pommel of her dagger. “This is where I ended up at the start of the last Dormancy.”
“Did you—” Marek began, studying the horizon.
“No,” she responded without letting him finish. She glanced at him apologetically, speaking more softly. “No. We went the other way toward the Surrelian portal. But”—her hand brushed against her nape—“but my emberwantsme to go that way.” Like a wraith, she moved toward the valley.
Her ember was true. I knew it in my marrow. My own hooked around my bones; its insistent energy urged me in that direction as well.
Kaden was in there. I was sure of it.
A fleck of black caught my eye in the space she’d left. Reaching down and picking up the gleaming stone, I ran my thumb over its etching. It was Seryn’s protection talisman. She went nowhere without it. I pocketed it and trailed after her like the shadow I was.
