Talon turned and his fingers slid between mine, lacing our hands together.
“Are you ready, little flame?”
I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. Every terrifying bedtime story about the Umbral—the monsters, the darkness, the death—clawed at my mind. I was a creature of the sun, of soil and blooming things. Every instinct screamed that Idid not belong in the crushing deep of the earth. But the High Court’s thorns were at my back, and there was only one way forward.
“Yes,” I said at last.
We descended where the walls closed in, the fissure sloping sharply downward into a throat of polished obsidian that seemed to devour every stray spark of light.
The silence inside was immense, pressing in from every side until it felt as though the mountain itself were holding its breath. Only the steady crunch of our boots against the stone disturbed it, the sound echoing faintly along the narrow passage as Talon guided me deeper into the cavern’s throat.
The further we wandered, the more the voices began to wake.
At first, it was a hollow whistle—the wind through a keyhole. Then it multiplied into a drifting, ethereal chorus that slid through the cavern like breath exhaled from unseen mouths. Cold currents brushed my skin, lifting the fine hairs on my arms as something invisible darted past my cheek.
I stiffened, my fingers tightening around Talon’s.
“Spirits,” Talon murmured. “They guide the way for those they recognize.”
The chorus deepened, the sound settling into a haunting, wintery melody just beyond my reach. It was beautiful in the way a storm was beautiful—frightening and absolute. I found myself pressing into his side, my nerves pulled tight as bowstrings.
The path leveled, the tight corridor suddenly falling away as the darkness exploded into a space so vast it defied logic. Ahead, framed against the endless black, stood an archway of sheer obsidian. It was smooth as glass, towering into the gloom, its surface threaded with cobalt and violet veins that pulsed with a slow, rhythmic heartbeat.
The spirits felt it, too. Their whispers sharpened, a restless cloud of static skimming my skin. As Talon led me beneath thearch, they burst outward in a frantic, shimmering spiral. Silver shapes darted past my shoulders, their touch sharp with ice, as we crossed the threshold.
The city of Umbral did not sit upon the peaks; it was carved into the very heart of the obsidian range, a massive, jagged bowl where the mountain walls reached up like frozen waves to frame the starlight above.
Jagged towers rose from the cliffs at impossible angles, their surfaces laced with violet crystals that pulsed like glowing veins. There were no torches here. Illumination spilled from the city itself—rivers of blue luminescence winding through the streets, and runes etched into the foundations that glowed softly beneath the passing Veythar.
Veythar drifted along the thoroughfares with an effortless grace, their dark forms folding easily into the shifting shadows.
I had expected snarling beasts lurking in a cavern of bones.
Instead I saw figures bent over glowing worktables, careful hands shaping crystal and metal beneath steady light. Others moved in quiet pairs through the streets, their voices low, their pace unhurried.
At the gate ahead, two guards stepped forward as we approached. They were tall and spare, their dark cloaks falling in heavy folds that swallowed the glow around them. Their pale blue eyes moved to me first, studying my face with a quiet attentiveness that made the back of my neck prickle.
Talon gave a small nod as we stopped.
Both guards dipped their heads immediately, the motion swift and unquestioning.
“Master Veyr, welcome home.”
“Thank you, Ludis.”
The guard turned his attention to me, his long black hair framing a face of striking beauty. “And welcome to our kingdom, Lady Kaelia.”
I looked up at him, offering a customary dip of my head. “It is lovely to meet you, Ludis.”
We stepped past the guards and onto the paved road that wound down into the city’s heart.
I found myself staring.
A young man leaned against a pillar of black stone nearby, one shoulder tipped casually toward a thin wisp of silver light hovering beside him. The spirit circled his head once, brushing lightly against his shoulder in a motion that felt almost affectionate. He lifted his hand without even looking and flicked his fingers toward it.
The spirit darted away with a playful shimmer.
My breath caught at the ease of it.