bChapter /bb181 /b

Eryx POV

My steps slow as we reach a split ahead. My chest tightens, and I stare at the three narrow corridors that stretch out into nothing but darknessb. /bbJust /blike before, and the guards haven’t made it back to us yet. Each corridor is darker than thest. Shadows seem to curl where there’s no light, and yet the pull

within me doesn’t favor one over the other..

Instead, it tugs me into every direction at once now, it’s like Rnd had nned for this moment. The bond feels frayed, confused and all that I can hear now is the blood pounding in my ears as the panic begins to w within me

My father’s footsteps are still behind me now, the sound of his movement disappearing. I can feel him, assessing the tunnels in the same quiet methodical way he always does everything. There’s something sharper to him now. He doesn’t trust this. Neither do 1.

“We split,” I say finally, my voice rough but steady as I force the words out. It’s the only way, even if they don’t like it. “Three tunnels. Three directions. If we choose wrong, we lose her.”

“No.” My mother shouts before my father can even answer himself, like she’s made up her mind and this isn’t happening, but it has to. We have to split up. “You follow the bond. That’s all that matters. We stay with you.”

Turning, I look at her, feeling the frustration coil low in my throat, and hating that this is wasting time. “And if that’s exactly what Rnd wants? What if this is the trap? If we all follow one path, then he has every other tunnel toe up behind us. He could be behind us before you even feel it.”

We can’t go in one tunnel blind.

“You’re not going alone,” my father says quietly. His voice carries that warning, the one I know all too well. He’s preparing to stop me if I try to move without them. I won’t, but I will fight this until they let me go alone.

I shake my head and step forward slightly, unwilling to let them block my way. “Then we’re blind. All of us. He knows how you think and he knows you’ll guard me instead of tracking him. You’re giving him every advantage, and we don’t have time for that.”

They can’t deny it, he will expect them to stay with me or to have guards with me. For a long moment, there’s nothing at all but silence between us. The

weight of this presses against the stone walls as if the tunnels themselves are waiting for the decision.

I can see it in my father’s expression, the way his eyes narrow slightly as he works through the possibilities. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he knows I’m

right. Which he has to ept right now.

“I follow the bond,” I say again, quieter this time. “It’s weaker now, but it’s still there. Let me follow it. You take the others.”

“Eryx, if we split, and we thin ourselves,” my mother warns, her tone cold and heavy with fear she refuses to admit. “If you’re wrong-”

“I’m not.” My voice breaks slightly, but I don’t look away. “Please. If I’m right, we’re already too slow. He expects you two to stay with me, he expects us all to be together, that means they wille from behind usb, /bout of the other two tunnels.”

My father’s jaw tightens. His silence drags out for another long breath before he nods once, reluctantly. “Fine. Follow the bond. You’re not w you say, I just hope you’re not toote.”

wrong in what

Before I can respond he turns to my mother.. He looks at her and I can see he’s telling her to agree with just his eyes. SHe doesn’t like it, at all. I can see it, she hates this. She has no choice though.

b?? /b

She stays motionless beside him, her magic still stretched out around us like a that finds nothing. She’s pleading with me with her eyes not to do bthis /bwithout them, but we have to split up

“I’m not weak.” I remind her. “Remember that/I have my wolf, I have my power, I’m not weak.“”

I step into the left tunnel without hesitation. The air instantly grows colder and the more I walk forward, the worse bit /bis. The bstone /bbwalls /bbare /bbstill /bbdamp /band narrow more as I move. My magic hums beneath my skin, it’s agitated and restless, and responding to the knot of dread that is btwisting /bbtighter /bwithin my chest.

b1/2 /b

b19:46 /bbWed/b, 23 Jul

The pull of the bond sharpens now, directing me forward more clearly with every step, but it no longer feels like a connection, it feels like a warting Li April is screaming at me not to follow it, but I have to go to her.

My father’s voice echoes behind me once, low and firm. “If you see him, don’t hesitate.”

I nod without slowing, gripping my de tighter as I let the pull drag me into the dark.

The silence is thicker here than it was before. Maybe because there’s no one else around me? There’s no scent, no sound and no trace of banything /bbat /bball /bthat is living, at least not within these walls. My breathing feels too loud in this silence and every step sounds far heavier even though I’m trying bto /bmove silently. My heart races faster, pounding in rhythm with the sharp ache in my chest where the bond pulls against me, drawing me closer to somethingb! /bdon’t want to name.

And then I hear it.

At first, the sound is faint that I almost miss it, it’s little more than a whisper beneath the hum of blood in my ears. It sharpens though quickly and into something darker. Augh, a low and cruelugh that echoes down the corridor like it’s seeping from within the stone walls itself.

The sound scrapes down my spine before i can even react, something strikes me.

I don’t even see iting, there’s no spell to shield against, and no magic that I can feel. It’s just a sudden crushing force hat ms into my chest and blifts /bme off my feet. The impact of it sends me flying backwards. I can’t even process it, because my back smashes into the stone wall behind me hard enough to knock the air from my lungs.

For a moment, all I can hear is the ringing in my head and the ragged sound of my own breath as I hit the floor, but instinct takes over before pain registers. I’m already rolling to my feet, adrenaline driving me upright as I crouch low, de raised, eyes scanning the dark ahead. I won’t fall down, won’t quit.

I get ready to attack and search the darkness for whatever it was.

And that’s when I see him.

Rn steps forward just slightly, and slowly. He emerges from the shadows as if he was standing there the entire time and watching me. His eyes glink with something almost vicious and hollow, and the smirk that curls across his face makes my stomach twist with hate.

He’s calm and rxed, like this is all a game to him, something fun and to pass time.

“Did you think I’d run from you?” His voice is almostzy and dripping with the same malice as hisugh. “You’re slower than I expected. I’ve been waiting, Eryx.”

I bare my teeth at him as my magic coils around me, no longer restrained. Every inch of my body burns inow /iwith the need to tear him apart, and make him pay for what he’s done.

“I’m not here to talk,” I snarl, my voice cracking under the weight of fury pressing into every word.

His grin widensb, /bslow and deliberate. “Good. Because neither am I”