Page 40 of Ignite
I can’t deny that it feels as if he was meant to find that cave. He didn’t just stumble upon it by pure luck—he had to have been pushed there by fate in one way or another.
“And you’re certain you weren’t led there by someone setting you up?” Calix’s voice is surprisingly sharp, a glimpse into the warrior hiding beneath his easy smile. “We all know Eurydice guides us into things we cannot understand, but she is not the only goddess among the Divine.”
The air thickens as silence stretches between them. Calix voiced what everyone was likely thinking: that a goddess like Vidaris could’ve pushed Aster to that cave. The memory of the fox outside of Astern floods my mind—of how Vidaris brought a false sign to me, tricking me into believing it was my time to see Eurydice at the Celestial Temple.
“What good would that do the darker of the Divine?” Willow steps in, her gaze hard on Calix. “You know the stories as well as I do. Nightfall is what Senna used to kill Moros; it was strong enough to tear through the vile dark magic keeping him alive.”
My chest tightens, and I briefly close my eyes. They don’t know that Moros didn’t die that night. Any hope that I had of this weapon being useful to us dies with her words. They were chasing something that wasn’t real.
Even with the images in the cave depicting that same story, I had hoped they learned more—that there was more to this legendary weapon than the false story of Moros’s death.
“Kauri is a gift from Eurydice—not just this cave,” Willow says slowly, her eyes ablaze. “When we realized that, we had no choice but to take up her call.Everyonehere answered what she asked of us.” She looks at Aster.
“What did she ask of you?” I press, needing to know more.
This time, Willow’s gaze finds the drawing on the wall. I follow her stare, inspecting the jagged drawings closer than before.
Nightfall looks almost like a regular blade, something forged for any person with enough money to pay a blacksmith for it.
But the longer I stare at the picture of the dagger, the more a tug in the center of my chest starts to pull me toward it. My eyes lock on it, the rest of the drawings going black in my vision as Nightfall becomes more prominent.
Something about this doesn’t seem right. There’s a magic surrounding the images that feels ancient. Wrong. Like it’s been dormant for a millennium and now it’s peeking open a primeval eye right at me.
I recoil, not wanting to find out what that means.
Then a soft buzzing presses against my ears, and the world begins to drift away—the only thing left is the rough etching of the blade on the rock. My thoughts—and hesitations—melt away, trickling into a puddle of nothingness.
My feet move before I realize I’m doing it, just as a tingling begins in the tips of my fingers. My blood begins to rush through my body, as if unable to refuse the pull drawing me in. I almost miss Willow whisper, “It’s how we stop Vidaris.”
Someone answers her, but their words are muted as I stop with my nose nearly touching the wall.
“Lunaria?” a warm voice questions, but I don’t stop—can’t stop. The world is muffled and distant as the voices around me fade beneath the steady rhythm of my heart.
My fingers itch to touch it, to feel the cool, uneven surface. To trace the slope of the blade from point to hilt. The buzzing in my ears travels across my skin, scattering goosebumps as it envelops me whole.
My muscles tighten in my shoulder blades, holding me back from answering the mysterious magic drawing me in. I still don’t know what influence Vidaris has on the world around me.
The memory of the fox she sent to me—a false sign we all believed was from Eurydice—comes to mind. This could be another trick from her, a way to coax me into her darkness.
But it could be a sign from Eurydice, too. Arealone this time.
The odds are half in my favor, while the other half could mean a mistake that costs me my life…and the lives of those around me.
Once again, the pull of the images flares up, causing my feet to shuffle closer. It feels warm. Welcoming. Something dark couldn’t possibly feel this safe…right?
I reach up, a muted scream crying out from somewhere far away as my palm presses against the rock.
The buzzing stops, and all I see is darkness.
Seventeen
Ametrine
I’m floating.Soaring through a vast emptiness. But I’m not afraid—the void that surrounds me feels warm. Inviting. I welcome it like an old friend, accepting the tug in my chest and allowing myself to follow it.
“Open your eyes,” a deep, masculine voice commands.
I blink them open as he says, my senses slowly returning. As my vision clears, I find that I’m not floating in a vast emptiness—I’m not floating at all.
