“That reminds me,” Casteel murmured, unsheathing his dagger. “I owe you a very large diamond.”
I grinned as I reached for the dagger. “You do.”
Casteel held the dagger. “I don’t want to watch you cut yourself.”
“You’d rather be the one to draw blood, then?” I asked.
“Not in this fashion.” He gave me a heated look that caused my face to warm. “But I would rather do it than watch you inflict pain upon yourself.”
“That is strangely sweet.”
“Key emphasis on strange,” Kieran said as he leaned back, crossing his arms. Vonetta and Emil crept closer.
“Ready?” Casteel asked. When I held up my hand and nodded, he bent his head and kissed me. He nipped my lip as the quick prick of pain traveled across my finger. “There you go.”
Feeling myself flush even hotter, I held my finger over the ring and parchment, squeezing until blood beaded and dropped, splashing first the ring and then staining the paper.
“I really hope there’s more to it than that,” Vonetta murmured.
“There always is,” Emil told her.
“You remember what my father told you?” Perry asked.
Nodding, I cleared my throat. “I call upon the essence of the goddess Bele—the great huntress and finder of all things needed. I ask that you guide me to what I seek to find, connected by blood, name, and belonging.”
No one spoke. I didn’t think anyone even dared to breathe too deeply as my blood seeped into Malec’s name. And just when I thought I might’ve misspoken a word or something, the parchment where my blood had soaked through ignited.
Vonetta gasped, stepping back into Emil as a lone flame shot into the air, nearly as tall as the trees, and that flame was cold. Icy. The essence in my blood stirred as the flame rippled violently and then shrank to where the parchment was scorched and charred, beginning to burn away until nothing but the ring Malec had given Isbeth was left on the stone wall.
Casteel’s hand fell to the center of my back as Kieran unfolded his arms. A gust of wind came from above and behind us, catching the ashes and lifting them into the air. Panic exploded for a moment, but the ashes joined with the flurries, and thousands of tiny specks brightened until they shimmered like fireflies.
“Whoa,” Naill murmured as the glittering funnel of ash whirled and spun forward, forming a churning cyclone that shot between him and Malik and cut through the trees.
“It’s going too fast.” Kieran jerked back from the wall as Reaver hopped down. Shimmery, silvery light zigzagged through the trees, stretching. “That’s way too fast.”
All of us started forward, the wolven leaping over the ruins to chase the glittering lights—
The sparkling ash dropped suddenly, falling to the ground like luminous snow. The wolven drew up short as the light remained, forming a sparkling path through the Blood Forest. My lips slowly parted.
“It’s kind of beautiful,” Vonetta whispered. Emil’s gaze slid to her as he shook his head.
“Well,” Malik drawled, stepping forward. “I think it worked, in case anyone was wondering.”
Casteel grinned, but the curve of his lips froze as he caught himself. His expression smoothed out, and his jaw hardened again.
Gods, that made me sad.
I reached over, touching his arm. Casteel smiled for me, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We should follow and do it quickly,” he said. “We have no idea how long this will last.”
Picking up the ring, I placed it in the pouch as Casteel went to Setti.
“Time,” Kieran said quietly to me. “Give him time. Both of them.”
“I know.” And I did, but as we started following the glittering, weaving trail, an odd unease settled in the cold, hollow part of me. A sense of dread I couldn’t place rose, but it felt like a warning. A reminder.
That there wasn’t always time.
The winding path blanketed the area, shimmering over the ground as it wove in and out of the trees. Casteel rode Setti while I walked with Delano close to my right, feeling too antsy to sit. I wasn’t the only one. Reaver walked ahead, and the wolven were even farther out. Kieran rode beside Casteel, but somehow, Malik ended up walking beside me.
Which was probably why Delano was so close he occasionally brushed against my legs.
“I’m beginning to think this trail will lead us straight to the Stroud Sea,” he remarked, his words leaving misty clouds behind.
“I’m beginning to think the same thing.” We’d been walking for at least an hour, the sparkling trail disappearing behind Emil and Vonetta, who rode at the back.
Several moments of silence passed between us, and I knew without looking that Malik kept glancing at me. I also knew without checking that the quick looks were really starting to anger Casteel.
We’d made our way around several low-hanging branches when Malik asked, “Why haven’t you asked me about that night?”