“Look over there,” Warren said, pointing to the letters she’d found higher up on the other wall. They’d begun to light up too, as had three other inscriptions scattered about the cave.
“Whoa.”
The letters floated off the wall, swirling about each other until they formed another riddle that hung over what now appeared to be an entrance. It was still closed off by a wall of rock, but from where she stood now, with the glowing words hanging above it and pillars of stone arranged as if to frame it, it was definitely an entrance.
“What does it say?” Warren asked.
Esha squinted at the letters. The words were just as easy to understand this time, but it wasn’t a riddle. “It says that the body cannot enter, only the soul.”
Warren’s gaze whipped away from the words and toward her. “Only your soul?”
“Yeah. Makes sense, I guess. It’s not an easy thing to do. Takes a hell of a lot of power, and hurts like a bitch, but a soulceress can separate her soul and send it forth to another place with the help of her familiar. Anyone else would need the help of a soulceress to do so.” Esha looked at the letters again, a language that she’d never seen in her life. “Not to mention the hidden language and the water beast. Those protections are an ideal safeguard for the cave.”
“Makes sense. But do you even have enough power?”
“After the water beast? Maybe. Only one way to find out, though. Want to come?”
The question hit Warren in the gut.
Aye.
She’d be tearing her soul from her body to help him. The idea made his stomach pitch in a way that had nothing to do with Aurora’s sickness. He didn’t want Esha going in there alone, to face gods knew what. What if she needed him? She could be trapped there, hurt forever.
“I canna,” he said. He didn’t even try to hide the regret in his voice.
“Scared?”
“Nay. I canna.” He had no soul to send. “And you won’t either.”
The words were a revelation to him, escaped from his mouth before he had a chance to even process them. Give up this lead? So as not to risk her?
Aye. Not even to find Aurora.
When had he gone from not worrying about using Esha to find Aurora to refusing to put her in danger? But hadn’t protecting her been his plan all along? He’d planned to have Aurora’s head before Esha ever met her. He’d caused too much death in his life. He wouldn’t be the cause of Esha’s.
“Did you seriously just tell me what I can’t do?” Her eyebrows arched.
“There’s got to be another way.”
“There isn’t, and I’m going. The light-up letters are pretty clear.”
“Doona go. She could be in there. If I canna go, I will no’ be able to protect you.”
She laughed lightly. “Not knowing what’s in there is precisely the reason I want to go. And she isn’t in there. I’m sure. Mostly. Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be fine.”
He stepped toward her, his hand outstretched. She didn’t step back but she raised her brow again. His hand dropped. She was right. She could take care of herself. And she wasn’t his to command. His fist clenched to the point of pain. “How will you do this?”
“I leave my body in a safe place—with you, in this case—and the Chairman takes my soul through the portal.”
“Will he leave his body too?”
“No, he’ll turn to smoke.”
Warren had seen the cat perform that eerie trick. Witches’ familiars not only enhanced the witches’ power, but had their own as well. Soulceresses’ familiars were likely the same. “How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ll have to come back with at least a little power, or we won’t be able to get the boat back out through that magical stone wall.”