Chapter 40. Serana’s Mirror

Thornroot was a cathedral of hidden thresholds—doors carved from ancient trunks felled by lightning, slabs of smooth stone hewn by water, bark-skin panels bound with living fiber. Some stood sentinel beneath ivy boughs; others lurked invisible behind moss and shadow. Yet here in Aeryn’s lodge there was simply a knot in the floor—an incongruous heart of root and bark-vein that pulsed with a soft, almost imperceptible thrum on nights when the fire guttered and no one dared speak.

She had discovered it weeks before, traced its irregular bulge with a fingertip stained by sap. She had not opened it. Not until now.

Tonight she came alone, stepping over scattered runes and polished stones, her breathing steady. She carried no torch—the glow of bioluminescent mosslight in the rafters dripped like pale-green rain, illuminating the forest symbols etched in charcoal on the floorboards. Three concentric rings encircled the knot, their lines worn but readable. Aeryn knelt and pressed