Chapter 23. Airenna’s Revolt

The chamber’s thick air hung heavy, redolent with the acrid tang of old smoke and the pungent sweat of strained bodies. Lanterns mounted high cast a wavering, honeyed glow over flagstones slick with moisture. Though the last resonant chanting had drifted into silence, the runes etched in the floor still glowed with a dull, steady light beneath Lora’s bare feet, like distant stars pinned to cold stone.

She could feel them pulsing at the soles of her feet—warm threads of energy tugging insistently at her veins, drawing the Bonefire she carried inside her downward toward stillness. Above her, silk cords wound around her wrists, cutting into flesh as they bound her arms aloft; the fabric’s smooth surface felt almost mocking against skin rubbed raw by its unyielding grip. Her limbs trembled, a dull ache in every joint, the weight of her body suspended in midair until even breathing felt like a labor.

Kai had vanished moments earlier, just as he always did once he believed he’