Chapter 360 (1/2)

Chapter 360: Blood Relic III

CAERA DENOIR

My gaze stayed pinned to Grey’s back as we navigated the labyrinthine tunnels, silent except for Kage’s constant wheedling Despite now appearing perfectly healthy, it was difficult to dis motionless, his throat cut…

I squeezedon the persistent prattle couided us toward the hidden exit portal

“—not really my fault at all now, see? When Rat sa people would just leave after a while, after they decided the relic couldn’t be claimed, he came up with the idea to close the portal and force people to stay I just went along with it is all…but what else was I supposed to do?”

“And were you forced to make the female ascenders who found their way into this zone your playthings, as well?”

Kage’s hulking foraze despite the fact that we hadn’t bothered to restrain hi had soer

“Keep walking, grunt,” Regis snapped as he stalked closely behind the scarred ascender

My eyes found theain as he e to our destination

An uncoh ain what Grey had asked e wasn’t a threat to me, but the truth was that Grey still had silently demanded his complete trust I was left on my own as collateral, like soility I’d been fighting against my entire life—and Grey had expected me to put myself in a state of vulnerability without even the opportunity to question or understand what he was doing

It took every fiber of self control to keep e when he had withdrawn a pair of mana suppression cuffs and announced that ould be following after Rat and Grey together

I rubbed at the faint bruises on er in trusting too uilty of before I chose to letwould happen totoo bad anyway, I conceded as I pressed the bandages against the bloody gash on hts, I found e had stopped

“It’s right here, just so,” he rin, like a beaten servant seeking his overbearing master’s approval

“Do you want a cookie or so e blanched before raising his hands to the bare earthen wall The soil tre like is herded our unwilling guide into the passage, which led to a dead end Kage repeated the spell, opening up a second hidden tunnel, which led to a third and fourth before finally opening into a round cave

Veins of glowing red rock grew in a circular pattern on the ceiling, lighting the cave with an eerie glow and bathing the portal in rusty light The portal itself, which sat at the very center of the rooh the brick-red stone of the frae, who had stopped dead at theus As soon as our attention was off him, he spun and sprinted back in the direction we’d coo with a look of faint amuse back, Grey said, “Get rid of hiis took off at a run

Grey seee out of his mind, his attention entirely on the portal He walked around it twice, staring into the opaque depth as if he could see aiting on the other side

His clothes were torn where he’d been stabbed, and stained red with blood I didn’t yet fully understand what had happened Grey hadn’t explained how he’d deactivated the shi+eld, only how he’d taken the relic and ordered Kage to lead us to the portal He’d been silent nearly the entire way

He stopped suddenly and his gaze fell to my injured palm “I’m sorry about that”

I flexed my cut hand, which rapped in a piece of Grey’s torn shi+rt The wound burned, but it wasn’t particularly deep and would heal quickly “I’ll forgive you if you explain exactly what happened back there”

“Fair enough” He turned thoughtful for aheld captive Little things But it all really clicked when I saw the glyph and realized they had no idea how to really open it”

“What do you mean?”

Grey bent down and used dirt fro his hands When he looked at ht about what I’d do if I were in their position Hoould , often intellectual, ascenders who arrived in this zone…”

“But if you figured out the glyphs right ahy let yourself be cut to ribbons?”

Grey’s fingers unconsciously played with the holes in his tunic where Rat’s blade had pierced hiht in that it demanded a blood sacrifice, but it had to be from one who had harmed the blood of the djinn”

So you let hi the pieces together in my mind Villains were often predictable, after all All Grey had to do was give Rat a reason to spill his blood,the relic But then, that e—djinn—blood?”

Grey shrugged nonchalantly “I iine plenty of people do But the Relictombs called me “descendant” before, and confiruess that’s all it took”

I opened e ancestry, but slowly let it close again Although I wanted to knowet the answers I craved It was beyond frustrating that he continued to live behind this veil of mystery after I’d shown such trust in hined up for e reement

A brief moment of silence passed before I let out a deep breath “What drives you to such lengths?”

Grey’s brows rose in surprise He cleared his throat and stood suddenly He was silent so long I didn’t think he was going to answer, but then a sad smile crept across his features, an expression that contained so little yet so much emotion “I owe it to everyone I left behind to coh to take care of them”

I tried to fit this answer into the broken aps that represented everything I didn’t know about him—but it did little to resolve the mystery of what drove him to such extremes

Before I could decide if I wanted to pry further, a screa voice resounded down the tunnel “Only I get to call hiht trickle of dust fell on us froolden eyes, and we both broke into a quiet fit of laughter

Shakingto check out the relic or are tattered rags a part of your new ie now?”

He rolled his eyes, but activated his dimension rune and withdrew the relic

I stifled a laugh as he held up the set of ancient heavy battlerobes The gray-brown robes werebehind hiown “Try it on, Grey,” I said, unable to help myself “Perhaps a pretty dress for the pretty princess will actually help you stay incognito…”

He ignoredthe rows of eentle, a curious caress, and I could see his lips h he did not speak aloud I knew he h I could feel only a s he wore on his finger

Grey let the robes drape over one arm and pressed his hand down into the fabric “I think…”

The battlerobes vanished, leaving behind a vague niht that faded away a moment after

“What happened?” I asked, unsure if he had siain, or activated some kind of aether-based ability that I couldn’t sense

The corners of histhat pressed against the air around us and made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck—and the robes reappeared, now draped over his fra the effect

He looked ridiculous I opened , the dry fabric rippling like ray coloring darkened to a brilliant black, and the heavy fabric that hung down to drag on the ground separated and reforer a robe at all—continued to tighten until it fit Grey like a second skin Theto his body, highlighting his lithe butalong the length of his body like shi+ning tendons

Scaled sabatons ether by a gold ed pauldrons forrew over his hands and up his forearms

The robe’s cowl transformed into the same black scales, but shrank to cover Grey’s throat, chin, and the sides of his head, leaving his bright hair to hang over the void-black arht the transforrowing out of the ar forward and down to fra in a choked breath as I realized I had forgotten to breathe

ARTHUR LEYWIN

I flexed auntlets, and conjured an aetheric blade The long dagger shi+vered, its fored, then stabilized I could feel the pressure of it againstthe blade, I raised my arms and rotated my shoulders, then lashed out at the air with a series of kicks and punches

The ar my motions unhindered

A dark shape in the corner of htfrois’s familiar voice said as he loped back into the sone?”