Nektas suddenly grabbed my reins, halting Gala. “Stop.”
“What?” I whispered hoarsely.
“You’re getting too close,” he warned, features drawn. “You can’t go there.”
“Go where…?” I sucked in a startled breath, realizing I was mere feet from the Shroud, closer to the soft harmony. Blinking back the tears, I looked at Nektas. “I didn’t mean to.”
“I know.” He tugged gently on the reins, steering Gala to the center of the road. “You hear their songs?”
I nodded, heart thumping. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s the sirens singing.”
“Sirens?”
“They are the guards of the Vale, and they’ve sensed us.”
My attention slowly shifted back to the mist. “Why are they singing?”
“Only the draken and those who’ve Ascended can travel into the Vale,” he said. “Whenever they sense something that shouldn’t be this close, they sing to lure the trespassers into the Shroud. Not even you with Primal embers would survive that.”
Skin chilled, I looked down at my white-knuckle grip on the reins and then Nektas’s hand as the sirens kept singing. His fingers remained curled firmly around the reins and stayed there.
Hours later, the sirens finally stopped singing. Nektas had released his hold on my reins, and the rigid tension eased from my muscles. I ached all over from holding myself back. I’d come close to leaping from the saddle and entering the Shroud one toomany times. Not even snacking on the jerky Nektas had brought with him had helped, and food was normally the ultimate distraction.
And I would have to experience that again on the way out.
I wasn’t looking forward to that at all as we crested a hill, but all thoughts of the sirens and their call slipped away as a rocky horizon rose ahead. It was a mountain with sheer, vertical cliffs made of pure shadowstone and something else—something that glittered crimson under the sun, reminding me of Nektas’s hair.
“Good gods, I really hope we don’t have to climb that thing,” I said. “If so, I think I’ll take my chances with the sirens.”
Nektas chuckled. “Luckily, the Pools of Divanash are beneath.”
“Beneath all of that?” The mountain was a fortress of stone, an imposing sight amidst all the beauty.
He glanced at me. “You claustrophobic?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, I guess we’re about to find out, aren’t we?”
This will be fun, I thought as we entered the foothills and eventually stopped when Nektas spotted the slit of an entrance I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to fit through, let alone Nektas. We left the horses tied beneath a weeping tree, where they nibbled on the grass and could rest. With one final scratch behind Gala’s ears, I followed Nektas. We were barely able to slide through the opening sideways, and then emerged into utter darkness.
I gasped, seeing nothing as I came to a standstill. I reached out blindly, feeling the cool, smooth wall behind me but nothing to my left. I searched the darkness, not even able to see the draken.Breathe in. My throat tightened as I croaked, “Nektas?”
“I’m here.” His hand folded over mine, warm and firm.Breathe out. “Can you see?”
“I can.” He started to lead the way.
“Draken must have really good eyesight,” I said, my voice seeming to carry in the sweetly scented air.Breathe in.
“We have amazing senses.”
I clung to his hand as I desperately tried not to think about the fact that I could see nothing, and anything could be within inches of me.Hold. Dakkais. Barrats. Giant spiders. Gods, thatwasn’t helping.Breathe out. “You said you smelled death on me before.”
“I did. I still do,” he answered, his voice seeming disembodied even though I held his hand like a frightened child. “I smell Ash on you.”
I made a face.