Page 171 of Shadowvein

I follow her back to the men’s room, where Varam and Sacha have their heads bent over what appears to be a rough diagram sketched on paper. They look up in unison as we enter, Sacha’s gaze locking with mine.

“Feeling better?” he asks.

“Yes. The rest helped … but how did I get back there?”

“I carried you.”

I blink at him. “You … carried …”

“I made sure no one was in the hallway first.”

Heat rises to my cheeks, and I look away, pretending interest in the sheet of paper they’re studying. “What is that?”

“Varam has confirmed the vault’s location.”

“The vault where your ring is?”

“That’s right.” He taps the diagram.

I look closer. It seems to be a floor plan, with various sections marked with symbols I don’t understand.

“Are you sure your ring is there?”

“Yes. It calls to me.”

I don’t know how to answer that. I shouldn’t be surprised by the idea, not with everything else that’s happened since I arrived here.

Varam says something in a low voice, drawing Sacha’s attention back to him, and unrolls another piece of paper. This one appears to be an official schedule of some kind. He and Sacha speak quickly, pointing at locations on the map and the floor plan, voices low and urgent. The discussion goes back and forth until they must come to an agreement, because Varam nods, and rolls the map up, and tucks it back inside his pack.

“What’s the plan?” I don’t really expect an answer, so I’m surprised when Sacha tells me.

“The Day of Order celebration begins at midday tomorrow. The High Commander will lead the procession from the Lirien Spire to the outer courtyard.” His finger traces a route on the map. His tone shifts when mentioning the High Commander, his voice turning colder.

“We’ll need to move quickly. Once the ceremonial address begins, we’ll have no more than twenty minutes before security rotations resume. We’ll retrieve my ring, while you get out of Ashenvale with Mira. Rasha and Mishak will be waiting for you. Once we have the ring, we’ll meet you at River Crossing.”

The way he says ‘we’ll meet you’carries no hint of doubt, no acknowledgement of possible failure. I wonder if it’s confidence orif, like me, he’s afraid to voice the possibility that something might go wrong.

Mira speaks again, low and fast. The words tangle too quickly for me to follow, so I only catch fragments. Something about food and water. Sacha replies. I hear Varam’s name, and a second later both he and Mira leave the room.

When I was panicking, the language had poured into my mind like instinct. Now everything is calm, it’s slipping away again. Another reminder that whatever is happening inside me isn’t mine to command.

“Where are they going?”

“To the market to pick up some additional supplies for tomorrow.” He stands up and walks over to the window to look out at the courtyard. “Is something troubling you?”

I blink. “What?”

He half-turns toward me. “Your skin is ...” He waves a hand.

Looking down, I see a faint shimmer on my wrists and hands. It vanishes when I flex my fingers, but not fast enough.

“Oh. I just … I guess …” I debate whether to tell him about the dream. It sounds stupid, but then I remember the comments he made back in the tower, when he asked me if my dreams were ever unusual.

“I … had a dream. About tomorrow. It felt different from normal. More real somehow.”

He turns fully. “Tell me.”

“You were reaching for your ring.” I close my eyes, trying to rebuild the dream in my mind. “But when you touched it, everythingchanged. There were shadows everywhere, swallowing everything. And light—silver, then blue, then black—burning through it. There was screaming.” I open my eyes. “Then I woke up.”