Page 49 of Secrets and Starlight

There, so distant it was barely perceivable, was a single black door built into the far wall, the purple light confirming the shard concealed within.

Shoulders tightening, as if I could make myself smaller, I followed Guardian through the ranks of undead.

Now that I knew of this army, I was determined to destroy it. Today, I didn’t have the time or the means, and I wasn’t precisely sure how it was best done. But as I was forced to walk between them, step after step through the trenches of lives Inarus had stolen, I vowed it would be done.

And even if I lacked the resources to immediately turn them to ash, I could still honor the dead. Walking through their ranks, I refused look away, taking in the shades, their bodies in varied stages of decay with frayed clothes that clung to their bodies like vestiges of the life they led before.

We had reached the halfway point when something snagged my eye. Little white flowers on a field of green—

Jasmine.

This had to be Vanessa’s former lover. I kneeled beside the human-turned-shade, reaching out for the cloth and allowing its tassels to run through my fingers. The scarf was exactly as Vanessa had described.

Clutching the scarf, I entered the Underworld, searching for what remained of Jasmine’s soul. All I found was her shade, an obedient servant waiting a necromancer’s command.

Bone creaked. “A friend?” Guardian asked.

“Friend of a friend,” I answered.

“If she is important, she can become a skeleton.”

I shook my head. “No one knows how to make skeletons anymore.”

“So they say,” Guardian replied, walking on, his bones rattling.

I frowned. Even if the art of making skeletons wasn’t truly gone, I didn’t want to know. Turning back to Jasmine, I carefully unwrapped the scarf from her body. Tucking it in a pocket of my cloak, I turned away.

Guardian led me to the door at the far side of the hall, holding it open so I could step inside. Eyes darting, wary as ever, I entered the ancient study.

Similar to Inarus’s rooms at the stronghold, the walls were lined with books and instruments. An ornate meditation cushion laid at the room’s center, the cushion permanently indented where knees must have rested for hours.

And there, on a pedestal before the cushion and sealed within a crystal orb, was the black diamond shard. It floated in the orb’s center, glimmering within its casing, its dark sharp edges catching the light as if in greeting.

Guardian positioned himself beside it, bringing his body to eerie stillness.

Cautiously, I inventoried the remainder of the space, noting the small bedroom, bath, and kitchenette, each added as if an afterthought. No traps, no apparent danger. I slowed only to peruse the books, all of them far more worn than any text in my possession.

There would be far more to accomplish here than simply releasing the shades. Countless mysteries of my craft could be uncovered here. When we were done with Mer, I needed to return.

I returned to the enclosed shard. “How do I retrieve it?” I asked Guardian.

He motioned toward the meditation cushion. “The answer will not be found in life.”

Swallowing, I followed his lead, settling where countless of my predecessors had rested before. Here, I entered death with ease, the veil thinned by centuries of its parting.

Threads of power locked the shard within the crystal orb. Reaching out, I examined them.

“Hello Zayne,”the spirit of Inarus said at my side.

Chapter eighteen

When Stars Strike

Ayla

To prevent my magic from discharging accidentally, I had to learn to emit it on purpose. It made perfect sense, in theory.

I glanced down at my glowing hand and the pitch black rock trapped within. Beside me, Ninti sat down on her haunches, her gaze not straying from the stone.

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