Page 43 of Eldritch
“I didn’t summon the sablefyre. I don’t know what just happened.” When he opened his palm, what was left of the whistle had formed into a perfectly spherical silver ball in his hand. “What in the gods,” he muttered.
“What is it?”
“A bloodstone.” The edge of intrigue in his voice stirred my own, as he held it up and studied the small sphere. “Sablefyre doesn’t turn metal into stones that way. It melts it down. What was the purpose of this whistle?”
“It called upon my…bird.”
“A bird whistle.”
“I suspect it doesn’t call upon anything now.”
“Apologies.” He handed it back to me
The surface was still hot to the touch when I tucked it away in my trousers. “Are you saying this was made of blood? Silver blood?”
“I’ve never turned anything else into stone that way.” He jerked his head. “Let’s get back,” he said, swiping up the axe he’d tossed aside.
As we started toward the cabin, a vision of him standing over me with that axe slipped across my thoughts. “You’re still with me, right?”
“How do you mean?”
“When you held the axe…your eyes appeared black. I was certain it was not you staring back at me.” A quick glance showed his brows tight, the shame clear on his face. “Perhaps we should devise a way to be sure.”
“What do you suggest?”
“A phrase, or hand gesture, maybe? I often linked my finger in Aleysia’s when I felt frightened.”
“Are you frightened of me?”
Our surroundings certainly didn’t bother to stave off the chill winding through me, as we tracked our steps back, our boots crunching over the decayed vegetation and bones that littered the forest floor. “I’m frightened when you’re not with me. That’s why I need to know you’ve not slipped too deeply into your thoughts.”
He groaned and gave one hard kick of his boot that sent what looked to be a human skull hurtling toward a tree trunk ahead of us. It shattered the bone on impact, the noise breaking through the otherwise quiet. “It would help to know where to find the vein that Anatolis mentioned.”
“How would that help?”
“The white stones you saw are pure vivicantem.”
“The stones?” I ground to a halt, clutching his arm as a thought sprang to mind. “Moros…he might have some. His house is in town.”
“How far?”
“Just over twenty furlongs.”
“Over an hour there and back if I were to run. Could take half the day to search for it, though.” He made a gruff sound of disapproval. “That’s a long time to leave you here alone.”
“But if it would help.”
He stared off a moment, as if considering the idea, then shook his head. “You said Aleysia spoke your name. She may wake soon. I won’t leave you until I know for certain she won’t try to harm you.”
I didn’t have to say the words burning through my mind right then, not with the way he lowered his gaze and his brows pinched to a tight frown.
“I would never harm you.”
“No. I don’t thinkyouever would. But there was someone else staring back at me when you slipped just now. And I don’t know his intentions.” I sighed. “We’ll give it another day, to see if she wakes. If she doesn’t, I’m urging you to find the vivicantem you need.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
KAZHIMYR
