Page 143 of The Eye of the Fifth
Except now she wasn’t stealing lives. She really was just stealing.
Rosary would have laughed to see her like this. Not fighting, but doing exactly what Kyra had mocked her for doing, over and over again. The thought of Rosary boosted her determination, for she knew her friend would have stood watch, no questions asked, if she’d been here.
Fingers gripping stone, she climbed up Gallena’s arm until she was standing on the Air Mother’s shoulder.
The infamous crystal was in reach. The Eye of the Fifth, right there, within her grasp.
She didn’t need to recall Naal’s memory to tell her which eye was the one she needed. The right one was dead. No more than solid, banal rock.
The left was alive. Teeming with chaotic emptiness.
Kyra looked into the depths of the Eye. There was nothing to be seen but shining, crystalised blackness. But what she felt…
The chasm of the Void. Threatening. Terrifying. And dark, but not like true darkness. Just… nothing. Desolate and utterly empty.
Suppressing a shiver, Kyra reached her hand out. The bargain would be fulfilled soon. And then she would never have to think about the Eye of the Fifth again.
Her fingers clasped around the cold stone.
Hissing whispers resounded in her head. No discernible words were uttered, but they pressed on her consciousness like a smothering blanket. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. The stone had turned ice-cold in her hand, and terror rooted her in place. Those voices were unrelenting, and Kyra knew what they belonged to.
The miraqni.
And through them came another voice, a female voice, as lovely as the dawn.
You have finally come for me, Earth Daughter.
The Void Mother. In her head. Her bones, her soul.
The lovely voice laughed softly.I knew you would come,she crooned.I was waiting for you, Kyraena Daeiros. They have been waiting for you for a very long time.
All of Kyra’s senses went black. She could not see, hear, touch or smell anything. There was nothing but that voice, everywhere and nowhere.
I shall let you go now.The smile on that voice drenched Kyra’s whole being with fear.But I expect I’ll be seeing you soon. Goodbye, Earth Warden.
Kyra’s breath came fast then, rasping and terrified. She stared down at the Eye of the Fifth and yearned to throw it, wanting it as far away as possible.
She was inwayover her head.
Swallowing her revulsion, she forced her fingers to tighten around the stone.
Something shifted in the shadows.
Kyra stilled, heart pounding as her eyes widened and darted around the various vaults of Phaenon’s crypts, half expecting the Void Mother to step into the light.
Silver wings beat the lifeless air, and before Kyra could back away or hide, a female landed below her, that usually kept, red hair free and curling about her shoulders.
‘Sleepwalking?’ Zuriel asked calmly, though there was nothing calm in the intensity of her glare.
‘Yes,’ Kyra replied, casually leaning against Gallena’s shoulder, willing her racing pulse to calm. ‘Don’t wake me; it’s bad luck.’
Zuriel’s nostrils flared. ‘What are you doing up there?’
‘Cleaning.’
‘You areimpertinent.Why-’ her voice suddenly cut as her gaze found Gallena’s face. Her own fell. ‘What have you done?’
Kyra’s heart missed a beat. Zuriel knew what it was she held in her hand. She needn’t have asked the question: she knew exactly what she’d done.
