Sylph pushed upright, far paler than usual. “I’m coming withyou.”
“You can’t. The crystal—”
“I’ll be fine so long as I have this.” She held her stone pyramidaloft. “And you.”
Thana’s heart ached to say yes and for more than loving feelings.She absolutely did not want to go alone, but…“I’m the royal pyradisté. It’s myduty. And the closer we come to that pyramid, the more it will pull at you.”She grabbed Sylph’s hands before she could argue. “And you might use it withoutmeaning to.” She kissed Sylph’s hands and threw caution out the window. Nowwasn’t the time for secrets. “The capstone, the pyramid you first detectedbelow, imprisons a Fiend. Of the monstrous variety. You’ve probably heard ofthem in stories, but they’re real. Or this one is. The capstone is Fiend magic,a discipline known only to royal pyradistés. Or it’s supposed to be. The rogueshave made their own Fiend pyramid, and no matter what they think it does, Ihave to stop them using it near the capstone and waking a monster.”
Sylph frowned hard, her eyes unfocused as if she’d fallen partwayinto a pyramid or was slightly drunk. It was absolutely the former, but Thana’smind was reeling, babbling away.
Thana backed up a few steps. “If Gunnar doesn’t come, you have tofind him. Please, Sylph. I…” But she couldn’t say that her task might beimpossible while alone. It couldn’t be.
Sylph took a few steps after her, but she was slow. Thana litanother light pyramid and commanded it to stay on. She set it on the floor andturned, blocking out the sound of Sylph’s few footsteps. She didn’t know howlong Sylph’s control could last—another ticking clock to worry about—but itwould weaken the closer Sylph came to the new crystal. Better to be alone inthis even if that thought made Thana want to vomit.
And what in the spirits’ names could she do by herself if therogues had reached the capstone cavern? She wanted to try a lock, though she’dnever done that alone. And she didn’t know if she could fight a host of herpeers, especially if they started canceling her pyramids.
She clenched a fist. She could yell, plead, warn them to stop.They couldn’t know what they’d be doing by tapping into the capstone.Yanchasa’s awakening would kill them all. It would most likely kill everyone inthe palace, then in Marienne, once the great Fiend was loose. She’d tell themthat, too. No matter how motivated they were to be autonomous or even incharge, they had to possess some self-preservation. And hopefully, some reason.
She hurried through the secret passageways, going lower until thebricks gave way to natural stone. When she arrived at the stout door to thecapstone chamber, she pressed her hand to the lock, and the door opened with agroan of rusty hinges.
The cavern stood empty, the capstone protruding from the floor toat least half her height. It glowed softly, a homey counterpoint to its generalmalevolence. She stepped inside, searching the shadows and breathing easierwhen no one peered back at her.
Now for the lock. She didn’t have the pyramid that let hercommunicate with the capstone. It was in her office. But she didn’t think she’dneed it. It was only used in conjunction with the four sets of manacles at thecapstone’s base, where the Umbriels stood when they shed their anti-Fiendnecklaces that kept their Aspects inside during a ritual known as the Waltz.
And after all this was over, the Waltz might have to happensooner than anyone thought.
But not right at this moment. She pulled out her mind pyramid andprayed to the spirits of knowledge that she’d be strong enough to lock thecapstone alone and keep anyone else from using it.
* * *
Sylph wanted to protest as Thana left her behind, but it tookmost of her energy just to stand. And part of her knew Thana’s argument madesense. The closer she came to that pyramid, the harder it would be to keep fromusing it, whatever it did.
Like awaken a great Fiend, some fairytale made life. The newsiren-like pyramid she’d sensed hadn’t felt as evil as Thana seemed to think itwas, but it had been very seductive, and she sensed its ability to change thosearound it. Into what, she didn’t know. It might change people into whatevershe’d felt underground, a thing that seemed eerily similar to what she’d sensedin the mountains.
Fiends?
Impossible, surely.
But she’d never get any answers by lingering here.
Thana seemed to think she’d need more help than just the two ofthem, so Sylph would find it for her. She scooped up the light pyramid andlooked back down the hall, wondering which way to go, but there was no time tofigure it out. She could find her way easier inside the palace proper. Runninginto her father didn’t seem as great a problem compared to saving Thana’s life.
She fell into her stone pyramid, wrenching her senses away fromthe siren pull below. She focused on the bastion of stone around her, blockupon block, and made herself ignore their history, fighting to feel the presentand view the palace like a map until she found a nearby gap that signaled ahallway.
She’d have to work quickly or she might destabilize the floorsabove. With a groan of sliding rock, the wall opened before her, then reformedas she stepped past, fitting together from memory. She passed through the wallinto a light-filled hallway.
A slight shudder rumbled through the building, nearly lost assomeone screamed and fled from her. She ignored them and studied the hall, seeingno furnishings on the walls, no rugs to protect the slipper-clad feet ofcourtiers or nobles. Servants’ halls. She needed to go higher.
She imagined the wall before her as a staircase, and it was so,reforming as she passed, but warning her again that pulling at the stone aroundher could damage the palace in other areas, and she was forced to keep hersenses wide open, trying to move quickly but with care.
Hopefully, anyone who saw her would think her a dream.
She emerged into a large room with the rug bunched into a
