Chapter Thirteen
Annika
I had barely settled back against Lucas when the knock at the door came. It was fast, urgent, and it jolted me out of the fragile peace we had found in each other’s arms.
I hesitated for only a moment before I stood up and made my way to the door. I swung it open, and I found Kael standing there. He didn’t need to say anything. His eyes told me all I needed to know.
“Rowena,” he said urgently. “She’s had another vision.”
I didn’t know if I could bear more bad news. “What did she see?”
I stepped aside, allowing him to come inside. “A cave. She’s certain it’s where we need to go. She said it’s the only way to stop what’s coming. The only way to fight this.”
My stomach turned. “A cave?”
The word felt wrong, as if it were a riddle wrapped in a dark mystery I didn’t understand. A place that could hold answers or death.
Kael’s gaze softened, but there was no denying the urgency in his voice. “We don’t have much time. Her note told me it’s deep in the forest. I’m not sure how far, but she said it will lead us to the answers.”
I turned toward Lucas, finding him already standing. He had heard everything. I could see the determination in his eyes. I didn’t know what awaited us in that cave, what Rowena had seen. We were walking into the unknown again, and I wasn’t sure if we’d make it out this time. But there was no choice now. There never had been.
“Let’s go,” Lucas said. That was all he needed to say for us to follow.
The further we ventured into the forest, the quieter it became. The usual sounds of rustling leaves and distant animal calls had faded away, and were now replaced by an eerie silence that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I could feel the weight of the trees around us, pressing in, suffocating, as if the entire forest was holding its breath.
Kael led the way. He moved with a purpose, following the clues Rowena had sent us from her vision, but there was something about him that assured me he was ready to fight in case of an emergency. I hated that we were constantly in that state.
Lucas stayed close behind me, but I could feel the tension in him, too. The shadows of the past still lingered. They haunted him relentlessly. He hadn’t said much since we left our cottage, his thoughts clearly far away, tangled in the nightmare that had held him captive.
I wanted to ask him what he was thinking, to offer reassurance, but I knew better than to disturb him. There were some things he needed to process on his own. Besides, we both knew that we didn’t have time to waste. Whatever Rowena had seen, it was urgent. Talk would have to wait.
After what felt like hours of navigating through the dense undergrowth, Kael suddenly stopped, his hand held out behind him to signal us. I nearly bumped into his back, but I caught myself just in time. We had reached the entrance.
The cave was hidden in the darkness, looming ahead of us. Kael didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward, parting the vines effortlessly as if they weren’t there at all, and disappeared into the mouth of the cave. I swallowed hard, the tightness in my throat making it difficult to breathe.
Lucas gestured at me to go after Kael, and then he followed. The narrow path was uneven underfoot. The rocks were slick and jagged and I almost slipped several times. I could barely see anything ahead of me, despite the dim flow of Kael’s flashlight.
“Stay close,” Kael urged us. “Caves like this usually have a mind of their own. We don’t want to get lost in here.”
The further we went, the more oppressive the air became. It felt like the cave was closing in on us, the walls pressing tighter, and the darkness deepening with every step. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was waiting for us, something ancient and malevolent, hiding just out of reach.
And then, I heard it.
A faint whisper, barely audible, like the wind calling my name. But it wasn’t the wind. It was something darker.
I stiffened, my heart pounding in my chest. “Did you hear that?”
Lucas’ grip on my hand tightened. “I heard it, too.”
Kael paused, his head turning sharply toward the sound, as his lantern swung in his hand. “Don’t listen to it,” he voiced his warning. “This place… it plays tricks on you. The cave feeds on fear.”
I shivered at his words, but I didn’t question him. I couldn’t afford to. Whatever this place was, it was ancient. It knew things, things it shouldn’t. And it was calling us deeper.
I took a deep breath, willing myself not to listen to the voices in my head. Not to listen to the fear, the doubts, the voices trying to tear me apart. I had to focus on the here and now, on finding the answers we desperately needed.
We pressed on, following Kael’s lead, and then, just as we rounded another bend in the path, we saw it. A chamber opened up before us, vast and cavernous. The walls were lined with ancient symbols, glowing faintly in the dark. At the center of the room, there was a stone pedestal, cracked and worn with age.
I suffocated a gasp, wondering how many mystical rites it had witnessed. Far too many.
I shivered, pulling my jacket tighter around me, but it didn’t help against the chill that seemed to come from the very stones beneath my feet. My eyes flitted over the symbols again, trying to figure out their meaning, but my thoughts kept drifting back to the stone pedestal in the center of the room. It was cracked and worn with age, but there was something about it, something that drew me in, that made me want to step closer.
But before I could move, I heard Lucas’ breath hitch behind me.
He had paused at the entrance of the chamber, his head turned slightly, nostrils flaring as though he were trying to catch something on the air. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I could tell by the rigid set of his shoulders that something had caught his attention.
“Lucas?” I called quietly, but his gaze was already on the floor, scanning the ground and following some invisible trail. His jaw was clenched and his entire posture was tense, like a predator on the hunt.
He slowly exhaled. “Shifters,” he muttered. “I can smell them.”
I frowned, my heart skipping a beat. Shifters? In here?
“Are you sure?” Kael asked cautiously.
He was standing a few steps behind me, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade, and his eyes were darting around as if he were expecting an ambush.
Lucas didn’t answer right away. Instead, he began to move, as if drawn to something. His nose was still in the air, his movements sharp and precise, and I could see the intensity in his expression. I followed his gaze, but all I could see was the cold stone and the remnants of a long-forgotten power. There was nothing else.
But then Lucas’ body stiffened, and I could hear him inhale sharply.
“It's faint,” he muttered, almost to himself. “It's there, but it keeps slipping away.”
He shook his head in frustration, but his eyes were narrowed, focused on the ground beneath him, moving carefully over the stones. Then, he spoke the words which made my heart skip a beat.
“It’s him. Our son.”
I froze. “Are you sure?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly despite my best efforts to keep it steady. “Is it really him?”
Lucas didn’t look at me. He didn’t need to. He was already following the trail, his gaze tracking the faint, fading scent of our son.
“I’m sure,” he said, his voice sharp with urgency. “But it’s barely there. Like a whisper in the wind. One minute I can smell it so clear. The next, it’s gone. I need to grab onto it.”
His words hung in the air, a heavy weight pressing down on my chest. The thought that our son might be somewhere in this place… somewhere close, but out of reach… It made everything in me twist with both hope and fear.
“Come on,” Kael said. “We’re not leaving without him.”
We moved forward, cautiously, as Lucas continued to track the scent. He crouched down at the floor, his eyes scanning the cracks in the stone, his fingers brushing over the smooth surface. His brow furrowed as he followed the trail again, but the moment he thought he had a lock on it, it slipped further away, as if it were just out of his grasp.
I couldn’t understand it. Why would his scent fade so quickly? Was someone moving him? Had he been here recently and left in a hurry?
I wanted to ask Lucas what he thought, but the frustration in his face told me he didn’t know. None of us did. We were being led down a path with no clear destination, and the more we moved, the more I felt like we were walking in circles, chasing something that was just beyond our reach.
“Lucas...” I started, my voice soft, but my heart wasn’t in it. It felt wrong to disturb him when he was so focused. But I needed to say it. “Are we going in circles?”
His head snapped up, his eyes meeting mine for a moment. He was angry. Confused. Afraid.
Then, a flash of regret was there before he turned away again. “I don’t know. It feels like it. But I have to try. I have to find him.”
The air thickened as we stepped into the next chamber. The cave had felt ancient before, but this room… this place was something else entirely. The stone walls stretched high above us, disappearing into shadows, and the space felt vast, yet suffocating all at once.
Then I saw them.
The drawings.
Etched into the rock, worn by time but still eerily clear, figures moved across the walls in a language older than words. My breath hitched as I stepped closer, my fingers trembling as I traced the jagged lines. They weren’t just random carvings. They told a story.
At the center of the mural, two figures stood. A woman with long, flowing hair, dark as ink, her gown swirling around her feet like mist. She was unmistakable. The Shadow Bride.
But it was the figure beside her that made the blood drain from my face.
A man. Tall, broad-shouldered, his features carved with more care than the other. He was kneeling before her, their hands intertwined, bound together in a way that made my stomach twist. The shape of his face, the set of his jaw, the wildness in his stance… I knew him. It couldn’t have been anyone else but him.
I stepped back, shaking my head. No. No, this wasn’t possible.
“Lucas,” I whispered, my entire body trembling.
His eyes locked onto the mural, and for the first time in a long time, I saw something in his expression I hadn’t seen before.
“What the hell…” Kael muttered behind me. “That’s you, Lucas.”
Lucas said nothing. He looked at the woman, at the way she was drawn—commanding, victorious, as though she had already won. And then at himself, kneeling, offering his hand to her. Bound.
Bound.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” Lucas said finally, his voice sharper than I expected. Defensive. “It’s just some old story. Some trick.”
“Lucas…” I whispered, my fingers curling into my palm. “What if this isn’t just a story?”
His head snapped toward me. “Don’t,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “Don’t start thinking like that.”
But before I could share more of my thoughts with him, a tidal wave of shifters barged in through the main entrance to the hall, coming straight for us.