Chapter 29 Torric
Torric
The bond snaps into place like a door slamming shut.
We all feel it — the ripple through the magic, the vibration in the air. Something clicking. Something becoming whole.
Finn’s bond. Finally locked.
I exhale slowly, a smile tugging at my mouth despite myself. “About damn time.”
“Took them long enough,” Aspen agrees. There’s warmth in his voice. Real warmth, not his usual controlled calm.
Darian nods, something complicated flickering across his face. The Eds are still clustered around him — dozens of them clinging to his shoulders, his arms, drifting in lazy orbits around his head. He’s stopped trying to shake them off. “They deserve it.”
A few more Eds have wandered toward the Berserker chamber where Callum lies unconscious, hovering near him like tiny, judgmental nurses.
Footsteps echo from the side corridor.
Kieran walks back in like he was never gone.
I don’t even bother pretending I didn’t notice where he came from.
“You’re impossible,” I say. “You know that?”
He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t have the decency to look guilty. “I wasn’t hiding.”
“You were literally in the shadows. Watching them.”
“That’s where shadows go.”
Aspen snorts beside me. Darian suddenly finds the cave wall very interesting.
I should be annoyed. I am annoyed. But there’s something different in Kieran’s expression tonight — a softness around the edges that I’ve never seen before. Like whatever he saw in that cavern didn’t hurt him the way he expected it to.
Maybe it even helped.
“You’re a creep,” I tell him, but there’s no heat in it.
“Noted.”
But he’s gone very still. Those gold eyes are fixed on some middle distance, and for a moment I see everything he’s feeling written across his face — longing, hope, something that might be peace.
Then it’s gone. Shuttered behind that ancient mask he wears.
But I saw it.
“You good?” I ask quietly.
“Yes.” The word comes out softer than I expected. Not defensive. Almost… relieved.
I don’t push. Some things don’t need words.
The moment stretches. Settles.
Then I roll my shoulders and shift back into practical mode. Someone has to.
“So what’s the plan?”
Kieran answers immediately — which means he’s been thinking about it the whole time he was lurking in shadows like a lovesick dragon.
“We leave at first light,” he says. “The mountain pass won’t wait, and every day we delay gives Alekir more time to prepare.”
“Food?” Aspen asks.
“There’s a grove in the cavern in the center. The fruit there must be magically sustained — it should hold for travel.”
I remember seeing it on our way in. Strange trees with glowing fruit that smelled like summer despite being underground. Japti provides, apparently.
“The climb itself,” Darian says slowly. “I’ve studied the maps Kieran showed us. It’s… not easy.”
“Define ‘not easy.’”
“Up to a week of travel. Narrow passes.” He pauses. “Avalanche risk.”
“Fantastic.”
“The footing is unstable in several sections. One wrong step—”
“I get it.” I crack my neck. “Deadly mountain. Noted.”
Aspen is already calculating — I can see it in the way his eyes go distant. Planning routes, assessing risks, figuring out what we need. That’s his gift. Mine is simpler: hit things until they stop being problems.
Mountains are harder to punch than most of my problems.
“What about Callum?”
The question comes from Aspen, but we’re all thinking it. The unconscious man a few feet away from us. The traitor who might also be a victim. The weight we’ll have to carry — literally.
Kieran’s answer is immediate. “He comes with us.”
“He can’t walk,” I point out. “He can barely breathe.”
“Then we carry him.”
“For a week? Up a mountain?”
“If necessary.”
I exchange a look with Aspen. Classic Kieran. Protective even when he’s pretending not to care. Even for someone who betrayed us.
“We’ll need something to transport him,” Aspen says, already problem-solving. “A sled. Drag-board. Something we can pull.”
“Can you build it?”
“If I can find the right materials.” He’s already looking toward the curved staircase that leads to the upper levels. “I saw workable wood earlier. Fallen branches, some structural pieces that looked salvageable.”
Darian leans forward. “We’ll need to stabilize it for uneven terrain. Runners wide enough not to catch on rocks, but narrow enough for the passes.”
“Padding for Callum,” Aspen adds. “Something to keep him secured when the angle shifts.”
“Rope,” I say. “Lots of it.”
They both nod.
Look at us. Actually functioning like a team. Finn would make a joke about it if he were here.
But Finn is… otherwise occupied.
The thought makes me smirk.
“I’ll gather materials,” I say, pushing off the wall. “Aspen builds, Darian advises. Kieran—”
“I’ll check the route,” Kieran finishes. “Make sure the path is still clear.”
“And brood mysteriously?”
“If time permits.”
That might actually be a joke. Hard to tell with him.
Aspen heads for the staircase, his footsteps echoing off the stone. He moves with purpose now — finally something concrete to do after hours of…. listening.
I watch him go, then turn back to Kieran.
He’s staring toward the hot spring cavern again. Not moving. Just… looking.
“Hey.”
He blinks. Focuses on me.
“You sure you’re good?”
For a long moment, he doesn’t answer. Then something in his expression shifts — not quite a smile, but close.
“I’ve waited centuries,” he says quietly. “A few more won’t kill me.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I know.” He meets my eyes. “I’m good, Torric. Truly. Seeing them happy…” He trails off. Swallows. “It helps.”
I nod slowly. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
The word hangs between us. An understanding. A truce, maybe, between two men who love the same woman in different ways.
I clap him on the shoulder — probably harder than necessary, but he doesn’t flinch. “Don’t stay up all night brooding. We need you functional tomorrow.”
“I don’t brood.”
“You absolutely brood.”
“I contemplate.”
“Same thing. Fancier word.”
He almost smiles. Almost.
I head for the stairs, already cataloging what we’ll need. Rope. Something soft for padding. Something to bind the frame together. The fire rune on my chest pulses with warmth as I walk.
We’re really doing this. Leaving Japti. Climbing a mountain. Chasing Seren and Lira into whatever trap Alekir has set.
And somehow, despite everything, it feels right.
The group is finally aligned. Finn and Kaia, bonded. Malrik steady at the center. Me and Aspen are finding our footing. Even Kieran, for all his ancient baggage, feels more here than he has since we arrived.
We’re not whole yet. There are still cracks. Still wounds that haven’t healed.
But we’re closer.
“TORRIC!”
Aspen’s voice echoes down from above. “I NEED SOMEONE TALL!”
I sigh.
“Coming,” I call back, already moving faster up the stairs.
Some things never change.
Behind me, a low rumble trembles through the stone. Distant. Faint. The kind of sound you feel more than hear.
I pause. Look back.
Darian is frowning at the ceiling. “The mountain’s shifting.”
“Settling,” Kieran corrects. But there’s tension in his shoulders that wasn’t there before.
“We leave at dawn,” I say. “No later.”
No one argues.
I take the stairs two at a time, following my brother’s voice toward whatever ridiculous task requires my height.
The Eds watch me go, their small dark shapes tracking my movement like a silent audience.
“Stop staring,” I mutter at them.
They don’t stop.
Of course they don’t.