“Look.” Ali pointed up at the mount of bones, where a fresh body lay high at the top. “That’s the prison guard who tried to throw me in the well. The ring might be somewhere near him. I’ll climb up to see.”
But I held my hand up to stop her. If we did it her way, the search would take forever. The ring could be anywhere in that pile, and we didn’t have time to clamber around on it.
What we needed was a location spell. Difficult without the power of speech, but not impossible.
As a lich, I could consume souls. All living things contained magic tied up with their souls. Ali had some—extraordinarily beautiful—magic, the perfect complement to my own. And if I were to drain her soul and her magic, it would be without a doubt the greatest pleasure I’d ever known, pure ecstasy lighting up my body. She’d feel it too: the wild, forbidden pleasure of being drained by a dark sorcerer.
But there was no way in Helheim I was going to disturb her magic or risk killing her.
And besides, another source lay under my feet. Crouching, I pressed my palm against the rough bark of the root. The ancient tree’s soul pulsed under the bark, and a strange euphoria spread into my fingertips, racing up my arm. Yggdrasill required enormous amounts of magic to hold the Nine Worlds together.
With a thrill of anticipation, I drew one of my daggers and plunged it into the root. Instantly, a milky, opalescent sap flowed around the blade like liquid pearls.
I withdrew the dagger and pressed my hand to the shining wound. As Yggdrasill’s soul poured into me, pure ecstasy raced through my veins, and I shuddered with delight. My gaze flicked to Ali, her body lit up from below by the glow of this pearly sap. Her eyes shone with wonder, and as pleasure filled me, so did an unyielding ache to drain her. How much better would that feel? My lips against hers, my tongue against hers, and her soul imbuing me with divine rapture.
I gritted my teeth, mastering control of myself.
When I lifted my hand from the root, I saw that it had healed over where I’d stabbed it.
I rose, my eyes on Ali as I prowled over to her. I’d only drunk a tiny amount of Yggdrasill’s soul, but magic was already simmering and crackling in my body. I felt more compelled than ever to pull Ali to me and press my mouth against hers.
Instead, I pulled out my notepad and wrote, I need your help. I know a spell for finding, but you will have to incant it.
“Okay. What do I say?”
Carefully, I wrote the words to the spell on the notepad, then continued, While you incant the words, I’ll inscribe the runes.
Ali nodded, her eyes gleaming like silver coins.
Slowly, she spoke the words, and I began to move my fingers, drawing the shapes of the runes as I’d been taught a thousand years ago. It felt good to be doing magic again: the familiar hum of power building in my veins, the magic between us working together with a delicious thrill. I could sense her soul and mine electrifying each other in her body.
And what was more, the power of Yggdrasill was exceptional. Streams of light trailed behind my fingers, while next to me, Ali carefully read the words on my notepad. As she enunciated the final word of the spell, I drew the final rune. At last, I felt the magic rush out of me and disappear into the darkness. I felt its loss like an ache.
For a long moment, nothing happened. Maybe the magic didn’t work between worlds.
But as soon as the thought had entered my mind, light blazed in the darkness. Strong and piercing, it shot straight up, all the way to the cavern’s ceiling.
“That’s where the ring is?” whispered Ali.
I nodded, a low growl of pleasure rising in my throat. The spell had worked.
Together we clambered over the massive roots toward the magical beacon. When we finally got close, I could see that it was coming from the very top of the pile of bones.
“I can get it,” said Ali.
I nodded. She was smaller, lighter, and, as a trained assassin, the obvious choice for this particular task. She hopped down from the root and ran to the base of the pile.
It was huge. Even larger than I’d initially realized, a giant pile of osseous material that towered above Yggdrasill’s enormous root