inches from the lip of the well, and my senses raced into overdrive. High Elves surrounded me. Above me, I heard the wingbeats of hovering moths, the buzzing of spells. There had to be dozens of wands pointed right at me, far too many for me to dodge. All King Gorm had to do was say the word and I was dead.
Revna took another step towards me.
“Come any closer and you’ll feel my blade between your ribs,” I said, but I knew the threat was empty.
And yet, maybe if I goaded her, I could gain the upper hand.
“I’m sorry your brother didn’t love you,” I said bitterly. “I know for a fact that he loathed you.”
Her jaw tightened. “Put down that blade, bitch, or I’ll have you shot.”
I dropped Skalei onto the dark stone. I’d follow along. I’d draw her closer.
Tears streamed down Revna’s pale cheeks. “Now put that gag back in your mouth.”
So, she was clever enough to know that I’d simply call Skalei back if I could. I pulled the gag into my mouth anyway.
Revna took another step closer. Her face was a mask of pain and rage. Like me, she appeared unarmed, but I knew there was no way that was actually the case. She’d have a blade close at hand.
It took a second for me to glimpse the hilt of the dagger in her sleeve. She thought she was being sneaky, didn’t she?
When she was within striking distance, steel flashed in her hand.
I caught her wrist, driving the dagger away. In one fluid motion, I slipped behind her and pulled her close to me, pressing the dagger against her stomach. Any movement would cut her open.
I wanted to kill her, but I could use her life as leverage. She was the only remaining heir to the High Elf empire. The perfect human shield.
Gorm bellowed, “Let her go!”
I was still gagged, so I could only shake my head no.
And that was where I fucked up. Because Revna wasn’t a normal person who thought in normal ways. Revna was driven by some sort of insanity. She wanted to win at all costs.
She ripped herself out of my grasp, and the dagger carved into her gut. Even as she shrieked in agony, she elbowed me so hard in the chest that I fell backward.
Everything moved in slow motion. I tried to balance, but there was no ground under my feet, only the depths of the Well of Wyrd yawning beneath me.
For a split second, my fingers clawed at the lip—then I was in free fall.
Chapter 38
Ali
Cold air rushed past my face as I plummeted into the darkness of the Well of Wyrd. The dark granite of the well flew by, just a few feet from me. I had thirty, twenty seconds before my body shattered on the roots of Yggdrasill.
I was about to die. Tumbling and spinning. Faster and faster. Panic ripped my mind open.
I was about to become a fresh corpse on King Gorm’s bone pile. Galin and I would be companions in death.
Air rushed in my ears, and with it came a sound echoing in the depths. “Aiiiiiiieeeee …”
Strange … I’d remembered the Well of Wyrd as a quiet place, but there it was again. A noise, louder this time. A voice.
I flipped around, flinging my arms out to steady myself. Far below me, there was movement in the darkness, and a faint purple glow. A dark form clung to the rock.
I understood the noise now. Not a scream, but my name drawn out.
“Aaallliiiii!”
Sacred gods. Galin was alive?
With one hand, he clung to the wall of the cave. With the other, he reached out for me. I extended my arm, but too late. Our fingers brushed, and then he was gone.
I kept falling. Sleek rock rushed past me, a gray blur only a foot away. And something else, black and sinewy, twisting in the cracks. Dark tendrils like the bodies of snakes. The roots of Yggdrasill.
I doubted they’d hold my weight, but I grabbed one anyway. My fingers wrapped around the wood. My arm jerked, and I slammed into the granite wall. The air rushed out of my lungs; my arm nearly wrenched free of its socket. Yet somehow, my fingers remained locked on the root.
I hung for a long minute, trying to catch my breath.
Then I looked up. My Night Elf eyes could pierce the darkness, but still, I couldn’t see much—gray stone and the World Tree’s roots twisting along the wall of the well, forming