He turned to me, frowning. “Something is interfering with my magic.” He held up his hand. “Just like the spell was interrupted when arrived here. My magic isn’t working down here.”
Oh, no. “Try something else,” I said desperately.
Quickly, Galin scribed kaun, but the fire only appeared for an instant before disappearing. Galin’s eyes widdened suddenly.
“What is it?”
Galin didn’t answer. Instead he reached up and gently touched the Helm of Awe. Then he took it off.
“Did you just—”I began.
Galin nodded. “The spell is broken.I can’t even hear Ganglati.”
He held the helm in his hand a moment longer, then with a hard flick of his wrist he threw it into the well.
Watching it drop into the depths gave me an idea. “Maybe we can use one of the crystals. Do you know how to enchant one?”
Galin shook his head. “Even if I could, how would we get it out of here? There’s no way to get it to the surface. The roots stop soon, the walls smooth out. And if we dropped it down the well, it would shatter …”
“And if we teleported to it, we’d simply reappear in a thousand pieces,” I finished grimly.
I sat down on the edge of the ledge, my legs swinging over the abyss. Quietly, Galin sat next to me. For a long time, we looked out into the darkness of the well without speaking.
“Let me see your finger again,” I finally said.
He held it out, and I grimaced. It had started bleeding again.
I tore off one of my shirt sleeves. “Here, let me bind it for you.” I took Galin’s hand in my lap, then picked up my sleeve. “This is going to hurt.”
“I was dead for a thousand years. I’ll withstand a bit of your shirt.”
“There you go.”
“Thank you.” His voice was quiet and subdued.
I nodded and looked out into the darkness again, sighing. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what would happen next. With the Winnowing tied, who would win? The Vanir, or the High Elves—and what would become of my people?
Sadness shattered me, and my head fell into my hands. “We’re trapped here, aren’t we?”
Chapter 39
Ali
Grief-stricken, I peered over the edge. The vines I’d been climbing wouldn’t take us down far enough to get to the bottom. Above and below them was sheer rockface, slick as obsidian. So, it was just us and the rocks.
I tried not to imagine how our death would go. We would become severely dehydrated within days. We’d starve and possibly consider eating each other.
“I’m not going to eat you,” I muttered.
“That’s a relief.” Galin stared into the darkness. “This wasn’t in my vision.”
“What vision?”
“My vision of my fate. I saw myself as king.”
“Of course you did.”
He shot me a sharp look. “My visions don’t lie.”
“Right. Fate. Wyrd. You are deeply committed.” I peered over at him skeptically. “Was I in this vision of yours? You said our souls are entwined.”
He shook his head. “No. That perplexed me. You were not there with me in my kingdom. Which is wrong, obviously.”
“I thought your visions don’t lie.”
His jaw tightened. “I am admittedly confused.”
“The story of fate that my mother told was one where I killed you. So, if you really believe in fate, maybe we’re not supposed to be lovers. Maybe our souls are entwined for an altogether different reason.”
“And why would you kill me now?” he asked.
“For sustenance.” It was a grim joke, and neither of us laughed.
Galin had gone completely silent, so quiet it was starting to worry me. “Maybe you’re right,” he said quietly, finally.
“What?”
“A thousand years ago, I devoted my life to the gods. Everything I did was to honor them.”
“What about the women? I heard you had legions of women following you around. Desperate for your attention.”
He shrugged. “The women were nice. But if it weren’t for the gods, my life would have been empty. The deaths on the battlefields, the magic. When I died, I lost all those memories. I lost all meaning. For a thousand years, I was a shell of a person. I only started to feel alive again when I met you, even if I was still a lich. It was like I could feel my heart beating again, even if it wasn’t supposed to.”
I felt my own heart speeding up, warmth blooming in my chest. “Yeah?”
“And then my soul returned to me. With the power of Loki’s wand, I had blood flowing in my veins. And my memories came back for the first time in