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He stops at the opposite side of Elionn’s prison, studying the suspended prince with the concentration of a scholar confronted with a discovery he has spent years chasing. His fingertips hover just above the surface, not quite touching.

“Thank you for getting me this far, Traveler.” He gestures to my exposed tattoo. “Without your connection to the prince, the court would never have allowed us to get this close.”

My hand drops to my knife. “What do you mean?”

Kelaros tuts, drawing the blade I gave him in warning. “Now, now. We’re all friends here.”

“Then be a friend and explain yourself.”

The fingers of his free hand dance along the crystal cocoon, not quite touching. “The Opal Court accepted the Silver Prince where it rejected others, and then hid him away. Your blood connection to him is why we were allowed to reach this point.”

“Others such as yourself?”

Something shifts in Kelaros’s amusement, there and gone too quickly to name. “Very good.”

“So you’ve tried to get in here before.”

“Many times.”

I tighten my grip on my knife. “You told me Nyctarian sent you through the rift.”

“He sanctioned it.”

“To find this chamber?”

Kelaros circles the crystal cocoon, trailing his fingers a breath from its surface. “I volunteered to learn what lay beyond the rift and bring back anything of use. I had hoped that would include the secrets the court keeps most closely guarded.”

“And the others?”

“They were not sent.” He licks his dry lips. “They were taken.”

The chamber pulses around us, its rhythm picking up speed as if listening to our conversation.

“How many?”

Kelaros stops on the other side of Elionn. “Enough.”

The silence stretches.

His story doesn’t add up. Kelaros was the first through the rift. Others followed, and according to him, the court snatched them up almost as soon as they arrived.

But Kelaros has wandered these halls for years.

Untouched.

“Why hasn’t it taken you?”

“Perhaps I’m not to its taste.”

“Bullshit.”

His laugh is soft. “Almost certainly.”

I wait, but he offers nothing more.

Instead, his attention returns to Elionn, and hunger sharpens his interest. “Whatever the reason, the court denied me this chamber until you arrived. Then you brought exactly what I needed to open the way.”

My stomach tightens. “The sithean stone.”