Page 112 of Unveiled

“Yes.”

“And if we don’t?”

Xiathen didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. Everyone knew the valley would collapse.

Connor sat down again, leaning forward, his eyes locked on Adrian. “Well?” he asked softly. “What do you want to do?”

Adrian looked at the people around the table. Then he looked at Connor and exhaled. “I know what option you’d pick.” He smiled faintly. “So I guess defiance it is.”

The room murmured, some in relief, some in dread. Connor closed his eyes in relief.

Xiathen bowed his head. “Then we prepare. Tonight, the Valours walk the fault lines themselves.”

Max swore under his breath. Fraser muttered a prayer. Piper whispered, “May the Gods watch over you both.”

And every anchor in the valley pulsed deep beneath the earth in answer.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Adrian

Night didn’t fall normally. It bled.

A purple sheen seeped across Heatherfell, staining the fog that coiled around the foothills. The cracks spiderwebbing the valley floor pulsed with a dim, unnatural light, and the anchors hummed. Adrian felt them in his bones.

It was time.

The castle’s courtyard had been stripped of its usual bustle. Only essential people remained: Connor, Adrian, Fraser, Max, Piper, Moira, Irial, and Xiathen. Torches burned along the walls, their flames bending the opposite way: leaning toward the valley instead of away.

Adrian stood by Connor’s side, the mark glowing through his thin linen shirt in spirals of violet and gold: the unified colours of the Council and Connor’s wolf. His breathing was steady, but he could feel the tremor under his skin.

“You don’t look ready,” Connor muttered. His own sigil burned brightly along his forearm.

Adrian attempted a smile. “I’m ready enough.” We might bring the world as we know it to despair tonight. Of course I’m not ready.

“Not good enough,” Connor snapped. “If you start collapsing again—”

Adrian stepped closer, his fingertips brushing Connor’s wrist. “I won’t collapse.”

“If you do,” Connor said darkly, “I’ll catch you.”

Xiathen approached, his robes whispering. “The anchors are restless. The March must begin.”

Connor straightened. “Tell us what to do.”

“You walk,” Xiathen said softly. “Together. Down the valley’s central pathway. When you feel the mark pulling, do not resist. Focus, not on fighting it, but on each other. Let the bond split the strain. The Triarc is ready to help where they can.”

Adrian’s pulse quickened. “And if it doesn’t split?”

Xiathen looked at him with sympathetic eyes. “Then the valley will.”

Connor growled. “Wonderful.”

Fraser clapped Connor’s shoulder. “We’re with you, lad.”

“No,” Connor said sharply. “Only Adrian and I walk the fault lines. Everyone else stays back.”

“The hell we do,” Max muttered.