Chapter 31
Despite my assurances to Thorne, I didn’t feel particularly brave when I awoke the next day. Faint moonlight filtered through the windows, and I lay there staring at the arched shadows on the wall until I felt able to rise. The sooner I faced what was to come, the sooner it would be over.
I sat and scooped up the softly glowing talisman I kept at the bedside.
“Calya,” I said, summoning foxfire.
Searing blue light flared from the crystal, all but blinding me. I shielded my eyes with one hand—and the talisman shattered.
The room was plunged into dimness again. I sat, shaking, my palm bleeding from where a shard had cut me. The remains of the broken talisman littered the covers, sparkling like broken ice in the moonlight.
My pulse raced in alarm. What had just happened? Had t
