Malice’s lips spread into a smirk as he gestures for me to follow. He turns on his heel and stalks toward the other end of the clearing, where Kaebl waits at the tree line with Fenryr’s limp body draped over his shoulders.

Malice waggles his fingertips and winks before disappearing behind a welwig trunk that's as wide as Roark is tall. Kaebl stands in place for a moment, staring with such strong longing that it causes my chest to constrict. He blinks, and the connection is broken—and he follows Malice behind the tree.

With a resigned sigh, I push out of my mates’ embrace and stand, breathing through the wave of dizziness that hits me, threatening to send me back to the ground. Once I know I can stand, I slowly force my feet forward, determined to get away from the eerie clicking noises and the beasts that accompany them.

With Lir, Cyprien, and Roark on my heels, I stumble across the clearing, following Malice’s footsteps around the back of the mighty tree trunk—but he’s not there, and neither is Kaebl or Fenryr. I’m about to call out for them when I catch sight of a dark shadow at the base of the trunk. I move closer, my mouth opening wide in a gasp when I realize what I’m staring at.

The tree has been hollowed out. But why? And how far down does this tunnel go?

Throwing caution to the wind, I grab onto the sides of the trunk and feed my legs inside, finding no bottom in sight. Taking a deep breath, I push off my perch, my stomach flying into my throat as I fall down the hole.

The wind whips around my head, filling my ears with a high-pitched screaming as I hurtle through the tunnel. Just when I decide there’s no end in sight, the tunnel curves, slowing my descent as it gradually bottoms out.

When I reach the end, I’m met with the sight of a small circular room, the walls carved from shimmering blue ice. There’s no adornment to the space—only an ominous doorway cut into the stretch of wall opposite the tube I just entered from. Kaebl and Fenryr are nowhere in sight, but when I cut my gaze to the left, I find Malice standing by the doorway, his lips tipped in an eerie smile.

“What is this place?” I whisper, unable to take my gaze off the shimmering blue walls. Now that I think of it, they remind me of the tunnels Cyprien brought me to when I first entered this world. Though unlike them, the walls of ice in this room are rougher, as if carved by hand. “Did you build this?”

Malice’s eye gleams with pride. “I did. It took nearly five years, but it was well worth it.”