I pulled my hand away. “Don’t be stupid, Finn. I have my faults, but I’m not scared of blood.”

“It’s not the injury.” His eyelids fluttered. “The way that it heals, it’s … unnatural. Not pretty. I don’t want you to see.”

Millie touched my shoulder.

“You’re hurt.” My throat was tight. “And you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

His chest quivered as he breathed, every inhale painful and slow.

“I’ll be fine.” He coughed. “I need a few minutes, that’s all. Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry! I nearly exploded. He was lying in front of me, blood seeping into the dirt and his chest cut open, and he wanted to act like nothing was wrong. Bad enough that he had gotten hurt again, bad enough that it had been my fault, but the fact that he was still trying to protect me? It was more than I could stand.

And yet I could not argue with him now. He was so broken and exhausted, and I could not do anything.

“Take as long as you need,” I said dully.

CHAPTER

FORTY

By midday, Finn had fully recovered. He walked alongside the path, quiet and pale and withdrawn. We had split Cyde’s provisions between us, and he carried the bulk of them, but he moved as if their weight meant nothing to him.

“You called it the path of grace?” said Osan.

I felt despondent and heartsore, stretched too thin between the horrors I had witnessed over the last few hours. We had passed through the grove and into another valley, where the path looped and twisted like the random scribbling of a child. It had rained again, and the sky remained overcast and drear.

Osan’s question startled me out of my thoughts; we had been walking in silence until then.

“It’s just a theory that Cyde had.” I cleared my throat. “About the people who occupied Aytrium before the Ascension.”

He frowned. “They made the path?”

“Possibly.” I considered for a moment. The conversation was moving in a dangerous direction. “From what I understand, the Eater’s people conquered the continent and drove out or killed its former inhabitants. The path is a relic of that time.”

“Huh,” said Osan. “That’s not history I’m familiar with.”

“Cyde researched it while she was Chief Archivist.” I pointed south. “I believe the path should extend all the way to those mountains.”

“And it repels Haunts?”

I could not help glancing at Finn. “It seems that way. When we were descending from Aytrium, I think we might have drifted over it before the wind pushed us back.”

“Which is why I…” Finn made a bitter gesture. “Well, why I had my episode.”

“At least we know the reason now,” said Millie.

He sighed.

“What’s at the end of the path?” asked Osan.

I tried to keep the tension out of my voice. “I’m not certain. I think it used to serve a spiritual purpose. It might lead to a place of worship, maybe a temple of some kind. I’m not sure it matters.”