Then, abruptly, the light died, and there was only darkness.

And that darkness held a heartbeat, just as it had before. Only this time, there were three rather than one. Two of those beats lay in my hand. The third was distant but drawing closer.

I could see nothing. I could feel nothing. No heat, no cold, no life.

And yet, there was power here. Gathering power. A storm that lay in wait.

For what?

Then I remembered the comments Rostin De Clari had made through Alinda; the gifts of light can sometimes exact a bloody price.

Was that the key? Did the Triune demand tribute in the form of blood to fully unite all three items?

Possibly. I mean, there had to be some reason the codex hadn’t been fully utilized by my ancestors—so underutilized, in fact, that they’d actually forgotten it was part of a set.

But how could I unite anything when in fact I didn’t exist in this place? It was a reality beyond the confines of time and space, just as Eithne’s stone had been.

The third heartbeat was now so close I could reach out and touch it. I hesitated, then raised my hands, offering the two heartbeats sitting within them to that third. It joined the two in my hands, but I had absolutely no idea what to do next.

I obviously had to do something. I could feel it in the storm, in the gathering weight of expectation.

Eithne’s words rose unbidden; Keep faith with the Eye, complete the Triune’s circle, and pay the price to make them your own.

Meaning that technically, the triune was not complete even if the three heartbeats were sitting in my hands. So, what was I missing?

How did I pay the price?

Make them your own... exact a bloody price. Different ways of saying the same thing, perhaps?

I might not have a body in this place between worlds, but I did have a spirit or a being or whatever the hell this part of me was. I couldn’t physically draw blood, but I could draw the hearts that sat so lightly in my hands into my spirit, into my heart. A heart that was beating so loudly, so fiercely, it felt like it was going to break.

I could only try. The frantic beating of my heart suggested I couldn’t remain much longer in this place between worlds. It would kill me if I did. I was certain of that, if nothing else.

Without thinking any more about it, I dragged my hands in close and pressed the three beating hearts against my own. For an instant, nothing happened.

Then the distant storm of power suddenly wasn’t, and as four became one, the darkness exploded. The heartbeats disintegrated, and I was tossed violently through the kaleidoscope of color and back into the world of the living.

And found myself sitting on the floor amongst the debris of the bedroom’s back window, my heart still feeling like it was about to shatter and every breath a shuddering, wheezing effort. There was moisture running down my stomach, blood on the tip of the knives, and the Eye’s pulse matched the frantic pace of my heart. As for the codex—the old leather was now mirror black.