The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Chapter 40
We traveled on, wary of the stability of the tunnel.
Again, it felt as if we continued on for a small eternity, but
the sudden and familiar scent of lilac sent a bolt of hope
through me. Pressing through the narrow turn, a pinprick of
light appeared in the darkness.
We had reached the end of the tunnel and Iliseeum.
“Mist,” Casteel announced. “I can see it coming through
the opening.”
I tapped his shoulder when he didn’t move. “Cas.”
He growled low in his throat but flattened himself
against the wall, holding the torch high. As I passed him, I
pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.
“That doesn’t help,” he grumbled.
I would’ve smiled, but I saw it—tendrils of thick mist
seeping into the opening in the tunnel, drifting toward us. I
moved forward, sending up a prayer that Jasper had been
right about my ability to pass through the mist and that my
suspicion that it would not only allow me to do so but also
scatter, making it safe for the others, was true.
The Primal magic rose from the floor of the cavern,
forming wispy fingers as it stretched out toward me. I lifted
my hand.
“I don’t like this,” Casteel muttered from behind me.
“It shouldn’t hurt her,” Kieran reminded him, but
concern bled into his words.
The mist brushed against my skin, the feel of it cool and
damp and alive. The eather retracted, lowering to the
ground and then disappearing.