The Eating Woods, #2
Eldritch
by Keri Lake
Contents
Chapter 5
Overview
Zevander, deteriorating without vivicantem, investigates the crawlspace where Aleysia lies and finds supplies, claw marks, and a black residue that vanishes. He and Maevyth share tense comfort, debating Aleysia’s fate and choosing to sleep nearby. After a brief kiss, Zevander suffers agonizing chest pain that subsides when he clings to Maevyth’s necklace, deepening his resolve to protect her.
Summary
Keeping watch as pale, insectile creatures skitter outside the cabin, Zevander grapples with confusion over words he thought Maevyth spoke and the clear signs of his vivicantem deprivation—faltering flame and the onset of malvicantem. Accepting he is descending, he resolves to stay with Maevyth even if she remains in Mortasia, privately questioning why the old woman hid Aleysia.
He descends to the crawlspace where Aleysia lies and notes deep claw marks, a chest of clothes, sparse food, and a strange black substance that absorbs into the floor and vanishes. Maevyth wakes; together they inventory wine bottles she recognizes from her grandfather’s cellar, and discuss Aleysia potentially waking soon, given the mortal lands’ limits on blood bonds.
They trade dark humor and brief warmth. Maevyth recalls the wrathavore’s effect on Moros and feels relieved that Aleysia seems intact. Wary after a bad dream, she suggests they sleep in the same room. They share a restrained kiss, and Zevander, despite wanting more, chooses vigilance and space to avoid pushing her away.
Alone, Zevander is struck by sudden crushing chest pain, a rotting taste and blackening vision threatening to overwhelm him. Fixating on Maevyth’s scorpion necklace from The Becoming Ceremony and the thought of her, he calms the attack until the pain recedes. He pockets the necklace, his bond-driven resolve to protect Maevyth hardening as Aleysia remains unconscious below.
Who Appears
- ZevanderStruggles with vivicantem deprivation, investigates the crawlspace, shares intimacy-tinged conversation with Maevyth, endures chest agony soothed by her necklace.
- MaevythExhausted but relieved about Aleysia; discusses blood bonds, recalls Moros’s fate, suggests sleeping nearby, and shares a tentative kiss with Zevander.
- AleysiaUnconscious in the crawlspace; her condition prompts caution. Surrounded by claw marks and odd residue, she remains central to the pair’s decisions.