Chapter 61

Raeve enters a circular, domed chamber mosaicked like The Fade’s sky and laced with runes she can sense. Her bloody steps lead to a makeshift Moltenmaw nest holding a powder-blue egg. Crouched behind it is a small fae in an oversized white Runi robe—silver hair, silver eyes—who greets her by name.

Recognizing him as Ahvi, Raeve collapses to her knees, shocked that her assigned mark is a child. Ahvi calmly states she came to kill him but will not. He reveals himself as a Mindweft and says others do not understand him as Raeve’s Other does, tying Raeve’s inner presence to his awareness.

Ahvi admits he dislikes both this place and the Citadel and nods when Raeve realizes he is the prodigy who can read the Book of Voyd and who inscribed the Citadel’s arches. He once tried to escape but could not, deepening Raeve’s resolve to protect him.

Ahvi thanks Raeve for freeing Kurth, distinguishing him from the others as kind, and adds that Kurth helped him obtain the egg. Ahvi has heard everything, including the deaths Raeve caused outside, claiming he cannot shut the voices off—though Raeve doubts that is fully true.

When the egg jolts, Ahvi’s brief smile makes him seem even younger. Then he draws out a silver weald, meets Raeve’s gaze, and whispers, “Run,” signaling imminent danger and ending the encounter on a knife’s edge.