Chapter 30 · What Her Mother Left Behind

I'm halfway down the altar steps when I hear it again.

"Wei'er."

My mother's voice. Coming from the cracks in the floor where the forbidden grounds split open.

Gu Hanchuan's weight sags against my shoulder. He's barely conscious, his breath coming in short bursts against my neck. The fire poison's eating him from the inside and I can feel the heat radiating off his skin even through his robes.

"You heard that." It's not a question. His voice is rough, strained.

"I heard nothing." I keep moving, one step at a time. My legs are shaking. The Void Root coiled inside me like it's waiting for permission to tear everything apart again.

Behind us, the three elders are still standing in the wrecked hall. Elder Shen's face is white. Lin Yuan—my cousin, the bastard who's been bleeding me dry for years—he's staring at the cracks in the floor like he's seen a ghost.

Maybe he has.

"Wei'er, come to me."

I stop. Can't help it. That voice—I haven't heard it in fifteen years but I'd know it anywhere. The way she used to say my name when I scraped my knees as a kid.