When Damien arrived at the place of ruin, only cold stone and the faint scorch marks where it had rested.
He stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty crater. His breath fogged in the air.
"It's gone," he said quietly.
Even though he'd warned that he'd go alone, they refused to allow him go alone.
Apnoch, one of the people who had followed at a cautious distance, frowned. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"
Damien shook his head. "The fragment I felt. It was here. Now it's not."
"Could it have disintegrated?" Arielle asked, stepping forward from the shadow of a broken pillar. Her arm was bound, but her voice had strength again.
"No." Damien's gaze swept the courtyard. He knelt, running his hand across the blackened ground. "There's no residue. No decay trace. It didn't break down—it was moved."
Lyone's face paled. "Moved? By who?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Damien murmured.
