"Oh gods," Maude repeated out loud. "The Valkyrie wings were always abnormal for a fatemark. Is this why Mama told me to keep it a secret? Did she know?"
Her words were cracking as she processed yet another lie from her mother, the full fate reading that had been hidden from her becoming even more devastating than before.
"Actually, I don't think she knew any of it aftergebo," Bryn said as she grabbed a small book from the crease of the chair that was positioned at her bedside.
Her sister flipped through the pages until she reached the one she was searching for and handed it to Maude. With shaking hands, she grasped the journal from Bryn and read her mother's neat script:
In my time in Nida, I've learned more about the ritual of fate tellings. The standard three runes that dictate a person's fate are the most common type of telling tooccur, especially with humans. The Elven, however, as Aeric has explained, can have five runes pulled during a fate telling.
It is fascinating to me that the fate tellings for human children only hold three runes, but Aeric explained that it is the same reason that humans can only control three types ofgalderat the very most. Simply put, our bodies aren't designed to withstand that much power. Only a few recorded cases of human children had five runes pulled during their ritual, and all of these children grew to become great influences over Ahland.
Though human children rarely have five runes pulled during their ritual, it is almost never communicated to the parents what the final two runes are as they are more precarious in one's fate. In other words, the last two runes depend on the choices made by the bearer of that fate. It leads to multiple avenues, or threads, of fate that affect the world around them. The information would be too dangerous for anyone to know. For the Elven, these runes don't even show themselves in the ink until the bearer starts down that leg of their journey.
Like a sponge, I sit in the grand library housed in Aeric's chambers and absorb all the information that was lost to the rest of the country. I am so fortunate to be one of the few who have learned what I have.
Aeric? Maude thought back on her mother's stories, and she never mentioned anyone named Aeric. How could she have known all of this and never said anything? Though, was it possible that her mother truly didn't realize that five runes had been pulled for her?
Unanswered question after unanswered question filtered through her thoughts, leaving Maude more overwhelmed than before.
"I don't believe that Mama knew you had five runes pulled," Bryn said as she gently removed the journal from her hands. "From the entry I read in Nida where she recounts your fate telling, she only mentions the first three runes before the Soothsayer takes you away for the fatemark."
"How do you have that journal anyway?" Maude asked, needing a new topic.
"The King of Shadows had them," Bryn said slowly.
"Them? There's more?"
Her sister hesitated before motioning to the boxes piled up in the corner. The overflowing journals that rested in them lingered in an old, faded scent that reminded her of her mother: cinnamon and warm sugar.
Gods above. Maude shook her head again before asking the real question that was plaguing her.
“If I died and the Valkyrie really brought me back to life, why would they bring me here? To Nida?”
Bryn pressed her lips together, an old habit she had when she was unsure of what to say. Maude tried to find patience, but she was spiraling, and she needed something to balance the chaos raging in her mind. Suddenly, her swirling thoughts paused as she remembered the other rune that was new to her fate.
Balance. Herrick. Gods, her entire body shook as she thought of him. Where was he? Where was that insufferable man?
“Where is Herrick? Why isn't he here?”
Before Bryn could answer, the door at the far end of the room opened, allowing a tall male with pointed ears and midnight hair to glide in. He was a warrior, but his posture was indicative of someone who carried themselves with authority. The moonstone crown on his bronze brow gave away who he was before Maude could ask: the Shadow King.
Dressed in fighting leathers with thin plates of armor on the arms, chest, and thighs, the Shadow King strode into her room, his silver eyes only on her. Maude tensed as he prowled into the room, Liv following close behind him. The sight of her friend relaxed Maude, but that ease quickly vanished as she looked at Liv’s tapered ears and glowing aura, as if her true form was happy to be seen without its glamour.
“Maude, you're awake,” the Shadow King breathed as he scanned her face.
There was joy in his face that Maude could not understand. She looked past the Elven king to look at her friend, who sheepishly averted her gaze from Maude.
She asked again, “Where is Herrick?”
Liv finally looked at her, her eyes wide, before she glanced at Bryn. But the Shadow King answered her, his pleasant voice tinged with sadness.
“The King of Flame has him as his prisoner.”
Silence rang in Maude’s head, the sounds around her drowning under the furious pounding of her heart. Heat flared in her chest, her fatemark pulsing before fire exploded from her veins and engulfed her.
“I hadn’t quite gotten that far yet,” Bryn shouted as she wrangled her wind to form a protective bubble around her sister, shielding the room and the others from the outburst.
“Clearly,” Liv responded, raising her palms to help. Bright citrus joined with Bryn’s desert lavender as theirgalderworked together to contain Maude’s rage.
