“You can, too,” Alie said softly. “This space is shared by all of us, as long as we’re using power from the Fount. If Gabe is channeling fire at all, he’ll show up here eventually.”
“And we just have to hope we’re all dreaming at the same time?” Two steps forward, one step back.
“It’s certainly not an exact science.” Alie was fading. Lore could see the cliffs through her torso, her friend turning ghost. Waking up. “You’ll see him,” Alie promised as she disappeared. “And if you do before me, tell him to find the shard.”
Then she was gone.
Ridiculous, how much lighter Lore felt with a plan, even one as far-fetched and unlikely as this. Part of her thought they were deluding themselves, thinking they could find the shards of theFount scattered all over, somehow bring them to the Mount. But it was better than nothing. Better than helplessness.
Lore lay back on the sand, the warm water washing up over her ankles. She waited to wake.
The next day, Lore got up long before the dawn. She had no pallet to bundle up, having used hers as a burial shroud for a dead monk, so she had a few minutes before it was time to head to the mine. She used them to stand at the shoreline, the water washing up over her still-bare feet, the anemic light of morning a thin scrim over the horizon. The guards up by the barracks kept a wary eye on her but didn’t say anything. She was almost certain they had orders to keep her alive, but as long as she didn’t walk into the sea, they’d leave her alone.
So she had to find a piece of the Fount, then get to the Golden Mount. At least one of those things seemed slightly doable, now that Dani was her ally. The closest thing she had to one, anyway, and that connection was nearly as anemic as the sunlight. It didn’t sound like they had the same end goal—hells, it sounded like Dani’s end goal was the annihilation of everything—but Lore could use her. If Dani truly had a way to get off this island, a way to find the Golden Mount, Lore would play along with her nihilism.
You have more patience than I, Nyxara said in response to the thought.
Lore ignored that.You wouldn’t happen to know where the shard of the Fount is, would You?
The goddess paused.I know it’s somewhere on the Isles. But I don’t remember which one I hid it on.
You hid it?Lore supposed that shouldn’t be a surprise.
During the Godsfall, Nyxara said.When I had… had a moment.
And You didn’t think that was something You should tell me?
One piece of the Fount is useless. It cannot hold the whole of Its power again unless all of them are found. I didn’t want to give you false hope.
As if that wasn’t the only kind Lore had.
The sun was starting to rise, a weak glow filtering through the ash. Without its constant cover, the heat would have been punishing.You’ve been quiet lately, Lore said, hurrying before the full light of day pushed the goddess too far back in her head to speak.This is the most I’ve heard from You in days.
I’ve tried to speak to you.Nyxara already sounded distant.It’s… harder, lately.
What is that supposed to mean?But Nyxara was already gone, hunched into the darkness behind her thoughts.
“I know You can still hear me,” she said grumpily, but she didn’t try to further engage her parasitic goddess. Lore rubbed at her tired eyes. Then she turned and walked up the beach, grabbing her boots from the cave before heading to where a queue of prisoners already gathered, waiting to choose their pickaxes for the day. She pulled the cloth from her pocket and started wrapping her preemptively stinging palms.
“No need for that.” A familiar slender figure appeared at her side, almost as if she’d conjured herself out of the fog. Dani, pulling the cloth from Lore’s hands. “You aren’t mining today.”
“How do you figure?” Lore snatched her bandages back. “We work or we get beaten.”
Dani rolled her eyes. “We’re still working, Your Majesty.” She gripped Lore’s arm and steered her away from the crowd. “But we’re working in the lighthouse.”
“Absolutely not.” Lore dug her heels into the sand. “I don’t want to get within ten feet of Martin.” And she should start her search for the Fount piece. The chances of it being in the mine, or anywhere on this island, were small but not zero.
“You won’t have to,” Dani replied, grabbing Lore’s hand anddragging her down the beach, out of earshot. “He and I have an understanding. If I tell him to leave you alone, he will.”
Lore didn’t trust any sentence that contained bothMartinandunderstanding. “I’d rather stick with the mines.”
Dani stepped up until she was bare inches from Lore’s face. They were of a height, both shorter than average. The person before her now bore very little resemblance to the person she’d met in Bastian’s atrium so long ago, sipping tea and eating macarons. Her face had been turned from delicate to gaunt by imprisonment, filed to sharp edges. Her nails dug into Lore’s forearm.
“Do you want to kill Him,” Dani said, cold and even, “or don’t you? Because you won’t be able to pull it off without my help, I can promise you that. You might think yourself street-smart, Lore, but here, you’re nothing more than a walking target. You think those Presque Mort were the only ones who want to come after you?”
“I can take care of myself,” Lore said, jerking her arm backward and wishing she believed it like she once had.
“Can you?” Dani cocked a brow. “Are you just going to keep using Spiritum, sucking it out of everyone who crosses you? I understand that it’s really the only thing you can do with it, but it might become suspicious after a while. And it will certainly draw His attention. Mortem would be more useful, but that’s not an option anymore, is it?”
