Slivers of twilight slipped between the curtains in the hall, bathing the wooden planks and my bare feet as I padded to one of the spare rooms on this floor. Cypherion’s tunic slid against my thighs with each step, providing the comfort only he gave me. The one I recalled to get me through those days in Valyn. In the quiet, it wrapped around me, bolstering the hollow Titus’s death had carved in my spirit. Those edges, as sharp as a jungle cat’s deadly claws, were slowly dulling, forming something new.
Soon, dawn would strike, and the inn’s patrons would wake, the cooks arriving to prepare breakfast, but for now it was silent.
Except for the Fates pushing at my mind. They’d been excessively loud ever since the seeing chambers broke throughthe blockage, and I was still struggling to decipher what they wanted.
As the calamity crashed through my mind, I rounded the corner and came to an abrupt halt.
“Good morning, Vale,” Barrett greeted from his seat before the crackling fire. He folded and refolded a piece of parchment in his hands.
“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone would be in here.”
“Not a problem.” He gave me an attempt at one of his characteristic smirks.
“Is everything all right?” I asked, stepping further into the room.
Barrett sighed. “Fine. Received more correspondence from home. The same as before, Nassik has not been present.” He fiddled with the paper again, but it was obvious he didn’t wish to speak of it further. The pressure of the Engrossian people had been weighing on the crown prince, despite the fact that their tour had been successful so far.
“I can leave you to your writing,” I offered.
Barrett sat up straighter. “Nonsense, I love your company.” He nodded at the bag dangling from my hand. “What were you coming here for?”
Placing the pouch on the low oval table taking up the center of the room, I unloaded my supplies. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d read. Erista helped me track down a few new tinctures and candles I’m very curious about.”
I set a line of six small jars along the edge of the table, their dark glass reflecting the firelight.
“What’s so intriguing about them?” Barrett asked, leaning forward. The chair creaked beneath him, it’s amethyst velvet overstuffed and worn.
“They’re from a shopkeeper known to work closely with Artale’s magic,” I explained, and Barrett’s eyes widened. I wasafraid to say what I hoped these specific tinctures would do—what higher power I wanted to access with them.
I looked away, pulling out one of my usual blends and igniting an incense stick, propping it over a small silver dish. “I need to conduct a session to warm up first, though.”
Had to clear the pressure my Fate ties were pounding on my mind.
“By all means,” Barrett encouraged. He reclined in his chair, tilting his head curiously as I went about my reading.
Once I had all of my supplies set up as I preferred, I sat back on the thick russet rug and crossed my legs, taking a few focused breaths. My eyes slipped closed, and I fell into the space where the Fates ruled my mind. White fire blinked to light, stars calmly zipping across the sky.
I started with a familiar topic. Cypherion.
Ever since I returned to him and found out the truth about the fae queen’s prophecy, I’d been attempting to read his fate and see what may come of it. Unfortunately, foretold futures of the kind were hard to access. Still, I conducted a daily check to ensure nothing tragic had changed.
As I tried to pull up his future and open my connection to any one of the Fates that may know of him, a blinding trail of starfire flared behind my eyelids. Fate voices collided, and I couldn’t tell one from the other.
I sighed in frustration.
“Everything okay?” Barrett asked.
I cracked an eye open. The prince still folded the letter in his hands. “Technically, yes. But my readings are still muddled.”
“I thought the seeing chamber fixed that?”
“It did, but it wasn’t instantaneous. I can access all the Fates again, but they’re like a riled hive of bees. The messages are blending together rather than being communicated one at a time.”
It had happened in the Valyn archives, the first time I’d been able to access my Fates in months—when I’d been told I would be Titus’s downfall—and every day since. It was difficult to decipher clear readings currently, but it was slowly healing.
“Try again,” Barrett said, his dark green eyes soft with understanding. “Keep going.”
And I did.
