For long, quiet minutes, I tested the future of every person we knew, pulled at every Fate tie laced through my magic and tried to peel apart the voices. But they were stubborn, shouting to be heard over the others, gathering in my chest until it was hard to breathe.
Clearly, these lower readings weren’t working.
I could try…
My mind went to the emblems, to the Angels and gods no Starsearcher in history was able to read. Except for the flashes I’d been granted of them in the seeing chambers.
I shouldn’t push the magic, not when it was so new. But the pressure in my chest squeezed tighter, my head pounding.
I pulled at one, one tied to who I thought was the Fate of Fertility, though it was hard to tell among their swarm. It was no more than a corner of a godly reading, though.
And the beat of my session crescendoed in my mind. One of my Fates spewed shooting stars, the trails of starfire igniting brighter than I’d ever seen, and images spilling through them.
I gasped, elated at the return of proper magic. Finally, after weeks of empty attempts, a figure burned in that white fire.
“Who is that?” I asked the Fates in my mind.
She was a tall figure, her features masked behind a mist. But her palms were open at her sides, and from them, a thick crimson liquid dripped to the earth.
Blood.
And from that blood, humanoid creatures rose. A number of them, of all sizes, and each had one tether leading back to her. She turned her face to the sky, hair slipping around her shoulders and?—
Pointed ears caught the light.
“Fae?” I gasped.
Who was this woman? Based on the accounts Ophelia shared of Ritalia, this wasn’t her. Was it a former queen? Were those on the leashes her subjects?
I scanned the crowds of fae, but the trails of starfire were dimming, this strand nearly reaching its time. The Fate who had given it to me—whichever it had truly been—did not speak, did not elaborate. I tried to gather any remaining clues as the white dimmed. There, at the very edge of the vision, were two faces I knew. Two who slept in this very inn.
What did Lancaster and Mora have to do with this? What did any of it mean?
Please,I wanted to beg the Fates. My shoulder ached.Please, I’ve lost so much already.Have mercy on me. Show me something.
But the star was past its time. For now, the reading was forfeit.
“Vale?” Cypherion’s voice pierced the dull starfire, and my eyes snapped open. He was dressed in his leathers, his weapons strapped to his body and hair half pulled back. “I’m going to work out with Tolek and Malakai. Do you need anything?”
“No, thank you,” I said, and despite my still clouded readings, his attention softened my frustration. I allowed the sage and bergamot from his tunic to calm me, combatting those sharp edges of my voided spirit.
Cypherion nodded, leaving, and Barrett went, too, off to meet with the city council. I turned back to my supplies, preparingto fall back into the Fates, those six tinctures lining the table taunting me.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Tolek
“Cheap shot!”I called as Cypherion knocked my sword to the sand.
“How?” he barked back.
“You distracted me with frilly moves.”
Malakai laughed from where he watched. “I think that’s strategy. It’s one of your primary means of fighting, Tolek.”
“Yes,” I called, sheathing my sword and unbuckling my vambrace to stretch my wrist, “and it’s more fun when I’m the one using it against you two.”
I met Malakai on the sidelines and uncapped my canteen as we rested for a moment. It was early, so we’d come out back to spar in the clearing behind the Lendelli inn. We should have gone further away to stifle the noise, but none of us wanted to be too far while everyone slept.
