Page 14 of A Dawn of Gods & Fury

“As opposed to Ybaris’s queen forcing them to?” Solange retorts crisply.

“They are no longer collared,” Agatha confirms. “But I do not believe you should be worried about elementals rushing to meddle with the fates.”

I don’t care about uncollared elementals now. “Why would that wyvern carry Neilina’s body out of the rift?”

“A good question, indeed. We seem to understand little about what is and isn’t possible when the fates are scheming. That is becoming clearer with each new day.” Agatha’s wrinkled forehead lifts with a knowing stare. “I often wondered about that garish token encircling Queen Neilina’s neck, what purpose it might serve her. Or, more likely, what purpose it might serve the donor.”

Aoife. “The fates never give without taking.” And Aoife gave Neilina Princess Romeria—a deadly weapon to use against Islor.

Her nod is subtle. “We may have just witnessed the true cost of that summons so long ago. Queen Neilina undoubtedly fell into the rift, and surely, she did not survive. As for who came out, though … another version of Neilina, as we have a different version of Romeria? Perhaps. But I fear it is something far worse.”

My curse echoes Jarek’s from a moment ago as I grasp what the caster is suggesting. “Aoife has been here before.” And we know that Malachi wishes to come back. It’s the entire reason Sofie sent me to Islor in the first place. “Are you telling me we may have not one fate to worry about, but two?”

Agatha’s pinched expression confirms I’m not wrong in my suspicions. “I wish I could say otherwise.”

My stomach swirls with sudden nausea. “How are we supposed to fight against not just Malachi but Aoife?”

“We’ve done it once and obviously succeeded, though how remains a mystery.”

A mystery that may be answered within that vast library the nymphs have been protecting all these years. Gesine was adamant it held vital information for me, for our future. “How fast can we get those scribes to Ulysede?”

“We sent letters yesterday as soon as we parted ways and received a response from the Prime at sunrise.” Agatha and Solange share another look, and this time the elderly caster dips her head, deferring to her superior.

“The Prime has declared that she will not comply with the request for scribes.”

“What does that mean? Romeria is the queen of Ybaris. Did you make it clear that this is a command, not a request?” Jarek stares down the Shadow.

Solange takes a step forward, challenging him. “Her Highness’s needs could not have been clearer had I inked it in her own blood.”

“And yet she ignores us.”

“Lorel is certainly not ignoring Queen Romeria.” By Agatha’s tone, more bad news is to come. “The Prime has obviously learned of the lengths the scribes have undertaken to aid prophecy and had announced that all scribes must face judgment for treason against their guild. She has also learned that I am here and has demanded that the Shadows escort me back to Mordain so I may be suitably punished for my crimes.”

“And yet she was willing to turn a blind eye to Neilina forcing Ianca to summon a fate in the first place,” Solange mutters. “She even had the audacity to suggest that was an impossibility in front of the council.”

“The queen who ensured Lorel’s role as Prime?” Agatha snorts. “What else would you expect of someone who puts politics before integrity? But that queen is dead and, I assure you, Lorel will still not admit culpability.”

“And a new Ybarisan queen changes everything.”

“Which is why Lorel has chosen this path.”

The two casters lob words back and forth as if we’re not standing here.

“Why would the Prime want to make me an enemy?” I interrupt.

“Because she assumes you already are one. She has professed you a false queen and Mordain free of Ybaris’s rule.” Agatha’s face turns grim. “After she interrogates the scribes in hopes of uncovering every last shred of knowledge about what has taken place in Ybaris and Islor, she will execute them.”

My stomach drops. “How many?”

“I fear all of them.” Pain fills the old caster’s wrinkled face.

“But she can’t!” We need the scribes.

“Without Neilina, Lorel knows her position as Prime is threatened and she will do whatever she feels necessary to maintain it,” Solange says with more than a hint of bitterness. “Using the opportunity of a new ruler to assert full independence from Ybaris is her best move.”

“And how do you feel about that?” Kienen cuts in, quiet up until now, his steady gaze on Solange.

She glares at him. “What point are you trying to make with an audience here, Ybarisan soldier? You know exactly how I feel,” she snaps back, and I can’t help but sense they know each other beyond their current roles. “It is no secret I have long since wished for my realm to be out from beneath Ybaris. We are discarded as children and then expected to return as servants once our affinities are of use. Now here we are, summoned to the rift to fight in a war between two royal families over land and power, expected to do their bidding. We have played puppets to Queen Neilina’s whims for far too long.”

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