Page 141 of Flame and Sparrow

“The barriers between the realms exist for a reason,” he said after a moment. “If they’re compromised, if something else from the mortal realm crosses over…”

“Something else? You mean it’s happened before?”

“Once.” He inhaled deeply. Reluctance settled heavily in his features, as though we’d come to the part of the discussion he’d least wanted to reach.

But my questioning stare was insistent, and he soon relented.

“A little less than six years ago, a being of the mortal world succeeded in crossing into this realm uninvited. The breach caused a terrifying amount of instability—and not just to our own realm. It caused unchecked magic to flow out from our heavens and into Eligas, flooding its usually neutral pathways and creating chaos. We repaired it just in time to keep it from affecting the mortal realm, thankfully. And soon after, this ‘ocean’ before us was created by the Death Marr to better neutralize any potential future attacks. He’s maintained it ever since.”

“What happened to the person who broke through?”

“She remained here for a short time.”

My unease sank deeper still, settling in the very core of my being, though I still couldn’t properly explain what was causing it.

“Most of us wanted to destroy her for what she’d done—and what she’d tried to do. But she ended up in the Death Marr’s clutches first, and Zachar loves to bargain; he offered the intruder a chance at becoming one of the Miratar.

“She was a clever being, he reasoned, to have found her way into our realm uninvited. She might have made a fine addition to our divine court, and we might have been able to convince her to explain how she’d managed to break through the veil between the realms, too. We held on to that hope for a little while, at least…”

“But she didn’t work out,” I recalled. “This was the same failed ascendant Valas told me about, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “And Zachar was afterwards relegated to this task of protecting the Edgelands because the Moraki were not pleased with his reckless decision-making.”

“So he’s being punished?”

“Yes. It’s why he doesn’t associate with the rest of the Marr very often, and I think it’s part of the reason he still maintains such a monstrous appearance even several years after his ascension. So much of his power is poured into this ocean here that it’s left him…unstable.”

I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for the God of Death. I still hadn’t forgotten the way all the others had avoided even looking in our direction when I was talking to him.

Still turning all of these new facts over in my mind, I said, “And the failed ascendant was killed when she tried to flee, I assume.”

Dravyn shook his head.

My heart skipped a few beats. “She got away?”

“And worse, she didn’t go back to her realm empty-handed. She took several things from the Death God’s palace that we know of—and likely more that we don’t know of—for purposes that to this day we can only guess at.”

The anxiety in my core twisted into something far more sinister.

Because I could think of at least one very good reason why a mortal would want to steal divine objects—a reason that brought me, unwillingly, back to the conversation with Cillian.

The knife hidden in my room flashed in my mind.

An impossible thought struck me, so sudden and sharp that I had to fight the urge to double-over as if I’d been stabbed in the stomach.

A long moment passed before I found the courage to speak my thoughts. “This failed ascendant…” I swallowed down the bile rising in the back of my throat. “What was her name?”

The silence that stretched between us was like a physical thing; a third person joining our conversation; an executioner aiming an arrow at my chest.

Dravyn stared out over the dark ocean of magic as he said, “It was not a coincidence that I saved you from the pyre the day we met. I’d been watching you for some time before that, ever since the failed ascendant’s death. Because though she was dealt with, we still didn’t know what had become of the things she took—why she had taken them, what she had done with them. We needed more answers. And we hoped you would provide those answers where she had not.”

I shook my head, fighting the urge to turn and run.

I couldn’t make myself say the truth out loud.

So the God of Fire spoke it for me.

“The failed ascendant was your sister.”

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