Page 47 of A Fate Everlasting

“Don’t play the fool.” She released me and glided backwards into the shop. Against every instinct, I followed her through the beaded curtain.

The interior felt less like a room and more like the inside of a cocoon. Drapes of black-violet silk sagged from the ceiling, dust motes drifting in violet candle-light. A glass orb on a stump-table throbbed with lambent amethyst. The moment the beaded curtain clacked shut, the outside world vanished.

Magdalena folded herself behind the stump, antennae flicking. She shuffled a deck of cards, and my attention piqued. But these had backs of dark velvet and faces flecked with silver sigils I didn’t recognise. Her translucent nails clicked on the wood each time she cut the deck.

A card slapped face-up.The Spinner.Another.The Knot.A third.Null.With every draw her pupils dilated wider, devouring the silver until nothing remained but black.

“Focus,” she hissed. I wasn’t sure if it was directed at me or herself. I focused my mind anyway. I pictured Dante, the Arcana. I felt the warmth ofTheFoolin my pocket.

Magdalena’s antennae snapped upright. “I see him, the one you are looking for. In the company of a gifted alchemist. He can not deliver what he seeks.”

“Where?” I leaned closer, inspecting the cards as if I could decipher them. “What does he seek?”

“He seeks to bind the object of his attention,” she crooned. “The alchemist is not far.”

The hairs on my arms stood on end. “How do I find him?”

Her wings twitched as she shrugged. “I tradeknowledge, not directions. But my best guess would behere.” She scrawled something on a slip of parchment, passing it to me. “Payment.”

I offered my palm. A hooked nail pricked my fingertip, blood blooming. The Daemon inhaled, eyes rolling halfway back, drunk on the scent.Then, her voice dropped to a chittering hiss.“Arabella Davenant, your fate-thread should have been cut long ago. One of the Twin Thrones stirs. The High King wakes to his power because of you.”

I stumbled away, clutching my hand. “What does that mean?”

The drapes convulsed, shadows elongating into clawed silhouettes. Magdalena’s laugh rattled, the scent of stale tobacco filling the air.“It means the world will change, and you will not survive it.”

I stormed out of the shop, blinking against the smoky haze as I stepped out into the right quarter. I unfolded the piece of parchment which had crumpled in my hand.Amira’s Apothecary & Alchemy.It was another shot in the dark, but I had nothing else.

The streets pulsed with movement, the undead drifting in loose clusters, their hollow eyes vacant, their presence a reminder that this place belonged to the dead. I was an unwelcome intruder. My gaze cut through the crowd, chest tightening. I didn’t see the apothecary shop anywhere. I cursed lowly. I should have asked before bolting, but something about that woman had sent every instinct I had screaming.

Nearly twenty minutes later, I paused at the edge of a block, just before the border spilled into the left quarter. Frustration clawed at me until my vision snagged on a faded wooden sign, the lettering nearly worn to nothing.Amira’s Apothecary & Alchemy.

Found you.My grin stretched wide as I straightened. I twisted the brass doorknob and the shop bell chimed lightly as Istepped in, careful not to knock over the precariously stacked bottles that stretched from floor to ceiling. I wound through the maze, searching for the person, the alchemist.

If an old fortune teller could be believed, that was.

“Hello?” I called out helplessly but instantly wished I could swallow my words. I spotted the gleam of Dante’s dazzling gray blazer out of the corner of my eye and felt my heart quickly leap into my throat. He jerked behind him at the sound and I quickly darted behind a shelf, grateful it could conceal me. I bit down hard on my nail as I watched him speak to the spectacled man behind the counter.

“I cannot help you, sir.” The alchemist peered over his rounded glasses. “We cannot perform binding magic like this. We are simply not capable.”

Dante scoffed. “Not capable? I think you will find your insufficiencies are quickly rectified.” I heard the jingle of coins slide across the table.

“Whoever did this was incredibly powerful, Sir.Immeasurably so. They must have used magic beyond what is found in the city of Avernas.”

Dante’s fingers tapped against the counter once. Twice. His breathing was steady, as if he were calculating all the ways he could tear this man apart.

The alchemist stiffened, eyes widening as he slammed backward. The glass bottles on the shelves rattled as an invisible force twisted around his throat, pressing him into the wood.

“Please!” He squeaked.

“Don’t you understand?” Dante spoke calmly as the alchemist gasped, clawing at his throat as if to remove the invisible object that pinned him there. “This isn’t a request, find the right combination. The salts, the sigils, whatever is needed to keep them sealed. They are faltering, and if they are released, everything my father built crumbles. And so do I.”

“Fine,” gasped the alchemist, and the invisible force relented as he sagged to the floor. He hesitated. “I cannot help you, but I know someone who can. There is only one way to keep the deck truly bound.” A small, knowing smile curled at his lips. “The blood of a Fallen Angel.”

A Fallen Angel?Dante said they were a myth.

“We tried that,” Dante snarled. “The binding is fading, still. How do I make sure the cards remain unbreakable?”

“In the Dark Markets. By the docks. Near the Black Sea.” His words were hoarse. “Seek the Dowager of Knots. This goes beyond alchemy.” The alchemist scrambled to his knees, pocketing the satchel of money.

---