Page 86 of Fate's Sweetest Curse
“You think adding Gildiumcausedthe curse?”
“I don’t think it’s that simple, but”—Viren shook her head, causing a tear to track down her cheek—“I’m just an apprentice, Hattie. I asked Phina about it and she started coughing like her Oath was keeping her from speaking.” Viren visibly shivered. “I started digging, trying to find an explanation,anyreference to black blood that I could. Books and old research records didn’t clarify much, so I went looking for answers beyond the Collegium. One night, I overheard knights talking outside the Ire about the Order of the Valiant fighting cursed things—abominations—with black blood. That’s how I put it all together.”
I lifted my fingers to my lips and shook my head. “Do you think it’s possible that black blood isn’talwaysa sign of a curse? That it could mean something else?” Perhaps the color of Noble’s blood was simply from contamination due to his metalworking. The thought gave me hope.
“To my knowledge, cursed blood is black, but I don’t know ifallblack blood is cursed,” Viren said. “What I do know is that when you add Hylder, itrepelsthe Gildium, like trying to bind oil and water. It doesn’twork.”
My eyes lifted to the sky above, the sun shattering through the clouds. “Hylder repels evil,” I murmured.
Viren’s eyes were wide.
“No.” I shook my head. “No. I’d be hard-pressed to believe that the metal that framed the Mirrors of Fate is a source of evil.” And there was no way that Noble had evil in his veins. I wouldn’t accept it. “This doesn’t add up.”
“None of it does.”
A thought occurred. “When you added Hylder to the black blood, did it turn red again?”
Viren shook her head, and my heart sank. “I only started trying a few weeks ago, though. All of this has happened so fast.”
“Did you experiment with Black Lace Hylder?”
“No,just the common varietal.”
That gave me at least alittlehope. A place to start, in Viren’s absence. “Where can I learn more about the Order of the Valiant?”
“You can’t,” Viren said with a sniffle. “I went to the library to research them, but there was nothing—it was like the Order didn’t exist. Next thing I know, I’m here—” She choked back a startled sob.
I knelt in front of her, taking her quivering hands in mine. I was reeling, but Viren—usually quite stoic—was openly weeping now, completely shaken up. It was alarming to see her this way. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have stormed in here like this. You shouldn’t be thinking about these things. You should be resting.”
She let out an unsteady sigh. “It’s all right. In fact, I’m glad you’re asking these questions. It’s dangerous, but it’s the only way we can get to the bottom of this and learn how to protect ourselves. The longer we’re in the dark, the easier it becomes for threats to sneak up on us.”
I squeezed her hands. “Where did you leave off?”
“The archives. I didn’t have enough clearance to view the classified section, but my gut tells me something’s there. Something about the Orders we haven’t learned yet. Maybe you can sneak in?”
I squeezed her hands one more time, then hurried for the door. “Not if I go to the source!” I called over my shoulder.
31
Ire of the Valiant
Hattie
Armed with one of Uriel’s daggers and wearing my most inconspicuous dress—a plain, dark indigo—I tipped my mug toward my lips and drank. I was seated at a corner table in Fenrir’s Ire, the tavern popular among knights. It was a raucous place, filled to the brim with drunk brutes of all shapes and sizes. Like Fenrir’s Charm, the patrons in the Ire all seemed to know one another. Most appeared to be either Knights of the Order of the Mighty or Knights of the Order of the Lawful; as such, this was by no means a seedy place, but I still felt painfullyotherand somewhat vulnerable surrounded by so many highly trained fighters.
I probably ought to have asked Oderin for his advice before coming here, but there hadn’t been time to waste.
Then again, maybe rushing into this was a bad idea.
I slumped forward, resting my elbows on worn wood of my table, and took another sip of my dark ale. It tasted of oats and malt, with a smoky hint of peat—I was almost certain it’d been brewed in Tuul, the territory to the north. The alcohol certainly wasn’t helping my wit, but it was the only way I could convince myself to be brave. To not think too hard about what I was doing.
Following in Viren’s investigative footsteps—the same footsteps that had gotten herstabbed—was obviously dangerous, but that didn’t matter when Noble was in trouble.
Ihadtried to see him in the lab first. But after Willa delivered me to the gardens, I’d removed the blindfold to find his workshop empty.
“Feeling better?” Phina had asked when she found me in the doorway. “Sani said you were feeling poorly earlier.”
Fates bless Sani for excusing my absence from class. “Better,” I’d lied.
