Page 103 of A Fate Unwoven
Ioseph’s fingers interlocked with Dimas’s. “Dimas is right. Besides, if what you’re sayingiswhat really happened, then why hasn’t Venysa corrupted any Fateweaver to become a Furybringer since Lady Aalys?”
“Any child showing signs of being abodais immediately sent to live in one of your religion’s temples—a law that, coincidentally, was passedafterthe Furybringer was stopped,” Lena said, frowning. “They’re all raised to believe the bond is divine. Venysa needed someone who wouldwantto break it.” Lena’s brow deepened in thought. “I think it might also have something to do with the Rite of Ascension. I … was warned that I had to sever the bondbeforethe rite could be completed. If the Order somehow knew that it was Venysa influencing Lady Aalys, maybe they created the rite as a way to block her?”
He couldn’t handle this. The bond being severed. Roston and Iska’s betrayal. And now the idea that his own goddess might have been behind the Furybringer’s creation? It was too much.
“I’ve heard enough.” Dimas unwove his hand from Ioseph’s and got to his feet, the world swaying as shadows bled into his vision.
Ioseph stood with him. “Dimas—”
“No. I can’t—I need some air.” Dimas’s footsteps were unsteady as he hurried out of the cave mouth. He barely made it a few steps into the night before his legs gave way. Before the lingering shadows became too much to bear—and before the tears he’d desperately been trying to contain started to fall.
FORTY-FOUR
LENA
Lena followed Dimas out into the darkness.
She’d expected his guard, Ioseph, to try to stop her, but he’d simply trailed silently after her, a watchful figure in the dark as Lena approached the crying emperor. Thankfully, Ioseph stayed a few feet away; Lena wasn’t sure she’d be able to say what was on her mind if he’d been looming over her.
Still, she kept her voice as low as possible as she began. “I’m not going to apologize for wanting my freedom or for feeling sympathy for Venysa. The empire took everything from her: her freedom, herbrother.Just like they took everything from me.” Lena looked at the sky, at the stars her mother had told her held the spirits of the deceased. “But I will apologize for letting Venysa manipulate me. For letting my anger at the empire—at you—cloud my judgment.”
Even now, Venysa was still there, a darkness at the edge of Lena’s consciousness that was growing harder to block out with every moment that passed. It had been her grief, her anger, that had made it so easyfor Venysa to get into her mind. That had made her think she’d be the perfect vessel for her plan.
But she’d forgotten one crucial thing. The thing that was more important to Lena than anything else.
Her mother.
Kelia Vesthir had spent her entire life sharing the tales of Wyrecia’s past. Not just as a warning of what could happen when magic was abused, but as a reminder of a world she longed to someday see again. A world where balance was restored, and the only ones with power over fate were the Lost Sisters, freed at last.
A world that would never be if Lena let Venysa turn her into a monster.
“I understand if you hate me,” Lena said softly, “and if you can never trust me again. But I need you to believe that I don’t want to become the monster that Venysa and Næbya turned Lady Aalys into. I never wanted that. All I wanted was my freedom, and for my people’s suffering to end. They’re innocents, and I … I won’t let them suffer for my mistakes.”
They were the same words she’d heard Dimas utter to Ioseph when he thought no one could hear. The ones that had made her think perhaps Dimas had the potential to be the kind of emperor Wyrecia had always needed if Lena hadn’t taken that chance away from him.
But an emperor stood before her now, and when he turned to face her, tears stained his pale cheeks. It was the youngest Lena had ever seen him look, and it did nothing to settle her growing guilt.
“I don’t forgive you,” he said, “but I do believe you. Let’s get back inside.”
Lena released a breath, the control she’d had over her power slipping just enough for Dimas’s threads to bleed into existence. As much as she hated to admit it, they needed the young emperor if they had any chance of coming out of this alive. He knew his uncle—and hopefullyhis weaknesses—better than anyone, and even though Dimas had already said they would have to work together for what came next, there had been a part of Lena that hadn’t fully trusted him. But now, as they walked side by side together back to the cave, the stars watching over them, Lena was starting to believe Dimas might not be her enemy, after all.
Casimir was standing before her the moment they reentered the cave.
“Everything alright?” he asked, eyeing the emperor and his personal guard at Lena’s side warily.
Lena gave a terse nod. “It will be, when we take down Roston and his cultists.”
They’d wasted enough time already. Dawn was beginning to creep over the horizon, and it would take at least half a day of nonstop walking to reach the Eastern Mountains.
“Has anyone had any ideas on how we mightdothat?” asked Ioseph. He hadn’t stopped sending Lena distrustful looks since the moment he’d awoken, and even though Lena couldn’t exactlyblamehim for it, it was starting to grate on her already frayed nerves.
They’ll never truly trust you,Venysa’s voice echoed,not with the power you wield.
Lena clenched her hands into fists. Breathed until the first Fateweaver’s spirit faded once more. “I vote we do exactly as theHæstaasked,” she said. “I show up, you all follow behind, and once we’re in their stronghold, we attack.”
Ioseph scoffed. “You barely survived Roston a few hours ago, and now you want to face him, and his gang of Corrupted-controlling cultists, again?”
“They’re not the only ones who can control thekorupted,” Lena retorted.
