Page 84 of A Fate Unwoven
And then Lena said, “I need you to promise me something.”
The smuggler’s voice was barely louder than a whisper when he replied. “What?”
“I need you to promise me that when all of this is over, you’ll do whatever you can to make sure Maia and Finæn are safe.”
It wasn’t fair of her to ask, not when he’d already put so much on the line in trusting her, but if she was going to have the strength forwhat came next, she needed to know her friends would be taken care of. If today’s events had taught her anything, it was that even after what Finæn had done, she’d still do whatever it took to keep him safe.
She half expected Casimir to tell her he was through with altering their deal, but he simply dipped his chin, as if it hadn’t even occurred to himnotto try to save them. “Of course.”
Some of the tension in her muscles released, exhaustion creeping in to replace it. She couldn’t afford to fall apart now.
“I take it you heard about the rite?” Lena asked.
Dimas had ordered the regent to inform the foreign dignitaries and visiting nobles that night, to give them time to prepare their outfits and rearrange any plans they had in the city.
“Yeah, one of the guards came to my room with a formal invitation,” replied Casimir. “I assume it’s because of what happened at the temple?”
Lena stepped back, eyeing him warily. “How do you know about that?”
“I have … friends in the city. When I arrived at Novobyrg, I asked them to keep an eye on the guards and report anything of use back to me. They must have trailed your entourage to the temple. Don’t worry,” he said, clearly sensing her growing panic. “They can be trusted. They understand what’s at stake here.”
He took a hesitant step closer to Lena, his dark eyes drifting to her hands. To the flecks of blood on her fingers. Lena waited for him to turn away in disgust, or to ignore the matter entirely. Instead, he pulled a piece of cloth from inside his jacket, the crimson fabric etched with gold thread. There was a jug of water on the center table, and Casimir dipped the edge of the fabric into it before turning back to face her.
Lena’s breath caught as he reached for her hands, pausing just before he made contact.
“May I?” There was no challenge in his expression now. No sign of the cocky smuggler she’d met back in Deyecia. No, this was the Casimirshe’d seen in Silah’s trading hut. The Casimir who had lost as much to the Wyrecian Empire as she had.
And maybe it was because she was exhausted, or because she needed to feel something, anything, besides her fear. Or maybe it was because, not for the first time, Casimir had seen a true glimpse of her—of her raw darkness—and had not run.
Whatever the reason, she found herself nodding, and then Casimir’s fingers were curling around her wrist, bringing her hand up so that he could wipe away the blood. His touch was gentle, warm like the energy of his threads, and a shiver ran along Lena’s spine at the sensation.
“I remember my first human kill,” Casimir said, not looking up from her hands as he worked. “I’d killed animals before.Korupted,too.” She sensed a familiar grief in him, of when Lena had been forced to put Silah out of her misery. Just how much of Wyrecia’s dark history did the smuggler know?
“The stories say many of thekoruptedwere human once, but killing one … it isn’t the same as killing a human,” he continued. “I found that out the hard way not long after I’d turned fifteen. My father’s smuggling had made him pretty well-known amongst the so-called heretics of Wyrecia. They’d come to him seeking freedom only he could give. Some he’d recruit to Queen Anja’s cause, but most he just helped across the sea, ensuring they were given entry into Verlond when they arrived.”
He changed to her other hand, his brow furrowed in concentration. “Unfortunately, the people he helped weren’t the only ones who knew of hisreputation.The emperor and his hunters did, too. One night, I came home from a supply run to find one of them standing over my father, a bloodied knife in his hand. I …” He swallowed.
Lena resisted the urge to reach for him. To tell him she knew what it was like to lose the only family you had left to the hands of the empire. But she was afraid that if she spoke, she’d interrupt this small piece of himself he was sharing with her.
So she stayed silent, breath held as Casimir told her his story.
“I didn’t think. I just saw my father lying there and grabbed the nearest weapon I could find. The hunter didn’t even know I was there until the dagger was in his back, right in the place where I knew it would pierce his heart. He died instantly, but my father … it was too late to save him. He was already too far gone.”
His hand stilled on top of Lena’s. When she looked up, his eyes were dark, filled with a quiet anger she recognized all too well.
“Taking a life is never easy,” Casimir said, “but sometimes it’s necessary. You saved Finæn’s life in that temple and got justice for the pilgrims that cultist slaughtered. He wanted to control you. To use you as a tool, and you foughtback,Lena. You stopped theHæstafrom achieving their goal.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she said, voice hoarse, “but none of it matters if I can’t break my bond to Dimas.”
“Well,” Casimir said, stepping back to withdraw something from inside his cloak, “perhaps this will help.”
It was a piece of old parchment, the edges torn, the ink scrawled upon it starting to fade. But she could still make out the Fateweaver’s symbol drawn in the center of the page, and below it, what looked like … an incantation.
Lena’s breath caught. “What is that?”
“This,” Casimir said, the smug smile on his lips annoyingly attractive, “is a ritual taken from a tome in the High Priest’spersonallibrary, one that is meant to strengthen a Fateweaver’s power.”
Lena opened her mouth. Closed it again.
