Page 88 of A Fate Unwoven
To argue was to question their matron deity, and so Ioseph clenched his jaw and said, in a tight voice, “Of course, Your Majesty.”
Dimas couldn’t blame Ioseph if he was worried his plan wouldn’t work. It was the biggest risk he’d ever taken, one that could result in him becoming the very things his father’s court had always claimed him to be: the heir of madness, born unworthy to the throne. Yet if he stood by and did nothing, if he let theHæstastrike again, he could lose his Fateweaver to an enemy that would see Wyrecia—and the rest of the world—burn.
No, he wouldn’t let that happen. He had to trust that Næbya hadn’t forsaken him completely.
Not yet.
But if she did, if this last attempt at saving his empire failed, then they were truly damned.
THIRTY-EIGHT
LENA
The tunnels seemed darker than Lena remembered.
She held the lantern in front of her face, searching the damp stone walls for the shallow markings she’d made her first night down here. The closer Lena and Casimir got to the acolyte’s hidden chamber, the faster her heart started to beat. Sweat coated her palms, her grip on the lantern tenuous and uncomfortable. It took everything in her not to glance over her shoulder at the smuggler at her back. He’d followed her through the tunnels without question, a steady, silent presence. If there was one thing Lena was sure of, it was that she could count on him to do what needed to be done if things went wrong tonight. That he, like her, would always put the safety of his people first.
“We’re close,” she said as they came to the final turn, the tingle of magic in the air causing every hair on her arm to stand on end. It was stronger than it had been the last time she’d been here, and Lena hoped it was just because she was more attuned to it and not something else.
Lena’s magic rose in her veins at the sight of the sigils on the door. At the familiar presence of power so similar to its own. And as theFateweaver’s magic surged, so too did her fear, its presence so ingrained in her identity that she wasn’t sure who she’d be without it. For the longest time, that fear had been her shield against the world. Her way of protecting herself from ever having to relive the pain she’d felt when she’d lost her mother.
Now it was the one thing holding her back.
Lena let out a breath. Closed her eyes as she remembered her training with the High Priest.Tell yourself: I am in control.
Lena repeated the words until her fear softened. And as it did, her magic began to settle, nestling somewhere deep in her chest. No longer a beast with no master, but a well-trained wolf waiting for its next command.
Once she was certain she had herself under control, Lena turned to the silent smuggler behind her. “What do I need to do?” she asked.
Casimir fished the parchment holding the incantation she needed out of his vest and gestured for the lantern. Lena handed it to him wordlessly, her own eyes dancing over the faded ink.
“It says to make physical contact with the source of the magic. Once you have, you’ll need to say the incantation, and …” Casimir paused.
“And what?” she demanded.
“… andsurrender control.”
The look on Casimir’s face told Lena he knew how difficult that would be for her. A fresh wave of fear surged within her, constricting her lungs and clenching at her heart. “You’re not alone in this. Just … touch the door, and I’ll tell you the incantation. I’ll walk you through the whole thing.” Casimir’s gaze was unwavering. “Remember: they don’t get to win.”
Words to remind her of why she was doing this. For her freedom, yes, but also for her mother—for her dream of a better life for everyone who had suffered under the empire’s control. Lena had been preparing herself for this forthem.
She wouldn’t let them down.
“They don’t get to win,” Lena repeated.
Heart in her throat, Lena turned her back on Casimir and strode up to the door. The stone was warm when she touched her hand to it, the hum of residual magic it held vibrating like a pulse against her palm.
“The incantation—what is it?”
“ ‘I call now to your power,’ ” Casimir began. “ ‘Let magics entwine to aid me this hour. With this force that resides, let magic be my eternal guide.’ ”
Eternal guide.The same words that had been written on the mysterious note. Had the note writer been somehow trying to tell Lena that this was the right path to take?
Emboldened by the thought, Lena focused on the hum of magic in the stone, on the sensation of her own magic rising in response. “I call now to your power,” she whispered. “Let magics entwine to aid me this hour. With this force that resides, let magic be my eternal guide.”
Warmth flooded through her, the sensation not unlike how she felt after taking a too-hot gulp of tea. All at once, the sigils on the door began to glow, a faint blue light that light flickered like fire in the wind. It reminded Lena of the one she’d seen in her dream in Deyecia all those nights ago. Lena tensed as the magic flowed through her, but her mind remained blessedly her own.
Once she was certain the bond hadn’t been triggered, Lena turned her focus toward the power she’d drawn upon. She couldn’t just feel it; she couldseeit. Like the threads of fate, the magical energy wove around the door in a constantly moving tapestry.Show me,Lena commanded that energy.Show me how to open the door.
