Page 65 of A Fate Unwoven
She frowned. A part of her wanted to tell him to go back to his life and leave her out of whatever game he was playing. To push him away like she had everyone else. But she was running out of choices, and shewouldneed somewhere to go once her bond to Dimas was severed …
“There’s a small courtyard north of the palace, just off an unused prayer chamber,” Lena offered.
Casimir dipped his chin in acknowledgment. “Later tonight, then.”
She had so many more questions, but the music slowed and their dance came to its end. Ioseph was already heading toward them, no doubt to promptly escort Lena back to her place beside the emperor. Casimir must have noticed Ioseph, too, because he took a small step back, bowing low at his waist. “Your Worship.”
Lena gave a curt nod. “Ambassador.”
And then Ioseph was at her side, his expression stoic. There was a hint of suspicion behind his dark eyes, one that had Lena forcing what she hoped was an innocent smile as Casimir slid away into the crowd.
Lena fell into step beside Ioseph, letting him lead her back to the raised dais. Dimas was in conversation with Brother Dunstan, buthe fell silent when she approached, his threads flickering. Suspicion speared through Lena’s chest.What are you hiding?
He was apparently wondering the same thing about her, because he asked, “Did the ambassador have anything interesting to say?”
Lena slid into her throne, the lie already on her lips. “He was mostly sharing what it was like in Verlond. It sounds … different.”
Milos, who had been lingering in the shadows the entire time, scoffed. “That’s putting it mildly. Heathens, the lot of them.”
The hunter glanced at her as he said the words. Lena fought the urge to bare her teeth at him. To show him just how much of aheathenshe could be.
Dimas frowned, his threads flickering. “The Verlondians have different beliefs than us, but that does not mean we cannot find a way to peace.”
Lena felt a small thrill of satisfaction as Milos fell silent, slinking back into the shadows like a scolded mountain cat. The prince’s declaration seemed strangely sincere, and combined with the tentative suggestion he’d given of finding a way toward helping the people of the Wilds, Lena couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Dimas Ehmarwasn’tthe tyrant his father had been. Still, Lena wasn’t about to let her guard down around him. She knew just what a Ehmar’s idea of “peace” looked like, and she wanted no part in it.
And if Casimir had meant what he’d said to her back in the trader’s hut, then neither did he.
She searched the room for him, but the smuggler had well and truly disappeared into the crowd. Had he gone to enjoy the celebrations, as Dimas had insisted, or was he off playing yet another role in his arsenal, liaising with the other foreign dignitaries? Lena couldn’t figure him out, and it infuriated and intrigued her all at once. She’d made herself vulnerable by telling him about the courtyard. Had put herself at risk of walking right into his trap. And whether he was enemy or ally, tonight Casimir Korvus would reveal his true colors.
The smuggler appeared a bell after midnight.
Lena saw his threads before she saw him, as bright and beautiful as they had been the first time she’d met him. The magic in her core began to stir, but Lena shoved it back down. Casimir stepped into the courtyard a moment later, still wearing the same formfitting tunic he’d had on at the ball. He smirked up at her, already lowering into a bow.
Lena took a step back, putting distance between them, her fingers twitching for her mother’s dagger or her bow. Casimir’s eyes tracked the movement. “As trusting as ever, I see.”
Lena forced her fingers to uncurl. “I’ll trust you when you give me reason to.”
“You’re the one who ran off and left me in the middle of the Frozen Wastes. Thanks for that, by the way.” When she didn’t respond, he sighed. “Look, IamVerlondian, but I’m not an ambassador. This was all just a ruse so I could get into the palace and help you. Doesn’t that win me at least a bit of trust?”
“If anything,” said Lena, “it makes me question your motivations more.”
Casimir let out a frustrated huff. “I’m not your enemy, Lenora. If I was, I’d have told that entire court who you truly were and let this fates-damned empire destroy itself.”
Lena folded her arms over her chest. “Then why didn’t you?”
If he was loyal to Verlond, it would have made sense; the church would have no choice but to brand both Lena and Dimas as unworthy of their titles, and without an acting Fateweaver, Wyrecia would be vulnerable in a way it hadn’t been in centuries. “When we met, you asked me why I do what I do,” said Casimir. “My answer wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth, either. My father was the original Raven, but before that, he was the Verlondian queen’s magical advisor.”
Lena thought back to the tome she’d found in his desk. The one engraved with an old Wyrecian symbol. “He studied magic?” she asked, her heart in her throat. “Was he—I mean, could heperformmagic? Can you?” She’d heard the rumors of Verlondian magicians, of their ties to nature and the very fabric of creation itself, but they were even rarer than Wyrecia’sboden.
Casimir’s jaw tightened. “No. At least … not anymore. What little we had became inaccessible to us when we crossed the border into Wyrecia. It was part of my father’s punishment.”
“Punishment?” asked Lena.
“He became consumed by his work, so much so that a lot of Queen Anja’s court believed he was unfit for his role. Some even said he was practicing a corrupt form ofZværnamagic himself.” Casimir scoffed at that. “All bullshit, of course, but Queen Anja had no choice but to dismiss him. To exile him—and me—from her lands.”
“We were only in Wyrecia for a few months before my father began to seek out those who did not believe in theZværna’s teachings. He expanded his knowledge of potions and alchemy to make up for his loss of magic, and then, after almost a year of scheming, he smuggled his first heretic out of Wyrecia. Some he just offered freedom, a chance to live in an empire where no one could control their fate. But others—those with the spark of rebellion in them—he sent directly to the queen.”
“… Why? What did she want with them?” Lena asked.
