Page 43 of Fate Unchained

“Yes. It is.”

“Do you know what’s in the grimoire?” Lilah asked.

Baba Yaga sighed. “Herskala spent a large portion of his life traveling Ulterra and studying magic, but he also studied immortals, especially the vae. It seemed innocent, but it wasn’t. He was looking for weaknesses. And he wrote each one in his notebook.” She gestured at the book still turning overhead. “Herskala believed the magicwielders were the most powerful beings in Ulterra.” She paused and held up a finger. “Correction, he believed the sorcerer magicwielders were. He had no time at all for humans or those with very little power. Over time, he developed spells to destroy all the immortals, not just the vae, so the magicwielders could rule Ulterra. All those spells are in that book.”

Everyone’s head tilted upward to stare at the book.

Baba Yaga leaned forward. “Who found this? Where did it come from?” She trained her gaze on the far wall as if looking into the distance, and Lilah didn’t think she was asking them to answer. “This grimoire would only have unlocked its real secrets with a drop of Herskala blood. That’s how sorcerers lock them. With him dead, it would only unlock for an heir, and he didn’t have children. He tried, but none of his many willing partners conceived.”

The book dissolved, and lines with names filled the space above the tables. The lines kept advancing, up and up. A genealogy chart. The names magically scrawled in the air included surnames of powerful magicwielder families in Coromesto. As part of her secret research, she’d studied every genealogy chart in Nihova Library, and she recognized them easily. “What about non-magicwielders?” she asked. “Did he have relationships with any others?”

Baba Yaga sniffed. “There were rumors he may have tried with a vae. Magicwielders have always courted vae magic and thought they could blend the two lineages for more power. But I doubt a vae would have lain with him because vae-kind saw the truth about Herskala before the rest of Ulterra did, and opposed him, even before the Deciding War started. Since he believed the other bloodlines beneath him, he wouldn’t have spent time with any others.”

Lilah nodded. That sounded about right. Herskala was the reason the city of Coromesto was divided. He pushed the humans out of the area around Herskala Academy because he didn’t want to be bothered by them. He took over the city and strong-armed his way to ruling the kingdom, making the king a figurehead. To this day the magicwielders were still the ones holding the power.

“The necromancer Hoyt read this and created spells from it,” Kyril said, his claws biting into the table beside her. “He crafted a powder to affect the vulk. Was he Herskala’s heir?”

Baba Yaga waved her hand, and the genealogy changed. One name glowed. Hoyt Pendercast. “Hoyt was from an old family that wasn’t linked to Herskala in any way. No. He can’t be. Someone else unlocked the grimoire for him, and he managed to figure out a few spells in it.” Her eyes narrowed, and she stared at the opposite wall again, appearing to be deep in thought. “Like the hex Hans came to me with. That one was lethal. Exactly the kind of spell Herskala would have created.” She glanced at Zann. “The one you have is minor in comparison.”

Last year Hans was hexed, and Briony had helped keep him alive until they got to Baba Yaga so the Forest Mother could remove it.

Kyril growled. “Hoyt performed that spell, too.”

Zann shook his head. “Not exactly. He was following a spell fed to him through the scrying bowl.” He glanced at the other two vulk. “Briony witnessed it, and she explained it to me. Hoyt’s master fed him the spell while she was in the underworld, he didn’t take it from the grimoire.”

“Huh.” Kyril sat back. “So, his master may have had the grimoire. Or she knew the spell from it.”

Baba Yaga leaned forward, her expression almost predatory. “The bowls. Tell me where they are and what you know about them.”

Zann placed his forearms on the table, tapping it with a claw. “In a minute.”

Baba Yaga’s eyes sparked, and Lilah wasn’t so sure Zann should tell her to wait, but Zann seemed oblivious. He said, “This grimoire is no longer with Hoyt. We know it was taken by the Dark Cabal. Do you know about them?”

Baba Yaga’s eyes narrowed. “That sect has been around for centuries, trying to manipulate things in the magicwielder world. They delve into riskier magic the Academy doesn’t allow.” The image above them turned into the grimoire again. “A grimoire is a magical object with innate magic. It will find the ones powerful enough to use it, and if Herskala’s heir is alive, it will seek them.” She pointed upward. “The information in the grimoire caused the first Deciding War, and it will bring another Deciding War to Ulterra if it remains in the wrong hands.” Baba Yaga leaned forward. “This time, the ancient enemies will rise from the underworld, and immortals and humans will fall. It doesn’t matter who has the grimoire. You need to destroy it.”

17

Kyril’s hackles rose. Zann snarled and spoke to Kyril in Vulk. “All right, we go track this Boris, and find the grimoire. Does your new friend know where he is?”

Kyril asked Lilah, “Where does Boris stay in Eroica? And when did he say he’d return?”

“He said he’d be in Eroica by the time I caught a vulk. He lives there in an old warehouse by the river. There’s a gambling den on the first floor.”

Zann shot to his feet. “It’s dark out now. We can walk through the town and find him.” He jerked his chin at Kyril and Finn. “Let’s go.”

“Not so fast,” Baba Yaga said. “You haven’t kept your end of the bargain.” The room seemed to darken as if the fire were suddenly snuffed out.

Zann froze, then nodded. He slowly sat back at the table, and the light returned.

“You,” she pointed at Lilah, “you can look at my book while the vulk tell me what they know about the bowls.”

Lilah frowned and hesitated. Kyril bit back a smile. Lilah wouldn’t want to miss hearing about the scrying bowls, but she wouldn’t want to miss looking at the book either. She really was the most insatiable, beautifully curious person he’d met. He’d explored most of Ulterra’s realm and didn’t take much notice about what he saw, but she wouldn’t be like that. She’d ask a million questions. She’d stop and watch. All this time, she’d sat in her library reading about things, why hadn’t she explored them for herself?

He leaned over and put his mouth to her ear. “I’ll tell you about the bowls later.”

Her expression brightened, and she nodded. Shooting him a small smile, she stood. His chest seemed to expand.

Lilah wiggled the fat, shining book free and opened it, staying over by the fireplace and placing it on an end table instead of returning to sit next to him. Zann was explaining about the bowls. The grimoire, the scrying bowls … everything kept circling back to Herskala. Herskala had created four bowls that could communicate with each other, then crafted a secret fifth bowl which he kept and which he used to siphon off shared spells and spy from the others. The vulk discovered where four out of five bowls were currently located, including the secret one.

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