Page 44 of Fate Unchained

Kyril already knew all about them; he’d been with Juri last month when Juri found them, so he slid from his chair and joined Lilah. He peered over her shoulder. The book had an old, rich smell, a mix of leather and ancient parchment, with familiar symbols dominating the top of each page. “Is this a book on runes?”

She nodded. “Yes. Look, I already found ours.” She pointed to the page. At the top, it said The Runes of Light and Shadow. “There are ten of these types of runes.” Whether she realized she’d done it or not, Lilah had placed one hand on her chest, directly over the rune mark. “This is written in arcane, the language magicwielders use for spells. I’m not proficient, but I can make out the gist of what it’s saying.” She took a moment. “They’re binding runes, but like I told you already, all runes bind in some capacity. These, though, are extremely powerful. It says sometimes they speak—like ours did—or they can provide guidance, even forecast the future, but this entire book is coded.”

She placed her finger above a small runic symbol at the bottom of the page. Barely above a whisper, she murmured something in a foreign language. The words on the page swirled, and when they reassembled, they were in a completely different hand, this one flowing but wavy, the words resembling squashed spiders. It was in the common tongue, but the print was small, and even when he squinted, it was hard for him to organize the words. “What does it say now?”

Her expression turned grave. “It’s a warning. These runes are wild and powerful, and anyone with the right skill can take them and use them as they wish.” She pointed at a sentence. “They can bind the rune to themselves or to others.” She swallowed so hard he saw her neck flex. “It says the capture of some of these runes helped the leshak during the Deciding War.”

“That’s right.”

Lilah jumped. Baba Yaga had joined them, and she stood by the fireplace, her hands clasped behind her back.

The fire banked, then the flames twisted and changed. Instead of the orange blaze, an image appeared of a landscape. In the center of a vast clearing, a man turned toward them, his face set in a mask of rage.

Finn and Zann came up behind him, both growling low at the image. “What is this?” Zann asked.

“This is Herskala during the Deciding War.” She put her hand on the wall near the fire. “My tree was there. This is its memory.”

Herskala held something which glittered gold, then tossed it, his mouth moving, but they couldn’t hear what he said, only the cracking and spitting sound of the flames filled the hut. The gold fluttered into the sky. A rune. The gold turned to black. It broke in half, and a large shape sprung from the earth behind the man.

The shape had massive antlers set in an elk skull, and bark-like skin. It wore a black tunic with moss clinging to it. “A leshak,” Kyril said. His hackles rose, and his claws extruded, even though it wasn’t real.

“Yes. He used a rune, like the one binding these two, to raise a leshak from the dead and bind it to him instead, gaining its power.”

Ice dripped down Kyril’s spine. He glanced at Zann. “Bit too similar to what happened last year when the leshak king showed up.” The sorcerer Morana had been bound to it in a way they hadn’t understood, using the leshak’s power to supplement her own. Both she and the leshak became so powerful it was difficult to kill them.

Baba Yaga reached into the cabinet and slid her hand along the woodwork at the top. A small, hidden drawer opened on its side. She lifted out a clear jar with a lumpy gray object inside. The object … pulsed.

Kyril’s hackles rose. He knew what it was. He’d seen it once before. “What are you doing with the leshak king’s heart?” Hans had removed the heart from the leshak’s chest on the battlefield, and Kyril thought he’d crushed it.

Baba Yaga lifted the jar up and peered into it. “This is why my house found you. I want you to tell Hans this started beating again a few weeks ago.”

“What does it mean?” Kyril asked.

Baba Yaga shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it isn’t good. And now Herskala’s grimoire is around again. There are very few people who can bind runes for their own purposes, but I’m sure Herskala’s grimoire gives instruction on how to do it.”

Kyril met Lilah’s gaze. He didn’t have vulk telepathy with her, but he could guess what she was thinking. The shade in the cave with its bound rune. Someone already knew how to manipulate runes, and they were doing it.

“How do we protect against it?” he asked.

Baba Yaga snapped her fingers, and the image of Herskala with the leshak faded until only a fire burned in the hearth again. She turned her back to it, her eyes so dark, they seemed to absorb the light. “You’re vulnerable in a way you weren’t before. The rune is the perfect way to attack.”

Kyril’s claws lanced out. He now had a soul, and if a leshak reappeared, the souldrinker could kill him. “We don’t have to wait until the full moons to decide to part. We could make our decision now. Then the rune would leave, right?” Then his soul would leave, and he’d be strong again.

Lilah crossed her arms and looked out the window, keeping her face turned away from him. A twinge pulsed in his chest through their bond. Was she uneasy? Upset? He wasn’t exactly sure.

Baba Yaga considered him for a long moment. “Maybe. Maybe not.” She gestured from Kyril to Lilah. “There is a reason you are runebound. The choices you make affect more than keeping a rune in your power. You will need this rune with you during the next month, no matter what you choose. This rune isn’t permanently bound yet, and until it is, or it’s released, someone else can try to take its power. Keep it from falling into the wrong hands.”

When Hans was runebound to his current mate, Briony, she’d healed him, keeping him alive when he was hexed, then she helped all the vulk win the battle against Morana. And Triska saved Ryba with her ability to douse magic around her. And with Lilah … when they fought the shade, his strength fed to her through the bond, and her power freed the rune.

Maybe he shouldn’t keep dismissing their bond. Maybe they needed Lilah to help save Ulterra, too.

His vulk instincts clawed at him. The bond in his chest pulsed again. Maybe their bond wasn’t only about her saving Ulterra.

But he reined in his primal side. He might be able to trust Lilah would help them, but he’d learned long ago to never let anyone close to him again. She was helping them because she wanted something from their pact, too. Everyone looked out for themselves first. She wasn’t interested in a vulk mate, and when he killed Boris, she’d leave.

Despite that, he put his arm around her, pulling her closer. “It’s time to pay Boris a visit.”

18

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