Page 19 of A Matter of Destiny

He raises his second hand, then smacks them together with an echoing clap that makes me jump.

“In other words,” Varitan says. “You pick a fight.”

There’s something low and oily in his voice that makes me feel like something I can’t see is crawling across my skin. Varitan’s hand rests on Ensyvir’s desk, where a series of small silver tines gleam from between his long fingers. Fear pulls low and tight in my gut. I could have been in the Silver City, I tell myself as my heart twists in my chest. I could have been in Doshir’s arms.

I shake my head, trying to knock that thought out of my mind and onto the floor.

“You…make your enemies fight?” I ask. “Make them fight each other?”

Ensyvir’s low chuckle moves through the room like poisonous smoke.

“Mothers, you’ve finally got it,” he says. “You defeat a powerful enemy by finding some other enemy to do the messy work for you.”

Oh. Shit. I think I know where this is going. The sword of His Majesty’s Royal Army suddenly feels very heavy indeed.

“You find a weapon,” I say.

Ensyvir raises an eyebrow.

“Yes,” he hisses. “Yes. Very good.”

I swallow hard as Ensyvir walks around his massive desk to stand behind the series of jagged silver spines Varitan has set on the desk’s glossy surface. The spires of the Silver City, I tell myself, with something close to panicky desperation. Kings help me, I hope I live long enough to apologize to Doshir. If only there was some way to get a message to him.

“Do you have what you need?” Ensyvir asks Varitan in a low voice, like a distant rumble of thunder.

“Indeed,” Varitan replies.

The two men turn to me again, and for a heartbeat I feel like they’re examining some sort of strange insect. Or a new sword, freshly delivered from the fires of the forge. Then Varitan wraps his long fingers around something on the desk, lifts his hand to his chest, and opens his palm. He’s holding a silver spire, something that seems to gleam with its own greasy light.

“I have something for you, Rayne,” Ensyvir says. “A gift. For my weapon.”

His voice is soft, like he’s talking to a horse who may spook.

“It’s a powerful gift,” he continues. “The most powerful thing I can imagine. You just need to understand that it comes from me. Only from me.”

Give her what she wants. The words hiss through my mind as I remember Varitan’s voice trickling down the tower’s staircase.Once she’s taken it, tell her you’re the only one who can give it to her again, he’d said.And then tell her the price.

Blessed kings, I’d thought finally gaining a place in His Majesty’s Royal Army was the gift. My throat feels narrow, and the room feels much colder. What in the stars is he talking about? What could Ensyvir give me now? What in the nine hells does he think I want?

“You may want to put the sword down,” Ensyvir continues, as the hint of a smile tightens his lips.

I take a step back, then another, until I’m almost at the door. Something deep in the back of my brain urges me to keep going, to keep running, to let my feet find their way to the port, to a ship, to the Silver City. All the way to Cairncliff, and to that secret garden, and to Doshir—

But Ensyvir would find me. He would hunt me down. I’m his weapon, after all. No, I’m stuck here. Stuck until I can explode in his hand and rain ruin down on all his plans.

Gently, I place my new uniform and sword against the wall, and then return to the center of the room with my back stiff and my head held high. Whatever it is Ensyvir has for me, I’m ready.

“Shall I begin?” Varitan asks.

“Please,” Ensyvir replies, without taking his eyes off me.

“It’s risky, you know,” Varitan says.

His long fingers dance across the silver spire in his palm, and something begins to circle above them. A soft, low, golden light that buzzes like a hornet’s nest.

“I accept the risk,” Ensyvir answers.

You? I open my mouth, ready to ask about the risks and why is it Ensyvir’s decision if it’s my gift, and then golden light shoots from the spire and engulfs my body. Pain sears through my skin, tearing open my flesh, burning every nerve in my body. Both of my arms burst into flames.

---