Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)(22)

“The fault may have been in the forging. Improper firing and testing, a defect in the native materials. It’s difficult to account for all the faults possible if one is not intimately familiar with the process.”

He stopped, turning to face her. “There is no fault in my forging.”

“We all have faults we cannot recognize in ourselves. It is human nature.”

“You forget that I am not only human.”

“So you say.”

He could feel her eyes weighing and judging him. Deciding if he was worthy material on which to build the future of Carrion Crow, or if he was defective.

“You are not so different from your brother,” he said.

“Oh?”

“He seeks to use me as a weapon against your enemies. You test me, seeking to use me, too. Although I am not sure for what.”

“It would be naive of you to think we did not want to mold you to our needs. After what you have done. You are… explosive.”

He smiled. “Do you have a knife?”

“What?” Her voice was wary, and she released his arm and stepped back.

“Do you fear me? Think that I would hurt you?”

“In my own house? You would not dare.”

“No, I would not.”

He held out his hand, and after a moment, he felt the weight of a blade against his palm. “What is it that a master builder must look for in his stone?”

“Strength, first.”

He ran the blade across his forearm. Felt when his flesh parted under the obsidian and the blood welled. She sucked in a breath, more curious than repulsed.

“What else?”

“Porosity,” she answered, understanding.

He knew he could not call the shadow from his god, but he thought he still might be able to do so through his blood. He had not thought of it at the monastery; his panic had been too acute. But now he remembered his old tutor’s words, and he was sure of it.

“Porosity is essential to sorcery as well, after a fashion.” He wiped the knife against his pants and tucked it into his waistband. With his other hand now free, he ran his fingers through the flow of his own blood. “The barrier between our world and the shadow world is porous and breeched by sacrifice.” He held up his bloodied hand. “Once it is crossed, magic is the sorcerer’s to control.” What had once been as natural as breathing now took concentration that brought wrinkles to his brow, but he felt the shadow come to him, wrap around his fingers, and caress his palm as it fed from his blood. “I am no ordinary stone.”

“Such magic has not been seen in Tova in an age.” Her voice was soft with awe.

“I bring a new age.”

He twisted his hand, willing the shadow to mold itself as he wished, and after a moment, he held a crow made of smoke in his palm. She laughed in delight, and he released the bird. It hovered momentarily above his hand before dissolving into the air.

“And the blood is gone.”

“The shadow must feed,” he said simply. He did not explain the cost of such magic, as he had never truly had to pay it. With the crow god as his unending source of pure shadow, it had always simply been a part of him. But now he felt drained, as if the magic had fed on his very essence, which he supposed it had.

“I admit you interest me.” She slipped her arm back around his as they continued down the hall. “But I am not sure how you benefit Carrion Crow, despite what the Odohaa think. Or my brother. If I were to find use in you, it would be for the benefit of my people. All of them. Not just the ones who think you are a god.”

“You do not?” he asked, amused.

“I believe you are a killer and an adept sorcerer. But a god? I have never been much for gods.”

“You are more like your brother than you know.”

They reached a stairwell and ascended. As they rose, the air chilled perceptibly.

“I have been groomed to be matron my whole life, in ways that you cannot understand. I love my people intimately, completely. I serve them, they do not serve me. It is a calling, and with my mother’s death, I fully embraced it.”

“Do you think I do not know what it is to be raised for a single purpose?”

They came to a stop.

“Then you must understand that I will not let anything or anyone who does not have the best interest of Carrion Crow settle in this Great House. You are impressive, and my brother seems willing to accept that you are what you say you are, enough to bring you into our halls. And the Odohaa certainly believe you are the savior they have prayed for come in the flesh. But I have seen no sign of godhead that cannot be accounted for with magic and skill, and I am not so sure your slaughter of the Watchers benefits Carrion Crow or if it paints a target on our backs. You may think you saved us, but the truth is you may have only endangered us further.”

She opened a door.

“Here is your room.”

“I asked to return to the aviary.”

“It is not far. Here there is a bed and a place to wash, and I’ll have food and clothes sent to you. I ask that you stay here for now, although I have a feeling that should you wish to leave, you could manage it. But if you truly do not want us to be at odds, you might prove that to me now.”

He inclined his head, willing to give her that which did not require much of him. He stepped through the door.