The Bound (Ascension #2)(103)
Once the boat was nearly out of eyesight, Matilde and Vera cleared a spot in the sand and took a seat. Cyrene gingerly followed their lead.
“Before we begin,” Cyrene said quickly, “can I ask you one question?”
“You just did,” Matilde responded quickly.
“I think one will be enough. There’s so much to teach you,” Vera said.
“And I have so much to tell you. Like about this,” she said, reaching into her bag and producing the Book of the Doma that had brought her here in the first place.
Matilde and Vera gasped at the same time. Their eyes in the early morning light were bright and violet as they widened with surprise.
“Where did you get that?” Vera murmured reverently.
“My sister bought it off an Eleysian peddler named Basille Selby, and it was given to me as a gift for my seventeenth birthday,” Cyrene told them.
“May I?” Vera asked.
She reached for the book, and Cyrene regretfully offered it.
“Basille must not have known,” Matilde said, “or else he would have brought it to us.”
“No. How could he have known?” Vera asked.
She flipped through the pages, and Cyrene was sure that she had never looked happier than with a book open in her lap.
“Have you tried to read it?” Matilde asked. Her eyes darted up to Cyrene in panic.
“I did try to read it at first, but I lost minutes and then hours of time. It started to scare me, especially since I was the only one I knew who could even see the words.”
They both nodded in understanding.
“Yes. It is Doma made. The secret of its construction was lost before we were even accepted.”
“I haven’t told you everything,” Cyrene admitted. “The first time I used my magic was to save my own life, and I blacked out. I had a vision or a dream or something of Serafina going through her own Presenting.”
Matilde and Vera shared one of their meaningful looks.
“When you had this vision, were you looking at Serafina, or could you interact with her?” Matilde asked
“No. I was her,” Cyrene told them. “At least, I was trapped in her body, going through all of the motions of what she was doing. I mean…I met Viktor Dremylon. They were in love and wanted to marry before she left to be a Doma.”
Vera startled. “You found that out in your vision?” She thoughtfully chewed on her lip. “Most people don’t know that anymore. They are just bitter enemies instead of bitter lovers.”
“Yes. How tragic,” Matilde said sarcastically. “Tell us more about this vision. You went through her Presenting?”
“Yes. I was there with her through the tunnel. I opened the book. I saw the words written on the wall. When I got back to my body, I could read the pages. They suddenly made sense.”
Both women stared at her wordlessly. She had clearly shocked them.
“What does that mean?”
“That means, Cyrene,” Vera said shakily, “that you are the first person in two thousand years to be given access to Doma secrets and the ability to truly unlock your Doma power.”
“When I was in Eldora, Queen Shira told me it was the lost Book of the Doma. I’ve read some of it, but I couldn’t do anything the book said. I had a block against my powers that I had to work against before I could even access them.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Matilde said. “This is the lost Book of the Doma, and eventually, you will learn how to access its secrets, but this doesn’t change anything at the moment. You are much too inexperienced to be able to work from the book. The only thing more powerful for Doma, besides this book, was the Domina diamond, and that, I fear, has been lost forever.”
“Then, we should get started,” Vera said. “This is just another sign.”
“A sign of what?” Cyrene asked.
Matilde pursed her lips and glared at Vera.
“Look, everyone keeps mentioning the Circadian Prophecy and how I’m a part of it, but I don’t know what that means. Does it have to do with this?” Cyrene asked, shoving her Presenting letter in front of the women.
They read the crumpled paper.
WHAT YOU SEEK LIES WHERE YOU CANNOT SEEK IT.
WHAT YOU FIND CANNOT BE FOUND.
THE THING YOU DESIRE ABOVE ALL ELSE RISKS ALL ELSE.
THE THING YOU FIGHT FOR CANNOT BE WON.
WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST, WHAT WAS LOST CAN BE FOUND.
WHEN ALL BEND, YOU CANNOT BE AS YOU WERE.
“Where did you get this?” Vera asked. She ran a finger down the paper.
“It is my Presenting letter from court when I was made an Affiliate. I thought the first two lines meant that I had magic because I couldn’t seek it, and it couldn’t be found, but I don’t really understand any of it.”
“This is a small section of the Circadian Prophecy, yes,” Matilde verified. “Many who have studied this part have no better understanding of it. Educated men and women have worked on interpretations of the Prophecy for generations. We can only follow the portents the way that we view them.”
“And how do you view them?” she asked desperately.
Vera sighed. “That we were spared in the War of the Light for a reason, and we will do what we can to help bring balance back to this world.”