Inkmistress (Of Fire and Stars 0.5)(92)

Inside, a skeleton lay on its back with its arms crossed over its chest. The bones carried an unmistakable aura of magic that matched my own. The Sight of it sent an unexpected wave of sadness through me. This had to be Veric. Now I knew where the echo of my magic had come from. Inside his rib cage, something golden glimmered, untouched by the passage of time. I leaned in to get a closer look while my heart raced even faster. Etchings of twining vines adorned the golden parts of the ring, so precise that they had to have been created with magic. They reminded me of the carvings I’d seen in Veric’s Sanctum. Through the middle of the band ran a channel of dark red that swirled and glittered in the torchlight. Veric’s blood.

I had found the Fatestone at last.

Joy flooded through me. The battle didn’t have to happen. I could change the past. But right on the heels of my joyous realization, darkness encroached. Did this mean I would lose Iman? And Hal? And even Zallie, whose sweetness had grown on me every day as I watched her tenderly care for Iman?

There were so many things to weigh. It was too much to bear.

But I had Hal. He would help me carry these burdens if I needed him.

I sketched the symbol of the shadow god, then reached carefully between Veric’s ribs and picked up the ring. It seemed unfathomable that one tiny object had created so much strife, especially one that wasn’t even a weapon. The lengths mortals would go to in order to set aside their own mortality staggered me. They didn’t seem to realize that a long life could be a curse more than anything else. I shuddered as I remembered Leozoar and the creature of darkness he’d become.

The ring had more weight in my hand than I expected, and as I slipped it over my finger, it shrank until it lay warm and perfectly fitted. I felt different the moment I put it on—like it held back everything in the world that might pull at the threads of my own life, what little held me together. I doubted any mortal would feel what I did once the ring was on. It might prevent them from aging, but it wouldn’t do for them what it would for me. For the first time, I felt powerful.

The future was mine.

There would be no more gray hairs.

No more lives sacrificed due to my mistakes.

Everything was fixable now, the past and the future flexible in my hands.

I swore to myself I wouldn’t take advantage of it, but it was still a heady rush.

“Thank you, brother.” I hoped he would rest peacefully and that wherever his soul was, he knew his wishes had been carried out.

I knelt before his tomb, then sketched the symbol of the shadow god again. I owed her thanks as well for leading me here. And perhaps even the wind god, who had given me Hal.

Then I heard footsteps.

“Who’s there?” I stood up, my heart racing wildly.

An arrow flew through the cave, shattering my lantern. Oil poured onto the floor, and then the flame winked out.

I sensed nothing at all with my Sight, smelled nothing. The footsteps drew closer at a deliberate pace. I fumbled back along Veric’s tomb, trying to take shelter behind the statue.

A strong arm locked around my neck and a burst of acidic powder exploded in my face.

Peaceroot.

It stole my abilities even as I struggled in the person’s grip, bit their arm, tried to grasp at magic that slipped away as the herb took hold.

My vision blurred, silver sparks warring with the comfort of absolute darkness. They’d mixed something else into the peaceroot. My entire plan had unraveled before I could even begin. Whoever had me this time would surely bleed me to death. Soon my mother would welcome me into her arms, which might have seemed like a better place if not for Iman, whose face was the last thing I thought of as consciousness slipped away.





CHAPTER 35


I WOKE IN DARKNESS, WITH NO IDEA HOW MUCH TIME had passed. It could have been hours or days. Cold and soreness crippled my body. When I shifted my weight, hard, lumpy objects dug into my thigh and arm.

The Fatestone was no longer on my finger.

Panic lanced through me and I struggled to keep my breathing even. Who had taken it? The darkness made me feel shut in. It was hard to stay calm or to think. I grasped at fragments of memory, but all I remembered was my lantern shattering. Everything was hazy after that. I felt around, trying to see if there was anything I could grab onto to help me stand up, and realized with horror that the smooth objects digging into me were bones. I raised my arms perpendicular to the ground and encountered a slab. To the sides, the same.

Someone had shut me in with Veric.

I screamed and clawed at the stone in futility, but nothing happened until the tips of my fingers grew raw enough to bleed. As soon as my blood made contact with the stone, the lid of the tomb slipped aside. I scrambled out as quickly as I could with only one useful hand.

The skeletons on the walls weren’t visible to me now, but somehow I still felt like they watched me, judging me for my failure. I’d had the Fatestone no more than five minutes before it had been stolen. My chance to rewrite the past was lost. I wished the skeletons with their wire-tied jaws could tell me who they’d seen come after me.

But really, who else could it be besides Nismae? Anger bubbled up through the pain. The only others who knew about the Fatestone were the Nightswifts. If Nismae had used Hal to get to me . . . the thought filled me with fury. But I didn’t believe he’d help her with something like that now. Not after how I’d seen him looking at Iman. Not with the way he looked at me.