The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2)(23)

Fox’s hand strayed to the hilt of his sword, as if swinging a blade at a spell would make all the difference. “One decaying head popping up from anywhere and I’m sending it back to whatever hell it crawled out from.”

I studied the rune again, committing as much of it to memory as I was able. As I drew it in the air, I let my mind settle on its form until it felt as solid as I was, and then I guided it toward Fox. We already shared a bond, but finding another volunteer was not an option at this point.

I felt a spurt of dizziness, which quickly abated. I stared at Fox but had the oddest sensation of staring back at myself.

I squeezed my eyes shut and watched myself close my eyes at the same time.

“Fox, turn around.”

My perspective swiveled. I disappeared from view, replaced by the small dresser in my room and the small chair beside it.

“Is something wrong, Tea?” My bond with Fox was even stronger now, his worry and concern felt like they were my own. In the past, I could always sense his emotions without necessarily feeling them myself. Now I was experiencing the world through him.

Fox was puzzled; I felt puzzled. “I don’t feel any different. Is it working?”

“A little too well.” I dispelled the rune and felt Fox’s thoughts vanish, weariness taking its place. “This is the spell Aenah used.”

“That’s enough for one day.” Fox decided. “And don’t argue—I’m getting tired just sensing your exhaustion. Between this and the graveyard, it’s been a long day.”

I tried to protest, but it came out as a yawn.

Fox tucked me into bed, something he hadn’t done since we were kids. “Stop pushing yourself,” I heard him say affectionately before I fell asleep. “The world will turn even when you are not awake to busy yourself in it.”

? ? ?

I was fresh and rejuvenated when I opened my eyes again—exceptionally so. Marveling at my sudden energy, I sat up in bed and spotted the Faceless’s book, half-hidden underneath a dozen other volumes on my table. It would have been better if Fox had kept it with him and prevented me the mischief, but I remembered that the soldiers’ barracks had little privacy.

I promised Fox I wouldn’t experiment, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look through the rest of the spells.

I climbed back into bed, taking the book with me.

The Puppet Rune, I read, requires great concentration. Wrap the spell around your victim to command as you may. The cadaver performs its last command unless dispelled or until its master’s death. Till then, it takes on the artifice of life, moving and acting independently of other forces. Sufficient strength can raise hundreds, even tens of thousands.

I stared at the symbol. With some imagination, it did resemble a marionette being jerked on its strings by a dark blob in the background. This must have been the spell Aenah used at the graveyard. But how? Didn’t Mykkie say I cannot control the dead if they aren’t willing? Already the book was breaking rules I’d always believed sancrosanct.

The next page showed a rune of two intertwined hearts. The Heartshare rune, it said, bolstered a fading heartsglass with a second healthier one to delay death until medical attention is administered. It could even control one’s mind to an extent, but where the Compulsion rune used force, Heartshare used trust and claimed much better results. It also seemed to be the only spell in the book that asha and Deathseekers alike could use.

It was probably not a rune the Faceless preferred, given their mutual distrust. When the azi had attacked the darashi oyun years ago, asha and Deathseekers withstood their attack by linking runes together. When I had confronted Aenah at the Valerian, Mykaela, Polaire, and Altaecia had lent me their strength in much the same way, similar to how I could take strength from the azi to add to my own. But sharing heartsglass appeared to be a much more intimate spell than even that.

I turned the page. The Illusion rune was a series of whorls and loops. Rather than cast the image into one’s mind as most other runes would, this one cast the illusion around the target, to disguise it instead, a deception of sight rather than of mind. When done right, it was capable of hiding structures, people, even thoughts.

Another rune dealt with controlling multiple living minds at the same time. The Dominion rune is a constant battle, I read, of pitting one’s will against many others. Use at your own peril. It sounded like almost every rune in the book should be used at one’s own peril.

Next was a rune patterned after a chokehold of vines or perhaps a nest of intertwined snakes. The Strangle rune targets the seeking stones of your enemy. Weave and direct the flow into its center to disperse its source.

There were no runes on the next page but a sketch of a silver heartsglass.

To you, seeking Blade that Soars’s path: take that which came from Five Great Heroes long past and distill into a heart of silver to shine anew.

I turned to the last page and found a sketch of another heartsglass, this one as dark as the first was bright.

To you, seeking Hollow Knife’s path: present yourself with a heartsglass of black, where love’s blood has been shed and seven daeva’s bezoars. Boil the stones separately, and drink a vial’s worth of their waters. Weave Compulsion in the air; its heart shall reveal itself to you. Take it into your heartsglass.

The process is not gentle.

Each daeva increases the darkrot. The sacrifice is great, but the rewards are priceless. The unity of seven into darksglass and five into lightsglass is the key. Merge both with the First Harvest to achieve shadowglass and rise as the Great Prince once did, to rule as you see fit.