“How so?” Noam asks.
Theron exhales. “The whole place feels like a secret, but I think whoever made it wanted it to be opened. But noteasily. Something like thatshouldbe difficult to open, and if I had set it up, I would have made it so only the worthy could access that much power.”
Noam stays quiet, his arms folded.
“I think the carvings hold clues.” Theron slides a paper out of his pocket and unfolds it, showing Noam as he talks. “I drew them as best I could. Vines on fire, books in a pile, a mask. On the surface, they seem unrelated—but they do have one thing in common.”
Noam finally loses his patience. “So help me, if you—”
“Each symbolizes a kingdom in Primoria. Vines on fire—Summer, their vineyards and their heat. Books in a pile—Yakim, their knowledge. A mask—Ventralli, their masks and art. What else could it be? I think these symbols are meant to lead us to a way to open the chasm. I propose we put together a caravan to visit these three kingdoms and see if my suspicions are correct,” Theron finishes.
Summer, Yakim, and Ventralli? I keep my face as blank as I can, but inside, unease takes root in my stomach. A Season and two Rhythms? Why would the Order hide the keys in those three kingdoms? Could it be that easy?
Theron certainly thinks so. And hehasproven rather useful when it comes to deciphering cryptic things.
“Butwhere?” Noam waves his hand west, in the general direction of Summer, Yakim, and Ventralli. “Where do you propose we begin? What are we even searching for?”
“The keys for each lock, I think. It seems right, at least—three key holes, three symbols. Once we get them, I’m hoping the barrier falls—it’s a barrier of magic, so the keys might be magic too—”
“So you propose we search all three damn kingdoms?” Noam’s annoyance flickers into anger at being so close to a goal yet still hindered.
“Yes—well, in part.” Theron looks down at his sketches of the chasm door’s symbols. “We could start by exploring the areas in each kingdom that are most likely to have what we seek. Areas of value, perhaps, that would have survived the tests of time. It’s at least a start. We could ask—”
Noam jerks forward, one hand jabbing threateningly. “You are not to breathe a word of this venture to anyone. There is noaskinganything. No questions of keys or mystical barriers or the Order of the Lustrate. If anyone knows anything at all about these things and hears you speak of them, it won’t be difficult for them to figure out what we found.” Noam grinds his jaw. “Leaving at all is risky. If word gets beyond these borders . . . no. There has to be another way to open that door.”
Theron’s brows lift. He seems close to arguing with Noam, his eyes sweeping over his father’s face.
I step forward before Theron needs to say anything.
“Do you have a better idea?” I snap at Noam.
The Order of the Lustrate is out there. They exist; theywrote that book, they made the chasm entrance. They have to be out there still, or at the very least, there has to be someone in Primoria who knows them or remembers their teachings, and talking to someone would be infinitely more helpful than that mysterious book.
Maybe they can seal the door or tell me what their barrier did to my magic so I can get it under control—or even just reconnect my link to Hannah, so she can help me. However strange it was to have my dead mother in my head, she was useful sometimes.
“You want the door opened so badly?” I continue. “This is the only clue we have. Unless you’d like to go to Gaos and try running into the barrier. I knowI’dprefer that option.”
Noam scowls. “Careful, Lady Queen.”
“No.” I curl my hand into a fist. “This is what you’ve wanted all along, and we found it. So we’re going to these kingdoms, and we’re going to find the keys or the Order itself or whatever we need to find.” I glance at Theron, hating myself for the half-truths I’m telling.
But he’s the reason we’re here at all.
“We have to at least try,” I say. And it isn’t entirely a lie—I do want to try. But to get answers, not open the door.
They don’t need to know that, though. Theron will go to these kingdoms—his passion won’t let him sit idly by, even if his father disagrees. And if Theron goes, I will too.I’ll be right there the whole journey, searching just as hard as him, and Iwillfind answers. I’ll track down the Order, or I’ll find the keys before Theron does and in doing so, gain much-needed leverage over Cordell.
Theron seems appeased by my agreement. He looks at me with something like awe, and I shudder. He thinks I’ve changed my mind about wanting to keep the chasm locked.
Noam’s eyes fly over my face. His lips rise in a slow smile again, tinged with condescending amusement, like he remembered something that puts him back in control.
“You propose to visit Summer, Yakim, and Ventralli,” he says. “Didn’t a few Winterians recently return from such a visit?”
I shock myself by not reacting with anything but cool detachment. “What of it?”
“I’ve been told Yakim and Ventralli extended invitations to you. You already have a relationship with Cordell and Autumn—it will be expected for you to seek introduction to the world, and it will give us cover to search for the keys. And if nothing presents itself in Summer, Ventralli, and Yakim, you’ll continue to Paisly. We won’t leave a single kingdom in this world unsearched.”
Noam’s is the kingdom of opportunity. While Winter uses magic for strength and endurance to make its citizens the best miners in the world, Cordell uses its magic to make its citizens the best at analyzing a situation andcoming out on top. That’s exactly what Noam has done—woven this into something advantageous to him.
