He portaled in front of the creature, curling his fist around his thin, papery throat. “Why not?”
“I did not know.”
“How do you know now?” Grim asked.
The augur tilted his head. “She told me.”
“Who?” His wife?
“The silver girl. The one who sees,” the augur said. “She speaks in a wordless language, and some of us are able to listen. She sees more and more as the days go on...”
Grim didn’t know what this creature was sputtering on about. He didn’t care, unless it helped him get to his wife. “Has this girl seen anything to help Isla?”
“Only this,” the augur said.
“What is Cronan’s skyre?” Grim demanded.
The augur lifted a shoulder. “No one knows. You can imagine he kept it secret. But you’re of his blood...if anyone can figure it out, it’s you.”
“What do I use, to make it?” he asked. Isla had Cronan’s sword. There were other ancient relics, but he didn’t know of any nearly as powerful.
“The same one your wife did.”
Grim shook his head. “The god-bone is gone.” She took that with her too.
“Not the god-bone,” the augur said.
And that was when Grim remembered that Islahadleft something behind.
The feather. The one with the sparkling tip.
“Thank you,” Grim said. His shadows released the augur.
And he portaled back to the winter palace to get it.
ORO
Oro had watched thousands of years play out in his mind. It took great focus and practice, but soon, he was able to hear the conversations of the past. It no longer sounded like he was underwater.
Nothing had helped with finding out how to create a portal yet. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t learned something.
The lost king was right. The past informed the future. He started to notice cycles that always repeated. So many events were entirely predictable. How could people not see it as they were living it?
How had he been so blind to the obvious?
The more he watched, the more he understood, as if the truths of the world were being laid out in front of him. Every second was priceless. He couldn’t bring himself to stop.
Even when hunger forced him to take a quick break in the kitchens, it was like the threads were calling to him. He found himself racing back to his throne, to sit and watch. Andlearn.
For this...it was the ultimate knowledge. He understood now why the lost king had been in that trance. Why he had lived a thousand lives, sitting right there on the ocean floor. So far, Oro had only explored the past here, on this island. Was it possible to look at the history of other places too?
He tried to control where he went in his mind in order to follow Horus. But time often jumped. Even when he did hear conversations featuring his ancestor, he hadn’t been able to learn much aboutportals. It wasn’t surprising—the Founders hadn’twantedto return to the otherworld. Lightlark was their new beginning.
But that didn’t stop Oro from trying. He knew he had to sleep—he hadn’t since Isla had left. But when he tried to pry himself off the throne the next time...he just couldn’t.
He sat back and was lost in time again. He was starting to feel more familiar with the past than the present.
He was in the middle of a council meeting a thousand years prior, listening as—
