It worked! The letters glowed brighter and then settled into the scroll, the locking spell successfully holding the words in place.
Avery let go.
Clarissa stopped singing. “Fucking hell, it worked! Finally.” She tried to bend her neck to get a better view, but Raven was in the best position at the table. “Read it to us, Raven.”
“With the help of Daluk of Niven, I, Medea Tanglewood, witch queen of Darnuith, bequeath my golden grimoire to the three foretold to free Ouros from the tyrannical rule of Eleanor of Paragon. I don’t know your names or from where you will come, but my sisters and I have seen you in our visions. Now, as we prepare to leave this world, we put our faith in you.
“My dearest love, Tavyss, is dead, as is our son, Phineas. We know now that we must leave this place. A traitor lurks within the court of Darnuith, and now that Tavyss is dead, I am mortal and Eleanor is not. We have seen the future, and you are Ouros’s only hope.
“Daluk has helped me seal the grimoire inside my heart’s tomb. It had to be done. Only its inherent magic could keep my protective spell active past my death. The tomb is hidden, but it will be easy for you to find as its shape is in the form of my beloved and it guards the gate of a garden that reminds me of the one where we first met. I’ve placed it in Rogos where Eleanor’s prying hand cannot reach.
“Now my vengeance is in your hands. Our visions have shown us the way, and I pray you will be brave enough to follow it. We’ve seen a child, a descendant. The beginning and the end. Only this child holds the magic to both make and undo what is to come.
“Eleanor grows stronger by the minute. Beware, her supporters hide like vipers, waiting and watching from the tall grass. You must call upon the goddess of the mountain and ask her to intercede on your behalf. Everything you need resides within the grimoire. Use it.
“Know that my sisters and I cannot guarantee your success. The future we see is constantly shifting. We know not in what year you will come or the circumstances of your arrival. All we can promise you is that wherever it is we go after we pass from this existence, we will be watching, waiting to aid you in any way we can. The only word I leave you with is goodbye. Goddess be with you.”
Raven looked up from the parchment. From her carrier strapped to Gabriel’s chest, Charlie clapped her hands, grinning.
“She likes to hear you read,” Gabriel mumbled.
Nathaniel rubbed Clarissa’s shoulders. “Did that make sense to anyone? A tomb in the shape of her beloved… Is that Tavyss? In what form? Or the baby?”
Xavier raised a finger. “’Tis in front of a garden, it said. Can only be so many of them, eh?”
Leena shook her head. “Rogos has many gardens, and if there is a tomb shaped like a dragon or a man or a child, I have never heard of it. It’s not traditional.”
“Not just a garden,” Colin added. “Fruit trees. Our family crest is a dragon wrapped around a golden fruit tree. Sylas learned it represented Tavyss in the Garden of the Hesperides. That’s where he met Medea.”
Nathaniel took a fortifying drag on his pipe. “What type of trees do you have in Rogos that bear hanging fruit?”
Leena walked to the altar and scribbled something on a piece of parchment. A scroll manifested before her. “A map of Rogos. Let’s take a look.” She unrolled it on the table. “There’s a Ramblefig orchard here. That’s an oblong purple fruit we use in pastries. It’s on the border of Darnuith. She might have put it there.”
Xavier shook his head. “I’d not hide something so important so close to the road as it is.”
Colin nodded. “I’d have to agree with my brother. Not only is it close to a border and the road, she mentions a traitor from Darnuith. Wouldn’t she want to have it farther inland?”
“What about that one?” Gabriel pointed at an orchard on the edge of the Mystic Wood. Charlie reached toward the map, her chubby hand opening and closing.
“That’s sandberry fruit—the Dune Orchard. That could very well be what we’re looking for. It borders the desert and is owned by the desert dwellers. It will be hard for me to gain access. Even harder for a non-elf. The desert dwellers do not like company.”
Colin scanned the map again. “The only other ones appear to be around Asfolk Palace.”
“Asfolk is the capital and a hub of commerce. Having a variety of fruit grow there benefits the palace, and it’s also centrally located to ship across Rogos.”
“An odd place for a crypt,” Nathaniel said.
Raven wished Medea had been more specific about the location of the tomb, but everything the witch had done thus far was to keep the grimoire out of the hands of Eleanor. She couldn’t make it too easy. And the hardest place to reach on this map was the Dune Orchard. “Let’s search there.” She pointed to it on the map. “We have to start somewhere. We can leave in the morning.”
Leena shook her head. “Why not look now?” Everyone flashed her a confused look. “We don’t actually have to go there to know if it’s the place. I can look from here.” She strode behind the white marble platform and through a door at the back of the library.
Raven followed into a room with a sanded wood floor and a line of hollowed-out stone bowls filled with liquid. Each was next to a desk with shelves of blank scrolls and a quill.
“Stand back—the tears will burn you.” Leena positioned herself at one of the desks.
The scribe sat down and passed her hand over the pool beside her. Raven gasped as the tears started to swirl with color and light, images flashing within the bowl’s depths. This wasn’t familiar magic. This was something else, a type of power unique to the scribes.
“Show me Dune Orchard,” Leena commanded.
