His expression faltered before hardening. “It’s everyone who didn’t pass the death voyage in time.”
“In time?”
He stared off past her. “Some people run out of time. Or never earn the talisman. It’s all the same in the end. If the fates don’t decide to make you a goddess, you end up here.”
Her brows rose as well as her temper as she connected what he was saying back to the item Maya had sent her here to find. Her voice went deathly low.
“Are you telling me that the hourglass SHOWS HOW LONG I HAVE TO LIVE?” Her yelling echoed out through the woods, causing a skittering of animals and birds as they fled.
Grim shifted into the ready stance of a seasoned general, his even tone telling her to calm the fuck down or he’d make her. “We didn’t want you to feel even more pressure than you already do. You’ve been doing everything you can. It’s impossible to know what will please the fates.”
Pissed, she reached for the hilt of her dagger, but Grim held his hand over hers, stopping her. “You’re right. We should have told you. It’s been hard to know what’s enough or too much. Maya was the only one who voted to tell you. I have a feeling thislittle treasure hunt of hers is going to illuminate a few things we’d decided weren’t helpful for you to know.”
Fingers gripping the handle, she didn’t pull it from its sheath, but still she fumed. Having a clock on your life seemed like something that ought to be shared regardless of the anxiety it inspired. Spinning around, she marched off to find out just how much time she really had left.
The enclave wasn’t beautiful like the rest of the realm. There weren’t wild dead grasses waiting to turn green in the spring or spindly trees. It was just dirt. Dirt, tombstones, and a mausoleum. Gray marble, chipped and speckled with the mineral remnants of precipitation, it stood alone. Ducking inside, brass plaques marked two people whose time had run dry. She ran her chilled fingers over the fading plaques, but all they gave were their names. The bronze hourglass sat plainly on the dirty floor. Her heart turned cold as she stared at the trickling sand.
Less than a quarter of the sand remained. The priestesses had said some death voyages took years. She was not to be given years, it seemed. Her resolve hardened in a familiar manner. She’d survived a kingdom that wanted her dead since birth. Escaped that fate countless times. She wasn’t giving up now.
Turning to Grim, she gestured around them. “Beyond the fact that we’re almost out of time, is there anything else for me to know about the people who didn’t survive their death voyages?”
Grim delivered the information like a cut. “The connection between them, their partners, and the Deathlands either never formed or wasn’t strong enough. Your connection with the land and rivers seems well enough…”
Her mouth flattened. “If the fates wanted a love match, then maybe they shouldn’t partner people with someone who set the end of the world in motion and is the reason why the other person had such a shitty, fucked up life.”
Suddenly, the fact that she’d allowed Aidan to touch her made her sick. Her fear and anger blackened her thoughts until all shecould think about was how she’d had to dodge execution her entire life and her sister was about to die. And it washisfault.
Grim’s jaw worked, looking like he wanted to retort against her allegations, but instead he held out his hand for the hourglass. She shoved it a little too forcefully into his waiting palm and stalked out of the mausoleum while he situated the hourglass in the satchel he’d brought along.
“There’s a third option.”
She stared at him impatiently. “And?”
“You weren’t supposed to make it here, were you?”
“Aidan said something like that once.” She held his gaze, but Grim didn’t break.
“It’s a fine line with the fates. But at the end of the day, they want control. You’ve already broken their threads once, and Aidan has been on their shit list for a long time.”
She absorbed this without response. Politics and manipulation were nothing new. She’d do what she needed to survive—just like every time before. Without bothering to sink to the dirt, or to find the zen she didn’t want to feel, she plunged through her magical awareness like a knife through paper until she grabbed hold of the ledger. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in her mind that Maya had stolen a specific ledger of Aidan’s for her to crack open and read, and she was determined to see what he was hiding.
Back over the little stone bridge, she set off at a run through the woods until she exited the trees into a barren expanse. She didn’t think it was the same place she’d fallen through to all those months ago, but she was quickly realizing how unfamiliar with the death realm she really was. Over the last few months, she’d retraced her steps from the house through the woods to the village, and that was basically it. She was regretting never asking for a map now.
Dropping a knee, she ran her fingers over the ground. She rubbed the tips of her fingers together, studying the familiar black-gray soot. She’d looked at this soot every day of her life in Kava, and now she stood in a desert of it. Decayed magic, rawpower. Her own magic danced inside her as the soot fell from her fingers to the ground, whispering to her to take it, form it,use it.Forget ripping the newcomers’ pain, she could eat here until ready to burst.Wish I knew how.She’d have to see if it could be used to further stabilize the realm. In the distance, she beheld the dunes and smooth mounds of either soil or raw magic that gave shape to the land. One of the Deadlands’ rivers cut through the seemingly endless scape.
Getting up, she took off again, ignoring Grim’s shouts for her to stop. Rather than the oil-slick colors of the river Aidan used for deals and protecting the realm, this river appeared molten. It glowed gold and orange with a steady simmer of bubbles bursting on its top.
She kept running, following the river as it disappeared into an enormous dune. Slowing down, she cautiously entered the cave. A heavy sensation weighed her down, her steps suddenly resistant and slow. The sluggish feeling dissipated as she forced herself further into the mouth of the cave.
Shaking out her limbs, she turned to Grim. “Whatwasthat?”
His voice was low. “Elysia, you shouldn’t be here. Forget Maya’s stupid game. You clearly have no problem finding objects. We should work on ripping and transmuting.”
Plunging ahead, she wrinkled her nose at the disgusting smells drifting out from somewhere deeper in the cave. “Sounds like you don’t want me to see what’s in that ledger.”
Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her up short. “I’ll tell you what’s in the ledger myself if you just turn around.” Genuine fear roughened his words into a plea.
Undeterred, she kept moving. “What’s in here?” She peered ahead but saw nothing except for the glow and steam coming off the molten river.
