“Or perhaps they hid things for a reason,” she says. “Because maybe the truth was more dangerous than lies.”
“I do not fear danger,” I sign. “I fear being someone who does nothing while those she loves stand in the enemy’s path. I have been that person. I do not wish to be her again.”
“Raina.” Nephele clasps my hand, sadness in her eyes. “You didn’t know to watch the waters. You didn’t know the enemy was near.”
Alexus said nearly the same words not long after we entered Frostwater Wood the first time. It’s still hard to feel blameless when all that remains of the valley is less than two dozen villagers trying to find life again around this lake.
My sister and I stare at one another for several long seconds before Nephele sighs, obviously spying the resoluteness on my face.
“Fine,” she says. “Let’s pilfer some wine and bathe. Afterward, we can discuss seeing past the prince’s barriers. Like Alexus, I’ll help you any way I can. Even if I must summon Neri myself and make him grant the ability you desire.”
Her words sink inside me like a stone dropping to the bottom of a lake. No. Not a stone. An idea. A seed. In verdant ground.
And it quickly takes root.
Do not summon me. Those words breeze through my mind yet again. If not for this simple command from Neri on Winter Road and what I beheld between Alexus and Thamaos, I would’ve never known such an option existed.
I still don’t. Not really. Not for me, anyway.
But as I walk with Hel, Nephele, and Saira toward the rocky outcroppings in the distance to bathe, I make a decision.
Tonight, when no one is watching, I’m going to find out.
13
RAINA
Dusk falls when we return to camp, and a storm looms over the mountains to the west.
As some of the women set our clothes up to dry near a small fire, which I hope isn’t pointless given the threat of rain, I realize that Warek has already retold Alexus’s tale to the villagers, leaving a somber tint to the air. Most eyes that meet mine look confused, like they’re trying to decide whether to believe anything we say. I’m certain that hearing the truth about Neri shook many foundations of belief. Such is the way when faith is tested.
There’s still no sign of Finn, and Alexus and Rhonin have gone to the lake’s north end to clean up and look for Joran before the evening meal. That those two are together makes me smile. They’ve grown closer than I would’ve expected these last two weeks. It seems perhaps they both need the friendship.
While Nephele and Hel begin helping the men and women in the food tent, I stroll through the camp and find Mena. We sit together for a while, watching two villagers stack wood for the pyre. Eventually, we talk about all that’s happened over these last weeks, listening to another night bird sing its melancholy song.
“I am worried for the days that lie ahead,” I tell her. “What Fate has in store. It feels as though the real journey is just beginning.”
She takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “Sadly, I’m certain you’re right. This is only the start of a much larger story. But Fate isn’t what you think it is, my girl. Fate doesn’t carve our life’s road, nor does it decide our destiny. We do. Fate only places people, events, and choices in our path. It’s up to us to navigate the labyrinth of love, loss, happiness, and pain that is borne from those experiences. Granted, sometimes Fate fights for two souls to come together, and that is not a thing to take lightly.” She smiles and touches my face. “Trust that you are making the right decisions, Raina. Trust your instinct. You are here because your blood sang a song of trust and you listened. Believe that your intuition is a gift that will never fail you.”
With those words of wisdom in mind, I walk Mena to her tent so she can clean up before dinner, then I head down the torchlit path that leads to Brigot’s Rock, scrying dish and hairpin in hand, dagger strapped to my thigh. My hair is still damp, and the rain-scented wind off the lake is cool, but my borrowed wool tunic has a hood. I toss it up and march to the lapping waves where I fill my vessel to the rim, then tuck myself in the crescent-shaped shelter of Brigot’s Rock.
I don’t know if Fate had a hand in what I’m doing, or if I’m just too persistent for my own good, but I’m hoping that Mena was right, and that I’m making the right choice tonight.
Callan explained the summoning process after the incident with Thamaos. I listened, though I felt certain it was magick I would never perform. I remember the runes she mentioned, though. There were nine, because Alexus requested them. But only three are required for a summoning, along with the runes of protection. Three of the many runes Alexus taught me the other night by the fire.
At least Neri never required a blood offering, something I’m quite thankful for as I drag my dagger through the pebbly sand, carving the outer runes before closing myself inside the first circle. I sit cross-legged in the middle and repeat the motions on a smaller scale. Finally, I draw the runes for Communication, Faithfulness, and Fealty.
Confessing such sentiments for Neri makes my stomach turn. But if Alexus endured Thamaos for answers, surely I can endure Neri. He’s just a soul, I tell myself. Unfortunately, he’s a soul that can send a moving wagon flying off the road. A soul who can strip power from a person like a beast ripping out an organ. He has no reason to hurt me though. If he’d wanted to, he could’ve already ended me.
Though prayer isn’t my best talent, I close my eyes and think a few lines anyway. After three attempts, however, nothing has happened. Certain that I’ve done something wrong, I grab my filled dish and prick my finger. Using Sight to see Neri has failed every time before, but tonight I also pray to Loria that my gift might forge the first link between me and the being I’m searching for.
“Nahmthalahsh. Show me Neri.”
The water swirls, a captured tempest. But then it stills, and vapor rises, moments before ice forms over the surface and drapes along the bowl’s rim. On the wind, a whisper of laughter.
That bastard is mocking me.
Irritated, I smack the bowl against the ground to dislodge the ice and return to the water’s edge to refill the vessel, careful not to break either of the circles.
