My great-great-grandaunt.
Her journal.
Her account.
How did my mother have it?
The words on the next page were blurred, as if someone had dropped water on them, leaving only a few legible lines.
Libra Veritas is the key to the truth…
Hidden
Lie when they say it doesn’t exist.
If I can get into the vaults at Nightsbridge Academy, then…
The library is off-limits. If I’m caught, they’ll kill me. But it’s worth the risk to know for certain. To prove that I’m innocent. I must try…
I flipped the page, and a piece of folded-up paper fell out. This was a crisp printout. A page from a legal text, maybe?
My pulse quickened as instinct screamed that this was important.
Dammit. I was going to need coffee.
* * *
Half an hour later,I was stone-cold sober and nursing a heart that raced with possibilities. The paperwasa legal document of sorts. It was a page from theArcanum Lex. The book that set out the laws that all magic users must abide and be governed by. The laws covered both incantors and sorcerers, and any other being that drew power from the Weave. Therianthropes and Haematophages, although magical in nature, don’t have access to the network of threads that comprise the Weave. So, they were governed solely by laws put in place by the Imperium Alius—a high supernal council that oversaw everythingother, even the Arcanum Imperium. Whatever power the Therianthropes and Haematophages possessed came from Source—the mysterious well of power that created all supernal beings. Many believed it was housed in the supernal afterlife. A place called Tariffel, or Fel, as some liked to call it. Some believed the Source was a deity, and others preferred to think of it as an endless well of energy, possibly sentient. Personally, I didn’t care. How we got here was inconsequential, all that mattered was how we chose to live.
I scanned the document, gaze dropping to an underlined paragraph. How my mother had gotten her hands on this, or Dharma’s book for that matter, was beyond me.
While the journal suggested that Dharma was innocent of her crime, and said there might be a way to prove it, the page from theArcanum Lexgave me a way to find that evidence. To find thisLibra Veritas. The book of truth.
I read it again just to be sure.
No Arcanus bloodline may be allowed to be extinguished. All efforts must be made to preserve them. When in timor exstinctionis, channels of power must be protected and nurtured to prevent loss of connection to the Weave and destabilization.
Timor exstinctionis…My Latin was rusty, but I was certain that meant fear of extermination. I was blocked from accessing the Weave’s power but still connected to it. As the last Onyx, if I died, it would sever that connection. So, according to theArcanum Lex, the Arcanum Imperium had a duty to keep the connection alive, which meant giving me the best chance at survival.
This… This was my loophole…
I could use this law to my advantage and demand to have my power restored. After all, I was vulnerable without it. I might die without access to my powers, just like my ancestors had, and the only place where it could be restored was Nightsbridge Academy, of that much I was certain. Nightsbridge was a hub of power, said to house some of the most powerful incantors and sorcerers. It was also where the block on my bloodline's power had been placed. I wasn’t sure how, or by whom, but I was going to find out. Because, according to Dharma’s journal, it was also where theLibra Veritaswas housed.
Where thetruthwas hidden.
A surge of heat rushed through my veins.
I’d spent the last six years running from the Onyx name. Reinventing myself and hiding, but if Dharma had been framed and used as a scapegoat…if my bloodline was innocent, then I needed to know. If I could get proof of the Arcanum Imperium’s manipulation, I could expose them to the Imperium Alius. I could demand retribution, the harshest punishment for all the pain and suffering they’d put my family through. I could finally free myself of the noose that had hung around my neck ever since birth. If I could find proof that Dharma was innocent, then I’d have revenge, not just for me and Mother, but for every Onyx that had come before. For the unnecessary curses they’d bestowed on us, for the pariahs they’d made us. For the hate and disgust and the aching loneliness. They’d pay for it all.
I set the papers down and took a deep breath. This was more than an adventure; this was a potential death sentence. At least it had been for Dharma. History was proof that she’d failed. Vanished not long after that diary entry. Presumed dead. Was I arrogant enough to think I could do better? No, I just had nothing left to lose.
My decision was made.
I was going to Nightsbridge.
It was time to become Anamaya Onyx once more.
CHAPTER 3
