Before either he or Carus could react, she climbed atop Varax, ignoring Morgen as he followed, settling into the saddle behind her. She glanced at the ruined temple below, hating herself and hating him. She had come here to run from the truth, to take vows of holy devotion and celibacy in an attempt to save herself. She had only ended up damning others.
Today would be a good day, Varax,Morgen said into the pathway.
Even there, his voice was edged with tension; his body was so stiff behind her, she felt his musclesmusthurt. She told herself didn’t care what he was feeling.
The dragon roared and then abruptly dove off the cliffside. Nya leaned low into the saddle to avoid flying off, Morgen doing the same behind her. To their left, Carus rode a tan Fesper dragon, about half the size of Varax, and in the distance, she caught a glimpse of the queen’s fleet approaching.
They left the capital and the fleet behind quickly, and Nya knew in her heart where they were headed. It wasn’t far to Arcadia’s border with D’anna, and, too soon, the shimmering veil she had never seen but heard about countless times appeared ahead.
“Brace yourself,” Morgen said gruffly in her ear. “It might feel as if you can’t breathe for a moment.”
She ignored him. The barrier approached, and she closed her eyes. When the heavy, sticky feeling of magic enveloped her, stealing the air from her lungs, she leaned into it.
Take me, she pleaded, perhaps to the magic itself, or even to the gods beyond, the ones she shared blood and power with.End this before it can begin.
Neither listened.
They broke the barrier, and the smell of honeytwine trees and fresh water surrounded her. A lush, broad valley caged them on either side, but she knew in her heart they weren’t close yet. A usurper didn’t hide in a sunlit field. Wherever they were going, wherever he had been hiding all these years, would not be pleasant.
Neither would her role.
Chapter 2
Four Years Prior
I saw her again in my dreams, the child, now laughing. It is a mockery, I fear, not a true vision of Fate. Even if Sora were to return, I do not think it will be for long. The world is in such a state of unrest, and Kronos is still watching closely. Vane never asks about the dreams, but I think he knows. After all, he was the only one I told. I abhor the false hope it gives him.
—Lady Anabeth, Royal Scribe’s Apprentice, D’anna
It was barelydawn when she crept out of the house. She was sure one of her parents sensed her leaving, but they didn’t wake to ask where she was going. She was grown at twenty and two, after all, and there was little danger here in the vast, secluded forest in Mise. They didn’t cloister her, never had, though she could tell it wasn’t always easy, especially for her father.
When she was a child, he’d been constantly on edge. He always tried to hide it, but there had been many occasions when a twig had snapped outside or something had rustled in the brush, and the silver of ether had brightened in his eyes, the air warming with the inferno of his magic. She wasn’t entirely sure the reasons, but once, when she’d asked her mother why he wasalways so afraid, she had told her:“He tries not to show it, Nya. But neither of us are used to safety, not for long, and you are precious to him, to both of us. The thought of watching someone hurt you terrifies him.”
Her mother had said it as if he’d watched before, unable to do anything.
Her parents had always appeared young and never aged. She knew they were not mortal—always had, since she first understood what that meant—but she had an inkling they were much older than they let on. She knew they had been a part of the downfall of the tyrant god-king of Arcadia, Kronos, over half a century ago now. Kronos, who, she learned in a record keeping text, had died in dragon fire, marked, damned, and destroyed by a new god who had gone into the blaze with him.
She had only ever heard of Nyx’s mark damning souls. Nyx, the goddess of night, who she was named for and whose midnight magic mingled in her veins alongside a rising inferno she had never understood.
She had long suspected who her parents were, whoshewas. It was precisely why she did not tell them when she started to remember pieces of her dreams two seasons ago. They feared Arcadia, and rightfully so, but she did not want them to worry. She didn’t truly think she was in danger.
Heles snorted as Nya skirted past her enormous, dark-scaled body, curled in the shadows of the long-limbed trees just behind the house.
You are going somewhere.
The voice was not Heles’, but Thessilnn’s, who was much more awake, staring at Nya knowingly with opaque silver eyes.
“Yes,” Nya whispered. “It’s fine. I’ll be safe. Just tell them…tell them I’ll be hiking until later.”
Thessilnn huffed.They will be angry if they find out we lied.
“Then don’t let them find out.”
Heles yawned, but her raspy voice filled Nya’s mind next.Will you at least reassure us you can actually use the pathway we so kindly opened for you, little one?
Nya sighed.I will signal if I need something.
Thessilnn huffed, her breath stirring the leaves before she lowered her head to the ground. She shut her eyes, but as Nya walked past her, she spoke once more.
