“Sir Emmerick, you are safe in my home,” I reassured him. “I am committed to helping her, our Queen.” My words were flat but heartfelt.
“You are sure?” He eyed me. “You don’t sound sure.”
“That is just how I sound.”
A wide smile spread across the Commander’s face—any attempt to match it would be feeble. Instead, I allowed the corners of my mouth to rise ever so slightly.
“But it sounds like I have a curse to break,” I added. “I need a night to research binding curses. We must prepare for whatever magic ties the warlock to those woods. So if you agree not to put those cuffs on me in my sleep, then I agree not to turn you into a newt. Deal?”
His cheeks grew rosy for a moment before his smile faded.
“That was a joke, Sir Emmerick.” Clearly, it hadn’t landed. Interacting with people wasexhausting.
Emmerick nodded, but only a fraction of his smile returned—I missed the rest of it. He seemed kinder than the men who had ambled into the tower’s clearing before him. I shuddered at the thought of those other men’s hungry gazes.
“Guest quarters are upstairs. You can roam the tower, but don’t open any books.”
He looked confused, as I turned and headed for the library.
“My lady?” He stopped me.
I corrected, “Asterie.”
“Asterie, do you think it will work—Queen Sybilla’s plan?”
“I have seen no paths where Luz remains standing.” I’d conjured no paths in weeks.
But that was for me alone to know. If we left the next morning, I could narrowly avoid the next Sisterhood meeting and having to tell them. Despite every rule I was breaking, it felt right.
Emmerick’s face fell.
Wanting to comfort him, I added, “But meeting you isn’t a path I’ve foreseen either. So maybe, Sir Emmerick, we have some hope.”
I left the room, unnerved by my inclination to give him false hope in order to appease his worries—such a stupid mortal thing to do.
* * *
Binding curses were fickle magic.I thought back to the first time Firose had told me about them.
It was my eighteenth birthday. I wasfinallyof age to join the Sisterhood’s ranks officially. Firose invited me to tea in her study after our weekly meeting, my first ever. No one was allowed in Firose’s study—it was always off-limits. Which was why I was so surprised she’d invited me there.
When I entered, Firose pulled me into a warm embrace—warmth she rarely extended—and her eyes beamed with pride as she drew me in. She stroked the back of my head like I was prized. My heart swelled under her affection.
“Your strength knows no bounds, young Asterie. Welcome to the Sisterhood—you will be our strongest.”
She peeled herself away from me, rounded her desk and motioned for me to sit across from her.
Her study was large, and gilded windows spanned up to the ceiling. Sunshine leaked across every pore of the lavish marble, making me want to draw my feet away from its rays.
Every detail was manicured. Plush pillows topped tufted yellow sofas, and a tea set of the finest gold sat on her desk. It could be a throne room—not that I’d ever seen a throne aside from in books.
“This is usually when we would have your portraits drawn and sent to the courts…a time when you would be presented to the Court of Luz. But my dear, we’ve decided something…”
Reeling in excitement to finally see the courts and leave those towers, I sat at the edge of my seat.
“The people, they should know you for what you are—their Central Enchantress, a legend amongst us, the receiver of a grand miracle from the stars. Sister of the Stars…” She spoke wistfully.
My hands were tightly clasped in my lap. I didn’t like where this was going. I was no more a legend than any of the other Sisters.
