Ti?
Find me in the threads,his voice was quiet, distant.
There were so many... Gods, there had to be hundreds of them swirling in different patterns and connecting in different places…
The golden thread in the magnificent knot glowed brighter as a bit of onyx slipped loose from the knot and shot down, as if it were diving in an endless ocean. It sank, farther and farther, until a bang sounded from below.
Bang. Louder this time, a fist pounding against a locked door.
Bang. Louder, more fists pounding.
Bang. Louder, as hundreds, thousands… Perhapsmillionsof fists beat in unity against the door in the deep, creating a chorus of drum-like thunder echoing in this universe of threads.
What inTynan’s Hell?I had to get out of here.
I forced my attention back to the gold, and I reached for it. My fingers seemed far away, as if I wasn’t wholly in control of them. The gold began to glow, and I strained, trying with all my might to get my fingertips on it. As soon as my skin slipped into the light, the threads went out.
Darkness swallowed me, the smooth stone floor of the pool pressed against my feet, and warm water lapped at my legs. The cool mist from the ascending water tickled my arms, and I blinked. Dim blue light returned, illuminating the ring of rising water around me. Above, a soft gray and blue cloud loomed where it met the ring of water.
I sloshed out of the ring of water, heading back to the winding staircase and through the arches where the rivers flowed in.
Where are you?I probed into the thread that connected me to Tiberius. It now seemed so obvious. This bond with him.My mind bounced between feeling as if I’d learned all I ever needed to know, yet walking away with unclear answers. Bayne’s thread…
Ti’s reply reached me as I toweled off.
We need to get back. It’s been two hours.
Blacker than the night that had spread through the mighty forest, Tiberius’s hulking form wound through the wide leaves and snaking vines that hung across the trees, wings tucked in tight.
Shit. I yanked my pants on as fast as I could, the fur-lined leather sticking against my sweaty legs in the muggy night. I mounted Tiberius, and he made his way to the clearing we’d arrived in. I could barely keep my mind leashed to my body as I unloaded everything I’d seen to Tiberius.
The temperature plummeted as we surged higher, and I hastily laced up my jacket, pulling the extra leather flap across and buttoning it down my side. We leveled out above the silky clouds drifting down from the north, bringing with them a smattering of rain.
The death of the Lady of Tomorrow had something to do with a Bellator, Ti said as we talked through what I’d seen, tiny bits of ice biting at my cheeks as we flew through the thick clouds.
Or simply a Bellator power,I said.But how?And which one?
Not Bayne’s, if the one with the braided thread didn’t illuminate,Ti murmured.
I shook my head in agreement. That braided thread…
“Oh, my gods,” I said aloud, my heart swelling in realization. “I know what his thread is.”
