Page 61 of Beds and Blades

“Yes.”

I stared at her.

“Of course she did.”

Caen’s brow lifted.

“Sorry. Continue.”

“There are others. Some became scholars. Some healers. Some queens, though not all by marriage. Some disappeared from the records after only a few lines, which does not mean they were unimportant. History is often written by people who fail to notice the important details.”

That, I thought, was the first truly universal principle I had heard since arriving.

“What did they have in common?” I asked.

For the first time since I had met her, Caen looked nervous.

“They came with knowledge Mytharo needed,” she said. “Or capability. Or a way of seeing a problem that this world could not produce from within itself.”

I went still.

“And?”

“And they were not whole where they came from.” Her voice softened, but did not become gentle. Caen did not seem like a woman who confused gentleness with kindness. “They were burning, and with nowhere to put the flame.”

The room seemed to tilt slightly around that sentence.

I thought of Philadelphia. My thesis. My expired engagement. My list hidden under the world’s most boring file name. The strange, shameful ache of wanting a life larger than the one everyone had agreed was perfectly adequate.

“You are saying Mytharo needed them,” I said. “And they needed Mytharo?”

“Yes.”

“That is very convenient.”

“It is,” she said. “But the bridge is not random. It answers need. You did not arrive in some unknown place, Meghan. You arrived somewhere that needs you.” Her voice lowered. “And Mytharo has something you need.”

“More on that,” I said. “Now.”

Caen’s pendant pulsed once. A steady blue-white glow, as if the thing itself had decided to pay attention.

“The mages at Sanctumspire have been working to strengthen the connection between our worlds for three generations,” she said.

My stomach tightened.

“Define strengthen.”

“Make the crossing more possible.”

I waited.

“They cannot summon a specific woman. The bridge does not work that way. And if it did, the theology would not permit it.”

“That is very comforting, except for all the remaining parts.”

Caen gave me a look that suggested she agreed.

“What they have done is make the door more permeable. Create conditions under which certain women may find their way through.”