Page 52 of Mistress of Hours

Orion couldn’t see fully into the room, but he heard a rustle of movement. A Sangviere was rushing at them, a blast of red ice released in a split second. Evienne expertly dodged the icy blow as Orion shifted into his snow leopard form.

Before he had even finished shifting, blood-red flames filled Evienne’s palm. She didn’t hesitate, launching them at the other mage, who lost their balance dodging and fell to one knee. Evienne turned to glance at Orion, and he understood her need instinctually. He leapt from his position at her side, tackling the mage to the ground, pinning their shoulders with his massivepaws.This form, while still new to him, felt as natural as breathing.

Evienne approached, quickly summoning more fire, and asked the mage, “What are you doing down here?”

“It’s classified,” the mage said, grunting as they attempted to break free of Orion’s hold.

“I am your High Sangviere, and you will answer me,” Evienne said, her voice that of a commander, demanding obedience. This woman was a force of nature, and Orion thought that he would never tire of watching the way she moved through the world with such passion. It was no wonder her magic came to her as fire; it burned as brightly as her soul.

“I can’t tell you because I don’t know. Commander Malanois stations us down here in this little room, but I don’t know what’s past that second door, and she said she would hurt our families if we look,” the mage said, closing their eyes in resignation. Evienne’s features tightened.Orion felt his apprehension rising.

“If you don’t have details, we need you out of the way so we can look around.” She scanned the room for something they could use to restrain the mage, and found nothing. The tiny room was bare, save the door on the far side that the Sangviere had mentioned.

Evienne thought for a moment, then summoned what Orion recognized as one of the hard defensive shields the mages had used in the arena, but this one was the size of her hand and no larger. She shoved her hand forward, and the shield launched into motion, slamming into the other mage’s temple. They lay still, unconscious from the blow.

Evienne nodded and Orion returned to her side. She wasted no time; they were now on the clock.

She strode to the second door, feeling the lock on the door. She focused, sending her magic spearing into the mechanism,and the bolt flicked open. She pushed open the door without hesitating and her eyes widened at whatever she beheld.

Orion stepped up beside her and took in the sight. His blood ran cold at the sheerwrongnessof it. A choked sound broke from Evienne’s throat as she stared at the great red mass that sat on a low pedestal at the center of the chamber.

“What is that?” Orion asked, unable to keep the words from slipping from his mind into hers.

“It’s…” Evienne started, then stopped, swallowed. Her lip trembled, and a tear traced down the curve of her cheek as she turned to look at him. He had never seen her so distressed; he knew this had to be something truly evil.

“It’s alive, Orion—so many lives, so much stolen time, all tangled and forced together,” her voice broke. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Chapter Forty

It was toomuch.

It was too much, and too wrong, and the scent of cloves scorched her throat as she heaved in air, desperately trying to get her feelings under control.Whatever this was, it was so much worse than anything she could have imagined.

Orion stood by her, his furry body pressed against her hip in support. She put her hand on his massive feline head, digging her fingers into his thick coat, grounding herself in the sensation against her fingertips.

She lifted her eyes again to the monstrosity sitting across from her. The red mass pulsed with energy, solid but not, shifting under her gaze. It sat on a low silver pedestal, and thick copper wires came from above the mass to connect to the base.

She didn’t know how she could tell, but she knew without a doubt that dark magic had been used to create this abomination. It called to her power, her senses picking up the horrible thing as if it were many living beings crowded into this small room.

Evienne, for once, had no idea what to do. They had found this awful secret, whatever it was, but she still didn’t understand how everything connected. It was too risky to do something rash like destroy thisthing—no matter how awful it was. They needed to understand the implications.

In spite of her horror, Evienne ran the logical choices through her mind, calculating possible outcomes, pitfalls. After a moment she decided the best option to mitigate risks was to simply walk away. They had seen it; they knew what Dominique and Aldith were hiding down here. They knew Léhiona’s bindingwas connected somehow, and they suspected it would all lead to understanding what Ichorna had done with the Tuanadair’s magic. But right now, they needed to get out of here and regroup.

“What are we going to do about the Sangviere?”Orion asked into Evienne’s mind.

“I think it’s time to put my Contrapensae gifts to the test, and see if my memory walking can get us out of this bind,” she responded, steadying herself now that she had a purpose.

“We’ll deal with the mage, and then we need to get out of here for now,” she said quietly to Orion. He shifted back into his human form and took her hand, squeezing lightly in encouragement.Evienne was grateful to have him by her side in this moment.

They stepped back into the entry room and found the other Sangviere still unconscious. Evienne stepped up to them and focused, spearing her mind toward them and focusing on her own face as an anchor to the memory she sought. Suddenly, she was looking at herself through the other Sangviere’s eyes, fire in her palm and cold determination on her face.

Time moved slowly as Evienne took control of the moment; she acted on instinct, her will pulling at the corners of the memory. It began to peel back, disintegrating as Evienne pushed, focusing on emptiness, darkness. Slowly the scene before her fell to dust and only all-encompassing darkness remained.

She retreated then, thinking of her own mind from where she stood in the nothingness, her own seconds ticking away. Her eyes opened and she was back in her own body, staring down at the still unconscious mage.

“I think I did it,” she whispered to Orion. “I think I stole the memory,” Evienne said with a tinge of horror on her face. She didn’t know what the Contrapensae had seen in her to make her worthy of these abilities, but she was quite glad there were notmany others with the same magic. Orion only said, “Good, now let’s get out of here before anyone else sees us.”

They retraced their steps through the facility, barely making a sound. Evienne’s mind swirled with all that she had seen, that horriblethingbeneath them. She knew they had to pull on this thread until the whole miserable truth unraveled.

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