Page 108 of Daughter of No Worlds

Nura cleared her throat, still glaring at Zeryth. “As I was saying…we are looking at a situation that could be as deadly as the last Ryvenai war.”

“Nura and I both fought in that war. Neither of us with to relive the things we saw or experienced.” The edge in Zeryth’s voice was gone as quickly as it had come. “I’m sure that Maxantarius has expressed similar sentiments.”

I didn’t even like the way Max’s name sounded on Zeryth’s lips. “That is terrible. But I do not understand how it involves me.”

Zeryth leaned forward, smirking. “I told you we were testing you.”

“For admission to the Orders.” I had to fight to keep my voice level.

“For something more than that.”

I thought of the things that had never made sense before. Their insistence that I march on Tairn. The incisions where Willa had taken my blood. Nura’s unusual interest in me. My strange evaluations.

But I refused to let my expression change. “Then what?”

Nura and Zeryth exchanged a look. The smile stilled in Zeryth’s eyes even as it clung to his mouth.

“To wield a weapon,” Nura said.

And when Zeryth turned back to me, that smile was back in full, dazzling force, light glistening on his teeth. “Tobea weapon,” he corrected. “A weapon powerful enough to save both our country and yours.”

I only blinked.

I had so many questions. They danced in front of my face in such a morass that I couldn’t close my fingers around just one.

I decided on, “What sort of weapon?”

“It is a form of raw magic,” Nura answered. “It is many times more powerful than any natural power of any Wielder that walks Ara, or beyond. Even rivaling the power of the extinct Fey.”

“Powerful enough,” Zeryth added, “to end a war before it begins. Without it, the Great Ryvenai War would have gone on far longer and far bloodier than it did.”

“Bea weapon?” I echoed.

Surely, I had misunderstood that — didn’t I?

“Yes. It will become a part of you.” Zeryth said this so casually, as if we were discussing the weather. “Just as your own magic flows through your veins. But… more.”

Oh, is that all?

“Forever?”

“No. It can, and will, be removed.”

“Why do you needmeto wield it?” I didn’t understand. Why would they entrust me with something that was, supposedly, so powerful? Why would they want a Fragmented foreigner to come end their war?

Nura shifted in her seat. Then rose, as if she couldn’t help herself, her arms crossed over her chest. “It is very… selective about its hosts.”

Selective?Host?

“You talk about it as if it is a person.”

“All magic chooses its Wielder in a sense,” Zeryth said, casually, in what struck me as a very deliberate non-answer.

“But if it was used before,” I asked, “then why do you need another Wielder?”

Nura had begun pacing again. “Our last host is no longer a willing participant.”

There was just something about the way she said it—

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