Page 77 of Children of Fallen Gods

“Perhaps hybrid approaches. Valtain and Solarie and Fey magics, all manipulated until they become something that is all and none of them at once.” Her eyebrow twitched. “A fourth type that we’ve yet to fully uncover.”

A fourth magic. Like Reshaye. Like the magic that it had left inside of me.

“Even if such a thing did exist,” I said, “a typical human wouldn’t be able to Wield it. Just as a Valtain can’t Wield Solarie magic, and vice versa.”

“It would need to come from somewheredeep.They certainly would run a significant risk of going insane or contracting a nasty case of A’Maril.”

A’Maril — magic toxicity sickness. A fucking awful way to die.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible,” Eomara went on. “Very few things are, actually, when you have a little vision.”

I scoffed. I didn’t need “vision.” I had seen plenty and could imagine much worse. Besides, Eomara’s problem had alwaysbeenher vision. She had too much of it, and many people in the Orders did not like the specters that lingered in its shadows. She had never gotten the support, neither moral nor financial, for her research. Still, she was one of the most brilliant people I’d ever met.

Now she leaned back in her chair, taking another long sip of wine, clearly deep in delighted thought about all the possibilities I had laid out.

“I suspect,” she said, “that if one were to do it, it would simply be a matter of cost.”

“Cost?”

“All magic requires energy. Obvious to anyone who’s ever done it, yes?”

“Certainly.”

“Thus, we already have an established truth in this: magic has a cost. Imagine, then, a spell with an exponentially high cost. Instead of just giving you a bad headache, when the spell executes, it demandslife force. Enough of it to kill someone. It isn’t binary, you see. The difference between life and death isn’t a line, it’s a chasm. And a spell like this would have to pull from deep within the levels of magic, down where the rules aren’t as clear.”

She lapsed into thought.

“It’s a little sickening, isn’t it? What a gruesome idea. Such a spell would have incredible cost to create. Imagine sacrificing that much of yourself just to drag another soul back with you when you go.”

Imagine indeed.

My mouth had gone dry. I had come here with the wild hope that Eomara would tell me it couldn’t be done. If Eomara said that something was impossible, it truly wasimpossible. But even when I walked through this door, a part of me knew that would be too easy. She was only giving voice to what I already knew and didn’t want to believe.

“So how would one break it?” I asked, and Eomara’s eyebrows lurched.

“What a question indeed. How does one break a blood pact?”

I let out a puff of air through my teeth, and Eomara chuckled.

“Exactly. Not impossible, but damned difficult. You’re better off trying to find a way to maneuver around the chains than gnaw your own arm off.”

Perhaps my unease was clear across my face, because Eomara frowned and leaned forward.

“Tell me, Max, is this really just theoretical?”

I was silent. Perhaps that was answer enough for her.

“I’m sorry that I do not have a clearer answer for you,” she said. “Perhaps you should consider visiting Vardir.”

My gaze snapped back to her. “Absolutely not.”

“I know that you disapprove of his tactics, but…”

“Disapprove of his—” I let out a scoff, shaking my head. “Unbelievable.”

She shrugged. “Just a suggestion. He would know more about this than me.”

“Is that miserable lunatic even stillalive?”

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