Page 130 of Between Fear and Favor

The font had been a wellspring of life in Rhia’s memories. Brimming with moonfish and large enough to bathe in, it was a far cry from the trickling stream the Myriad had allowed it to become. But my own experience, when I drank and bound my soul to Rain’s, was everything I could have hoped for. Wistfully, I recalled that moment even as I continued down the endless spiral path into darkness. But the soft burble of water wasn’t only present in my thoughts.

I’d found the font. Which meant Iemis’s tomb must be close.

Pausing at the bottom of the steps, I allowed my eyes a moment to adjust. Because the staircase Rain and I had taken before was a different one, I didn’t know exactly where I was.

In the distance, the candlelit pathway from my memories twinkled like summer fireflies. If I wasn’t turned around, that meant the bubbling font we’d drank from was somewhere in between.

So where was Iemis’s tomb?

There was no sign of the Supreme, and my divinity sang within me. I wanted to use it, to hold my divine fire in my palm. To use my shadows to penetrate the cracks in the walls. To make the earth tremble and destroy this entire building. Or the entire city.

Perhaps if the Supreme and I both died, entrapped within an obsidian tomb of my making, there would be no future like Cyran had been shown. But how could I be certain the Supreme even was the Accursed? Perhaps that was the favor he sought from Iemis.

Startling, I whipped to face the low rumbling sound to my left, only barely stopping myself from summoning my divinity.

“The girl fell asleep on my lap,” the Supreme’s voice called—warm and almost friendly. It was unsettling how different that voice sounded to me, now that I knew what he was capable of. “Come and fetch her, would you, dear?”

A thin sliver of light emanated from what I thought was the cavern wall. Soft and blue-green, it was reminiscent of the pond from Rhia’s memories. Cautiously, I approached. The Supreme would hand the child to me, and then what?

I’d take her away from this place, certainly, but could I find Rain and come back before the Supreme did whatever he planned to do?

“Come, now. My legs are getting tired, and I can’t exactly carry her now.”

Because my dragon bit your arm off, you deranged ass,I thought. My heart hammered in my chest, and I did my best to soothe its wild beat. My ability to listen to heartbeats had always been like breathing, and the ability to coax and soothe the thunderous pounding had been like learning to speak. The use of a divinity I knew better than any other calmed the tempest beneath my skin, and I approached the crack with as much serenity as I was able to muster.

Blinking, I tried not to react as I stepped over the obsidian threshold.

Taller than I was, Iemis’s tomb sat in the middle of the smaller cavern. And fed by the source of the font, growing from tiny cracks within the stone and vining over the obsidian casket, were blooms.

Winterfrost roses had grown, devoid of sunlight, in the place where Iemis had been betrayed.

“They get rather heavy when they sleep, don’t they?” the Supreme asked, drawing my attention to where he sat on the lush greenery beside the burbling font. The Supreme ran a hand over the child’s hair, and I contained my nausea at seeing the kindly motion.

I only nodded, keeping my eyes averted. If I didn’t speak, the protection of the novice face covering would make me unrecognizable. It was possible I could finish this—once and for all. I couldn’t use my divinity in this pocket of obsidian, but if I could lure him out to where I had access to my gifts, I had a chance.

The little girl was sprawled comfortably across the Supreme’s lap. With dark hair and rounded cheeks, I wondered if her eyes were the Umbroth hazel like her half-sister. Hurrying forward, I scooped her into my arms, frowning at the cut on her arm. As she adjusted, I swayed to soothe her. It would be best if she continued to sleep.

Hastily, I backed out of the obsidian room before the Supreme could say anything more. I struggled to find the same staircase I’d walked down, not particularly eager to climb all those stairs again. And to what? Leave the child in a cell?

The stone door to Iemis’s tomb rumbled shut, and I cursed under my breath. Would I be able to find it again? Without a thought, I healed the cut on the child’s arm—realizing the Supreme had interpreted the sacrifice as some sort of bloodletting. It made sense, given how the forestborn created their wards. But I didn’t think that’s what Rhia had meant. Maybe that was why the font was so diminished. Though larger than I’d expected, it was still a far cry from the massive pond the goddess had shown me.

After a moment of indecision, I knew what I had to do. Not daring to open a rift directly into Veda’s home and endanger her in the process, I concentrated on the door I’d snuck through with the novices.

As smoke and heat billowed through the rift, I stumbled out, willing it to close before the Supreme heard the screams.

Chapter 57

RAINIER

After makingthree soldiers collapse in the street, I’d had to rift away before I was spotted. Though it truly didn’t matter anymore. Irses, the enormous dragon created from one of my favorite fucking memories, had decided to forgo all subtlety and announce his presence with ear-splitting roars.

Perhaps the council had a point about chaining them. We were lucky Lux hadn’t joined him in his haste to reach Em.

It was likely that before the Supreme had even left Lamera to attack Astana, he had prepared his city for dragon attack. He’d seen what Em had done to Folterra to rescue me and planned accordingly. The moment Irses was spotted in the sky, his soldiers vanished from the streets. From my new location, perched on a chimney a few streets south, I couldn’t tell where they all went at first. Until I let my gaze move upward. On the rooftops of buildings closest to the Seat, as yet untouched by my encroaching fire, the Supreme had set up ballistae. They had abandoned putting out fires for a new task: carrying massive dragon-killing spears to the soldiers manning those dangerous machines.

After what had been done to Ryo, I couldn’t bear the thought of witnessing such a thing again. An attack upon Irses would likely bring harm to Em as well.

I had to get Irses away from Lamera.

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