Page 107 of Sanctuary of the Shadow
“Eight hours?” Harrow snorted a laugh despite herself. “Nashira is something else.”
“I know. Darya was as incredulous as me. But she refused to take us anywhere or do anything before then, so we didn’t have much choice. Darya left and did some more scrying before she finally agreed. So yeah, basically we had tea for eight hours until suddenly, Nashira jumps up and says, ‘Time to go!’ But I wouldn’t let her take us anywhere without first figuring out exactly what Darya was planning. I swear, Harrow, I didn’t want Raith hurt any more than you did. I told Darya over and over you’d never forgive her if something happened to him, even if he tried to kill you. I told her that to protect you, she had to find a way to save Raith.”
Harrow should’ve known better than to doubt her best friend for even a second. Mal always had her back in all things, no matter what.
“So finally, we made a plan that we all agreed on, though Nashira acted like that had been her idea all along, of course. We would jump to wherever you were—Darya figured that out by scrying—and Darya would use her magic to capture Raith as she’d done before. This time it would be a lot harder, since he wasn’t weakened, but she also had years of experience and knew what worked and what didn’t.”
“Years of experience torturing him,” Harrow murmured.
Mal’s mouth twisted. “So that’s what we did. We jumped. I passed out again, of course, but only for a moment, since Raith was literally seconds from ripping out your throat and I had good motivation to stay awake. Harrow—” Her voice hitched, her eyes filling with tears, though, in typical Malaikah fashion, she didn’t allow any to spill. “I was so scared for you. I thought we were too late. I thought he was going to kill you.”
“He wasn’t,” Harrow insisted. “He was fighting the compulsion.”
“Whatever the case, Darya freaked and just kind of…exploded. I’ve never seen magic like that before. The clearing just lit up, and that rain and wind…” She shook her head. “It was like we were in the middle of a cyclone made of Water magic.”
“I’d never seen anything like it, either.” Just remembering the stark terror Harrow had felt for Raith made her shiver.
“And you know the rest. Darya caught Raith in her magic trap, and when the storm died, both of them were gone, along with Nashira. I reckon Nashira jumped them back to Castle Vari.”
“To do what? Figure out a way to kill Raith?”
“No! Haven’t you been listening to anything I’m saying? She’s going to figure out a way to embody him again.”
“She…what?” Harrow blinked, certain she had heard incorrectly.
“She’s going to repeat what she did last time and create a new body for him. That way he’ll be free of the vows he made to Furie.”
Harrow’s heart started to pound. “How do I know she’ll actually do it? How can I trust she won’t just try to kill him like last time?”
“She told me you’d ask that. And she told me to tell you that when she completes the embodiment, there will be another magical explosion, and, like last time, Raith will be transported to the land of his origins. She told me to tell you that, just like before, she won’t be able to kill him before the embodiment, and she won’t have a chance to kill him afterward before he ends up in the South.”
Harrow considered this. It was true—while Raith was incorporeal, Darya had been unable to kill him, even with all her considerable power. And once she had finally made him corporeal, he’d been transported to the South, out of Darya’s reach. It was the only reason he was still alive, in fact.
She didn’t have to put any faith in Darya. She just had to make sure she beat her to finding Raith wherever he ended up.
There was just one problem. “How do I know she won’t keep Raith imprisoned in Castle Vari forever instead of embodying him?”
Malaikah chuckled. “She told me you’d ask that too. Amazing.”
Harrow scowled. “It’s hardly a great stretch of the imagination to guess I wouldn’t trust her.”
“She told me to tell you it takes considerable power to keep Raith imprisoned, and she can’t afford to waste any on keeping him any longer than she absolutely has to with Furie breathing down her neck. She said it was ‘time to do what she should’ve done fifty years ago.’ Whatever that means.”
“She’s planning to go against Furie?” Harrow shook her head. “Look where that got her last time.”
“Yeah. But I think she’s planning something different this time. She and Nashira were whispering for hours while we were waiting to go after you. I think they’re planning something together.”
“Hm.” Harrow found she didn’t particularly care what happened to Furie. She’d lost too much, suffered too much, to want anything except a little slice of happiness for herself and Raith. “I still don’t trust Da—”
“She told me to tell you, if you had any further doubts after I explained all that, to turn to the Water. She said, ‘the Water will guide you rightly,’ or some Seer mumbo jumbo.”
“It’s not mumbo jumbo.”
“Whatever. But you know what to do. You can rest here and trust that everything will be taken care—”
“I need to gather my scrying materials immediately.”
Malaikah sighed. “There’s no rush—”
