Page 105 of Master of Storms
Wiping her hands dry, Klara pressed her lips tightly together. Her head turned toward Solveig, and she could see the other woman’s nostrils flaring. Unease filled her expression.
Two strangedrekiin her home, one of them the son of her sister’s killer.
“Here,” Solveig said, bringing Klara’s chair around. “Let me finish your dishes if you like, while Marduk asks you some questions. I promise we intend you no harm. We’re here because we’re afraid that the queen you despise is haunting us….”
“Haunting you?” the older woman barked. “That’s impossible.”
“Sit. Please,” Marduk said. “Let me explain.”
The pair of them sat as Solveig crossed to the sink.
“What do you mean?” Klara insisted, behind her. “The queen died. The Blackfrost killed her. I poured wine on my sister’s grave to celebrate her killer’s death.”
“My mother died, yes. But….” And then Marduk told her about the young girl who’d died in theZinihallways, and now their suspicions about Kirstin’s death. He told her about the soulstones, though he didn’t mentionhowthey knew it.
After all, someone must have helped Draco put that dagger in his brother.
“We need to know if it is possible,” he said. “Could my mother’s spirit have somehow survived? Could she have bound her spirit to one of the jewels in her necklace?”
“The emerald necklace was broken, you say?” Klara sucked in a sharp breath as Solveig washed a cup.
“Yes.”
“There is an ancient rite,” Klara whispered, “about transferring one’s essence into an object. It was somewhat akin to astral projection, but instead of being tethered to a body, you became tethered to an object. They called itkunuk la’atzu. A prison for the soul. It was meant to be a punishment, but somedrekirealized they could hide their spirits in order to avoid certain sentences, and then it became corrupted by those who performed darker magics. There was one case, in Persia, where thedrekiinvolved tethered himself to one of the jewels inlaid in a lamp. A stupid, foolish boy stole the lamp and thedrekispirit consumed him.”
“Consumed him?” Marduk asked sharply.
Solveig’s hands stilled in the sink.
“An object cannot affect the natural world, not even with a spirit inside it, but if someone willingly picks up that object…. Alldrekihave a spark of Chaos within them—the goddess herself. If the spirit comes into proximity with anotherdreki, and they are able to feed undetected upon that spark of magic within them, they may use it to take control of thedreki’sbody. The problem is, in order to be able to sustain themselves, they need more magic. They will consume others, drinking their magic down until there is not even a spark left in the other’s body. It always ends badly.”
“My gods,” Marduk breathed. “Sheisstill here. That’s what she’s doing. She’s killing others in order to strengthen herself.”
“Her spirit cannot float free,” Klara warned. “She must be hidden within someone. Someone must have picked up the emerald necklace she tethered herself to, and then she tethered herself tothem.”
“But who?” Solveig demanded.
Because it had to be someone within theZiniparty.
Klara hesitated. “The spirit’s hunger is strong, but the will of the spirit who inhabits a body will naturally be stronger. It would take many moons of subtle manipulation in order to control them. Or they may still be riding along, their host completely unaware of what’s inside them. There’s also the possibility that the spirit may have latched onto onedreki, and then slipped into someone else. Someone with stronger magic.”
“Is there any way we can know?” Solveig asked, wiping her hands dry.
“Sudden changes in personality are the best means of detection,” Klara said. “It depends on how much the spirit knows about thedrekithey’re riding.”
A sudden noise echoed outside—it sounded like someone kicked a bucket over.
Solveig’s hand went to her knife.
They weren’t supposed to be here. They’d taken great pains not to be seen entering the Chaos-wielders village, and Viveka had made it clear that irritating Klara would be considered a trespass.
“What was that?” Marduk breathed.
“Stay here,” Solveig told Klara. “We’ll see who it was.”
They circled the hut, and by the time they met at the front door, she was on edge.
“Nothing,” she breathed as Marduk slipped toward her.
