A Curse of Blood & Stone (Fate & Flame 2)

“She was holding my ring as if she could read something from it. But she had it on her finger earlier and didn’t see anything.” I look to Gesine for an answer.

“Not at the time. I was dismayed, but something changed. She was obviously learning something from the caster’s affinities tied to it.”

“All I caught was nonsense. Did it mean anything to either of you?”

“There was much that wasn’t clear.” Gesine’s eyes are locked on a spot on the wagon’s floor, deep thought wrinkling her forehead. “‘Eternity, but only for a second.’ I have seen iterations of the same thing, and it has always meant one place. The Nulling. She was talking about someone who was trapped there for tempting Malachi.”

“It has to be Sofie’s husband.” But I already guessed as much. “And the flaming-haired demon—I’m pretty sure that’s Sofie.”

“So Sofie tempted Malachi, and the price was her husband.”

“Tempted him with what, though?”

“Whatever it was, it must not have worked out as planned, but that is always the case when you summon the fates.” Gesine bites her lip. “‘Centuries of suffering by his will.’ That’s what Ianca said.”

“Yeah, the key caster suffers.”

“You have surely suffered, but not for centuries.” Realization fills Gesine’s face with a soft gasp. “Of course. Malachi used one key caster to send another here.”

“You mean, Sofie is also a key caster?”

“An immortal one, like you, Romeria.”

My jaw hangs as I process this. Wendeline said I was the only one of my kind, as far as she knew, but that was in this world. “It would explain a lot. The odd way she spoke, as if she was from another era, the castle she lived in, and the comments about how long it’s been since she’s seen her husband, as if it had been decades.” Or more.

“She must have summoned Malachi to grant her that immortality, so she could avoid the change. And why risk a fate’s wrath, why choose to live an immortal life, if not for love? Which means her husband must have been immortal.”

“His name was Elijah. Is Elijah?” I picture the still form lying in what was essentially an open stone coffin, surrounded by statues of the fates. An altar to summon the god who banished him.

Zander isn’t often quiet, but now he says nothing as we try to make sense of Ianca’s ramblings.

Gesine purses her lips, studying the sleeping woman. “Perhaps we will get more out of her another night.”

I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep in the same wagon with them again after that, but I keep that thought to myself for now. There’s a bigger issue. “She said I wouldn’t have a choice. What did that mean? A choice about what?”

Gesine’s gaze flitters to Zander. “I cannot be sure.”

“I would not take much stock in it. She called me an angry nymph,” he mutters wryly.

“That’s because you were born on Hudem. You have their power in you. Right, Gesine?”

“That is correct, though none of you are actually nymphs.”

“Still, there’s a link to what she’s saying. It’s not complete nonsense.” Like all those crazy things my father said over the years, about demons walking among us, can probably be tied back to some reality. I always discounted his words; I won’t make that mistake again. “I think everything Ianca said until she opened her eyes was about Sofie, Elijah, and Malachi. We know Malachi wants me to open the nymphaeum door so he can rule, so he must want Sofie to be his queen.” I falter. “But how would Sofie get here?”

“Through the Nulling,” Gesine says matter-of-factly. “If Malachi were to banish her there as he has her husband, they could enter this world through a tear. It’s the only way.”

“And it would only tear if I try to open the door.”

“Try, or succeed. The Nulling will tear either way. It is a gift from the fates for anyone who wishes to release the nymphs from their boundaries. A snare to be triggered.”

“We know that for sure?”

“I am quite certain, yes.”

The pieces are slowly clicking together—noisily, disjointedly—but they are finding places that seem to fit. “What about Elijah? He’s in the Nulling too. If Sofie is to become queen, would he become king?” A terrible one, according to Ianca.

“Malachi would not go to this effort for someone else’s benefit.”

“This is all speculation,” Zander says, leveling Gesine with a glare.

My thoughts are moving too fast, though. “What if that’s what Ianca means about not having a choice? I keep saying I’m not going to open it, but what if she’s saying I’ll have to?”

“That is one way to interpret her words,” Gesine says.

“And what’s the other way?” Because I don’t see any but the version I spelled out.

“Everyone has a choice. You have a choice. And right now, that choice must be to focus your efforts on developing your skills, not on a seer’s nonsense.” Zander stands abruptly and heads for the exit. “It is time we move.”