Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive 4)

He began to vibrate energy through her. You were so clever, Venli, tricking Nale. This is going to work. You and me. This bond.

“But … a war?”

I don’t care why Nale thought we should attack the king, Ulim said. It has given me a seed of an idea. It’s not his plan, but your plan we’re following. We came here to make your people see how dangerous the humans are. But they are foolish, and you are wise. You can see how much of a threat they are. You need to show them.

“Yes,” Venli said. That was her plan.

Ulim slipped into her gemheart.

The humans are planning to betray you, Ulim said. A Herald confirmed it. We must strike at them first.

“And in so doing, make our people desperate,” Venli said. “When the humans retaliate, it will threaten our destruction. Yes … Then I could persuade the listeners they need forms of power. They must accept our help, or be annihilated.”

Exactly.

“A war would … likely mean the deaths of thousands,” Venli said, attuning Anxiety. The rhythm felt small and weak. Distant. “On both sides.”

Your people will be restored to their true place as rulers of this entire land, Ulim said. Yes, blood will spill first. But in the end you will rule, Venli. Can you pay this small price now, for untold glories in the future?

If it meant being strong enough to never again be weak? Never again feeling as small as she had today?

“Yes,” she said, attuning Destruction. “What do we do?”

So, words. Why words, now? Why do I write?

Shallan hurried into the room she shared with Adolin, putting the strange experience with Sixteen behind her. No need to think about … that other spren. The Cryptic deadeye. Stay focused, and don’t let Radiant slip out again.

Pattern shadowed her, closing the door with a click. “Aren’t you supposed to be meeting with Adolin right now?”

“Yes,” Shallan said, kneeling beside the bed and pulling out her trunk. “That makes this the best time to contact Mraize, as we don’t risk Adolin walking in on us.”

“He will wonder where you are.”

“I’ll make it up to him later,” Shallan said, unlocking the trunk and looking in.

“Veil?” Pattern said, walking up.

“No, I’m Shallan.”

“Are you? You feel wrong, Shallan. Mmm. You must listen. I did use the cube. I have a copy of the key to your trunk. Wit helped me.”

“It’s no matter,” Shallan said. “Done. Over. Don’t care. Let’s move on and—”

Pattern took her hands, kneeling beside her. His pattern, once so alien to her eyes, was now familiar. She felt as if by staring at its shifting lines, she could see secrets about how the world worked. Maybe even about how she worked.

“Please,” Pattern said. “Let me tell you. We don’t have to talk about your past; I was wrong to try to force you. Yes, I did take the cube. To talk to Wit. He has a cube like it too, Shallan! He told me.

“I was so worried about you. I didn’t know what to do. So I went to him, and he said we could talk with the cube, if I was worried. Mmm … About what was happening with you. He said I was very funny! But when I talked to him last, he warned me. He’s been spied on by the Ghostbloods. The things I told him, another heard. That was how Mraize knew things.”

“You talked to Wit,” Shallan whispered. “And a spy overheard? That … That means…”

“None of your friends are traitors,” Pattern said. “Except me! Only a little though! I am sorry.”

No spy. And Pattern …

Was this another lie? Was she getting so wrapped up in them that she couldn’t see what was true? She gripped his too-long hands. She wanted so badly to trust again.

Your trust kills, Shallan, the dark part of her thought. The part she named Formless. Except it wasn’t formless. She knew exactly what it was.

For now, she retreated—and released Veil and Radiant. Veil immediately took control and gasped, putting her hand to her head. “Storms,” she whispered. “That was a … strange experience.”

“I have made things worse,” Pattern said. “I am very foolish.”

“You tried to help,” Veil said. “But you should have come to me. I’m Veil, by the way. I could have helped you.”

Pattern hummed softly. Veil got the sense that he didn’t trust her completely. Well, she wasn’t certain she trusted her own mind completely, so there was that.

“There’s a lot to think about in what you said,” Veil said. “For now, please don’t keep anything more from us. All right?”

Pattern’s pattern slowed, then quickened, and he nodded.

“Great.” Veil took a deep breath. Well, that was over.

Who killed Ialai? Shallan whispered from inside.

Veil hesitated.

Perhaps Pattern was the one who moved the cube all those times, Shallan said. And he’s the reason Mraize knew about the seed we planted about the corrupted spren. But someone killed Ialai. Who was it?

Storms. There was more to this mess. A lot more. Veil, however, needed time to digest it. So for now, she put all of that aside and picked up the communication cube. She repeated the incantation. “Deliver to me Mraize, cube, and transfer my voice to him.”

It took longer this time than others; she didn’t know what the difference was. She sat there some ten minutes before Mraize finally spoke.

“I trust you have only good news to report, little knife,” his voice said.

“It’s bad news—but you’re getting it anyway,” she said. “This is Veil, with Pattern here. We’ve eliminated the final human in Lasting Integrity from consideration. Either Restares has learned to disguise himself beyond my ability to spot him, or he’s not here.”

“How certain are you of this?” Mraize said, calm. She’d never seen him get upset at bad news.

“Depends,” she said. “Like I said, he could have disguised himself. Or maybe your intel is wrong.”

“It’s possible,” Mraize admitted. “Communication between realms is difficult, and information travels slowly. Have you asked if any humans left the fortress recently?”

“They claim the last human who left was five months ago,” she said. “But that was Azure, not Restares. I know her. I’ve described our quarry to several honorspren, but they say the description is too vague, and that many humans look alike to them. I’m inclined to think they’re telling the truth. They completely neglected to mention that Sixteen—the person I’ve spent the last few days planning to intercept—was Shin.”

“Troubling,” Mraize said.

“You’ve been vague in your answers to me,” Veil said. “Let me ask clearly. Could Restares have become a Lightweaver? Cryptics have different requirements for bonding than most Radiants.”

“I highly doubt Restares would have joined any Radiant order,” Mraize said. “It’s not in his nature. I suppose, however, that we can’t discount the possibility. There are variations on Lightweaving in the cosmere that do not require a spren—plus the Honorblades exist and are poorly tracked these days, even by our agents.”