Chapter 41 Lena
FORTY-ONE
LENA
So far, everything was going to plan.
Lena had waited until Dimas’s threads were at the farthest end of the prayer chamber before slamming her elbow into Ioseph’s temple.
The guard now lay crumpled on the floor beside her, the steady rise and fall of his chest the only thing keeping Lena’s guilt at bay.
A bruise was already starting to form at his temple, but his breathing was strong, his threads still bright.
She just had to trust that meant he’d survive.
With one final glance around to make sure she was alone, Lena began making her way back to the main hall.
There had been no sign of Casimir when she’d arrived, and with the guards stationed at the front entrance, there was a high chance the smuggler hadn’t been able to get inside.
If that was the case, then her plan was ruined.
The priests would put her in chains for what she was about to do to their empire.
Her pace slowed as the door to the main hall came into view.
There were still a half dozen sets of threads on the other side, their energy strong.
With her still-limited knowledge on how to wield the Fateweaver’s power, Lena couldn’t tell if they were awake; she just had to trust Casimir had done his job.
Moving as quietly as she was able to against the echoing stone, Lena pressed her ear against the door.
There were no sounds on the other side. No footsteps or murmured voices.
The fingers of her free hand closed around the cool metal of the handle, and with one small push, the door gave way with a gentle click.
“It’s about time.”
Casimir stood near the church altar, the ground around him littered with sleeping priests, and as Lena scanned their still forms, the absence of Brother Dunstan constricted her lungs.
“The High Priest, he—”
“—is sleeping safely in his private study. Don’t worry; I got them all.” Casimir’s smile did little to ease Lena’s tension. “What about you? Everything alright?”
“Fine. Ioseph went down easy.” She sucked in a breath, heart thundering in her chest. This was it. There was no going back from here. “Maia and Finaen?”
“Safe. I told both of them you wanted to meet in the old courtyard, and then told them to wait just inside the tunnels until you and I came back for them. Finaen was … less than agreeable,” Casimir said. “I’m afraid I had to drug him.”
Sisters, he would be furious. But there was no point in worrying about it; what was done was done. “He’ll get over it. Are you ready to do this?”
Casimir gave a single nod, the only assurance she needed. Wordlessly, Casimir slid another vial into her hand, his fingers lingering against her palm just a fraction longer than necessary. “You’ll only have a few minutes before the effects kick in.”
Lena curled her fingers around the cool glass, watching the green-tinted liquid of the enhancement potion Casimir had drafted sloshing around within.
So much of her plan relied on Casimir, a man she’d run from after he’d seen who she truly was.
Maybe showing someone your true self isn’t always a bad thing, Mada, she thought, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat.
Maybe it’s okay to let your guard down sometimes.
If she’d done so sooner, maybe Finaen and Maia would have been more prepared for what had happened with the korupted.
Or maybe Finaen would have shown his true colors sooner, and he’d have betrayed her long before she ever became Wyrecia’s next Fateweaver.
Or maybe none of it would have made a fates-damned difference, and she’d have still ended up in this church hall. Either way, there was no use dwelling on it now.
Casimir was uncharacteristically silent as he lifted her hand. His eyes never wavering from hers, he turned her palm upward. Pressed the blade against her flesh.
“Do it,” she whispered, breath ruffling the stray curls around Casimir’s jaw.
The smuggler didn’t hesitate. He drew the blade across her palm in one sharp motion.
A hiss escaped her lips at the sharp sting of pain, her magic surging in response.
Dimas’s consciousness pushed at the edges of her own, and just like she had in that abandoned town in the Frozen Wastes, Lena let him in.
Lenora? His panicked voice echoed through her mind, and Lena let him see as she pushed Casimir away from her, her lips curling in disgust.
There was a flash of panic, of fear. Enough for Lena to know Dimas had seen what she wanted him to. And then Lena pushed him back out of her mind.
Casimir was standing a few feet away from her, bloodied blade still in hand. He might have appeared menacing if it wasn’t for the look in his eyes, the one that told Lena he wanted nothing more than to check if she was alright.
“It worked,” she said, uncorking the vial with shaking fingers. “He’s on his way here.”
She downed the vial in one, the bitter taste of ingredients she didn’t recognize burning the back of her throat.
Lena snatched the blade from Casimir. “Hide,” she said. The intensity of Dimas’s panic was already getting closer. They didn’t have long. “I’ll act as if I managed to get the blade away from you.”
She didn’t want Casimir any closer to the emperor than necessary. The potion was already starting to enhance her second sight, causing the web of threads around him to brighten. She couldn’t afford the distraction of them. Not when everything counted on focusing on Dimas.
Casimir hesitated for half a second before ducking behind one of the pillars, fading from sight just as the door she’d come through minutes before creaked open.
Lena pressed a hand to the cut on her arm, eyes wide as she made a show of whirling toward the door, bloodied blade raised.
She lowered it slightly when Dimas stepped out of the shadows, forcing her expression to soften in what she hoped looked like relief.
It must have been convincing enough, because he closed the space between them in a few hurried strides, Ioseph’s sword clutched tightly in his hands.
The potion was now in full effect, turning the emperor’s usually see-through threads as solid as the ground beneath her feet.
It was like when she’d channeled the magic in the chamber door, except whereas that had felt like standing too close to a fire, this felt like being inside of it.
“What happened?” he asked, gaze dropping to the slice on her hand. The ritual instructions had said she needed to make contact with him if she wanted to see the thread that bound them, so Lena made a show of looking at him in fear as he closed the space between them. “Where’s Korvus? Did he—”
Lena didn’t let him finish. The second he was within touching distance, she dropped the blade to the ground and lunged, grabbing for his hands as if they were a rope in the middle of a snowstorm.
The church hall fell away the moment their skin made contact, ancient stone replaced with an all-consuming darkness.
And in the center of it all, encasing them in a web of shimmering silver light, were threads.
Not just Dimas’s, but her own, bright and humming with power.
It was the first time she’d seen them. The first time she’d felt like she could control them.
This was the moment she harnessed her freedom.
The moment she took the first step toward her mother’s hope for their people.
The Fateweaver’s power, her power, surged beneath her skin, eager to lash out.
To reclaim what had been stolen from it.
So Lena let it.
It wasn’t just the threads she controlled, but the energy around them. Come to me, she willed, pulling that force, that power, toward her. And as she did, a single thread between her and Dimas began to glow.
Dimas must have seen it, too, although she wasn’t sure how. Perhaps through their shared connection. His eyes widened, first in awe, then fear. He tried to move, but her power tightened around him, holding him at bay.
“Lena,” he pleaded, “don’t.”
It was the first time he’d called her that, and it only deepened the rage building in her chest. How dare he act like he was her friend?
As if he knew her? With a snarl, Lena did as the ritual demanded and willed the power rising inside of her to take form, shaping it into a blade as dark as the shadows surrounding them.
It hovered in the air beside her, waiting for her command.
Channeling all of her fear, all of her anger, into that blade, Lena did not falter as it sliced through the air between her and Dimas.
And severed the bond between them, once and for all.