Chapter 44 Lena
FORTY-FOUR
LENA
Lena followed Dimas out into the darkness.
She’d expected his guard, Ioseph, to try to stop her, but he’d simply trailed silently after her, a watchful figure in the dark as Lena approached the crying emperor. Thankfully, Ioseph stayed a few feet away; Lena wasn’t sure she’d be able to say what was on her mind if he’d been looming over her.
Still, she kept her voice as low as possible as she began.
“I’m not going to apologize for wanting my freedom or for feeling sympathy for Venysa.
The empire took everything from her: her freedom, her brother.
Just like they took everything from me.” Lena looked at the sky, at the stars her mother had told her held the spirits of the deceased.
“But I will apologize for letting Venysa manipulate me. For letting my anger at the empire—at you—cloud my judgment.”
Even now, Venysa was still there, a darkness at the edge of Lena’s consciousness that was growing harder to block out with every moment that passed.
It had been her grief, her anger, that had made it so easy for Venysa to get into her mind.
That had made her think she’d be the perfect vessel for her plan.
But she’d forgotten one crucial thing. The thing that was more important to Lena than anything else.
Her mother.
Kelia Vesthir had spent her entire life sharing the tales of Wyrecia’s past. Not just as a warning of what could happen when magic was abused, but as a reminder of a world she longed to someday see again.
A world where balance was restored, and the only ones with power over fate were the Lost Sisters, freed at last.
A world that would never be if Lena let Venysa turn her into a monster.
“I understand if you hate me,” Lena said softly, “and if you can never trust me again. But I need you to believe that I don’t want to become the monster that Venysa and Naebya turned Lady Aalys into.
I never wanted that. All I wanted was my freedom, and for my people’s suffering to end.
They’re innocents, and I … I won’t let them suffer for my mistakes. ”
They were the same words she’d heard Dimas utter to Ioseph when he thought no one could hear. The ones that had made her think perhaps Dimas had the potential to be the kind of emperor Wyrecia had always needed if Lena hadn’t taken that chance away from him.
But an emperor stood before her now, and when he turned to face her, tears stained his pale cheeks. It was the youngest Lena had ever seen him look, and it did nothing to settle her growing guilt.
“I don’t forgive you,” he said, “but I do believe you. Let’s get back inside.”
Lena released a breath, the control she’d had over her power slipping just enough for Dimas’s threads to bleed into existence.
As much as she hated to admit it, they needed the young emperor if they had any chance of coming out of this alive.
He knew his uncle—and hopefully his weaknesses—better than anyone, and even though Dimas had already said they would have to work together for what came next, there had been a part of Lena that hadn’t fully trusted him.
But now, as they walked side by side together back to the cave, the stars watching over them, Lena was starting to believe Dimas might not be her enemy, after all.
Casimir was standing before her the moment they reentered the cave.
“Everything alright?” he asked, eyeing the emperor and his personal guard at Lena’s side warily.
Lena gave a terse nod. “It will be, when we take down Roston and his cultists.”
They’d wasted enough time already. Dawn was beginning to creep over the horizon, and it would take at least half a day of nonstop walking to reach the Eastern Mountains.
“Has anyone had any ideas on how we might do that?” asked Ioseph. He hadn’t stopped sending Lena distrustful looks since the moment he’d awoken, and even though Lena couldn’t exactly blame him for it, it was starting to grate on her already frayed nerves.
They’ll never truly trust you, Venysa’s voice echoed, not with the power you wield.
Lena clenched her hands into fists. Breathed until the first Fateweaver’s spirit faded once more. “I vote we do exactly as the Haesta asked,” she said. “I show up, you all follow behind, and once we’re in their stronghold, we attack.”
Ioseph scoffed. “You barely survived Roston a few hours ago, and now you want to face him, and his gang of Corrupted-controlling cultists, again?”
“They’re not the only ones who can control the korupted,” Lena retorted.
Lena wasn’t certain her strengthened power would allow her to seize control of the korupted under the cult’s command, but she was damned well willing to try.
“Your power is still unpredictable,” said Dimas. “You don’t know what using it might do.”
“They have Finaen and your High Priest. I don’t have a choice.
” Lena glanced sideways toward Maia. They hadn’t had time to speak since everything had happened, but the fact that Maia had failed to come to her defense during Dimas’s verbal undressing of her in the churchyard spoke volumes. “Besides, I wasn’t prepared last time.”
“You aren’t prepared now,” Dimas said, exasperated. “The bangle that my uncle possesses was made to suppress the Fateweaver’s magic and can only be removed by someone with Ehmar blood. If he gets it around your wrist, the battle is over before it even begins.”
“I think I have a solution to that,” Casimir said, withdrawing something from inside his cloak. It took Lena a second to realize what it was in the dim light, but when she did, her heart gave a strange thud.
“Is that …?” Dimas asked.
“The mysterious bangle your cult-loving uncle planned to use to subdue Lena’s power?” Casimir smirked. “Yes, yes it is.”
Maia, wide-eyed, asked, “How did you—”
“I knew exactly what it was when Roston showed it off, so I swiped it after he got knocked on his ass. Figured it might come in handy.”
“The drawing,” Lena said, the threads of everyone in the cave blinking into existence as she struggled to keep a lid on her emotions.
“The one in that book back at your hideout. That’s where I recognize this from.
” Something like guilt flashed over the smuggler’s face as she met his gaze.
“You knew something like that existed all along, and you never told me?”
“I didn’t know it existed,” he said. “At least, not anymore. I’d read about it in my father’s research, and he came to the same conclusion that Queen Anja had: the bangle was lost centuries ago.
” He took a step closer to her, his eyes fierce as they searched Lena’s own.
“I promise you, if I even thought the church still had it, I would have told you.”
“That’s not important right now,” Dimas interrupted. “What is important is that we have it. Which means we can use it. Not on you,” he added when Lena tensed, “but … maybe on my uncle?”
“How?” Yana asked. “You said the bangle is spelled to be used on the Fateweaver.”
It was Lena who answered, her mind clearly going in the same direction as Dimas’s. “The magic the Haesta are channeling—if it’s from the residual dark power left behind by the Furybringer, then it’s the same source magic as the Fateweavers’.”
Dimas nodded. “Yes. And if that is the case, then the bangle should work on the Haesta, too.”
“Should?” Casimir’s brow raised. “That’s a bit of a long shot.”
With a sigh, Lena said, “It’s the only shot we have.”
“No …,” Dimas said, pulling a velvet pouch out of his vest pocket, “it isn’t.”
Ioseph gave a sharp shake of his head. “Dimas—”
“It’s alright, ’Seph. I’m sure Lenora can forgive me this one betrayal, considering.” Despite their moment outside, the bite in the emperor’s tone hadn’t softened. He untied the pouch. Slid out a glass vial filled with a colorless liquid.
“What is that?” Maia asked.
“A sleeping potion. I was planning to use it to subdue Lenora so I could get the bangle on her if she lost control, or if the Rite of Ascension failed.”
The revelation made Lena feel a little less guilty for what she’d done to him. “Looks like I’m not the only one with secrets.”
Dimas glared. “It’s a good thing I do, because now we have another weapon in our arsenal. We get close to my uncle, and if the bangle fails, then I’ll find a way to shove this down his throat. Once I do, Ioseph and the others can launch an attack.” It was as good a plan as any, Lena supposed.
“It’d be helpful if we knew where this was all going to go down …,” Ioseph said, his gaze fixed on Lena. “Can you … look into the future? Try to get an idea of the surroundings?”
“I … can try.” Her magic was stronger now, but that didn’t mean she knew how to control it. There was no residual magical energy in the cave to channel, no potion to take, but …
Lena closed her eyes. Concentrated on the magic inside of her. Show me, she commanded, as she had done by the chamber door, show me where the Haesta plan to take me.
Power rushed through her system, but it was not a vision that flooded Lena’s mind.
It was Venysa’s voice.
This plan is doomed, the first Fateweaver said. You cannot trust these people.
Lena tried to push her away. “Shut up,” she whispered, sweat beading on her brow. Sisters, Venysa was strong. Stronger than she’d been before the former Fateweaver had passed.
You can’t trust them, the first Fateweaver said. You can’t trust any of them. They will use you to get what they need, and then, when they are done, they will lock you away, just as they did me.
“Get OUT!” Lena yelled, pain slicing through her head as she tried to shove Venysa out. “Get out get out get out—”
“Put the bangle on her,” Ioseph said, his voice panicked now. “Hurry, before she loses control!”
“Wait!” said Casimir. She could feel the pressure of his hands holding hers. Feel the pull of his threads. “Lena, listen to me; you’re stronger than this, alright? I know you are. Don’t let her win.”
Another voice now, this one soft and so achingly familiar in its tenderness. “We’re here with you, Lena. Please,” Maia said, her voice breaking. “Please don’t leave us.”
There was a brief weakening of Venysa’s presence. It’s a trick. They’re going to betray you, the spirit said, frantic now. You must stop them, Lenora. Now!
NO!
Lena’s magic surged from her, uncontrolled, and leaped menacingly toward Casimir’s threads. She reached for the bangle in his hand.
And slipped it around her wrist.
Her power faded in an instant, taking the voice inside her head with it. Lena could still feel them both, but they felt … distant. Almost like they were encased in a block of ice too thick to break through.
Lena blinked away the last of Venysa’s influence to find the warm brown of Casimir’s eyes peering intensely into hers. “Lena?”
“It’s me.” Her voice was shakier than she’d have liked.
“You put the bangle on yourself.” Dimas was standing a few feet away from her, his dark brows knit.
“I did. Venysa, she’s … getting stronger.”
Now that the bond was broken. Now that Lena had destroyed the only protection she’d had against the first Fateweaver’s influence.
“I hoped the bangle would make it easier to resist her,” said Lena.
“And did it?” the emperor asked.
“Yes …,” Lena answered. “But I don’t think it’s a permanent fix.
I can still feel her. She doesn’t think I can trust any of you.
” She frowned at Casimir and the smuggler winced, but before he could say anything, Lena added, “But not trusting people is what got me here, so I’m really hoping she’s wrong. ”
“She is,” Maia insisted.
Lena offered her a weak smile. She might not have known whether Venysa was right or wrong, but she knew one thing.
She couldn’t do this alone.
“Alright,” Lena said, running a finger along the bangle around her wrist, “I think I have a plan.”