40. Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Zeph
I t is a relief that Viola agrees with me that Bloomtide taking Plume's magic was not accidental. I was going to set out to find out the truth regardless, but it feels better that I have the support of my God as I embark on my recognizance.
What most people do not know about eavesdropping and spying on someone is that it is surprisingly easy if the person you are spying on believes themself invincible. And there is no one more invincible than a God.
Amaryn is sloppy. It's like she wants to be overheard. I find her with Solarius and Avidor in the home we set up for Avidor, and they've even left the door cracked.
For Gods, they're absolute fucking morons.
All I have to do is sit down outside the door, pressing myself against the side of the house, and listen through the crack between the door and the wall. The grass, moist with midnight dew beneath my feet, soaks through my pants as I settle in to find out the truth about what these Gods have in store for us.
"Leave the Shadowweaver out of it," Avidor says, his voice strained as if speaking through gritted teeth. "She's mine."
"What is your obsession with her?" Solarius asks, his frustrated tone so at odds with his normal aloofness.
"She 's incredible, and I will have her. Even if I have to wait for that fucking fae that follows her around to die." I knew Avidor had an attraction to Viola, but I didn't realize it ran this deep. The weight of his words sends an unnatural chill down my spine.
"Well, just take his magic, and he'll die much earlier," Amaryn says smugly. "It's quite easy, you know."
"She'll know I did it. We'll not all be able to get away with the 'oh it was an accident' bullshit," Avidor laughs. The sound grates, the callous way he laughs about stealing magic to set up the death of my brother, forcing me to clench my fists so tightly my nails slice into my palms. It takes every bit of my power not to burst into that room and attempt to lay waste to those three, despite how much of a suicide mission it would be.
Amaryn's voice is light, without a care in the world, as she giggles, "I cannot believe they bought it. You sure this Shadowweaver is worth your affection?"
I hear footsteps and shuffling, then the sound of water pouring. "She is not stupid," Solarius's voice rumbles. "And it's not that she believes the best in everyone. She is cynical and shrewd. I would be surprised if she believed you fully."
"And yet she let me walk." Amaryn's voice rankles me, and I fucking wish I could go in there and knock her down a peg. But that is not the point of this mission, even if every word out of her mouth makes me want to rage.
I push myself closer to the door after realizing that Bloomtide had dropped her voice, which had led to me missing part of the conversation as I breathed through my anger. "…quickly. Before she notices."
What needs to be done before Viola notices?
"She'll expect them to come with us, especially her high priest," Solarius replies.
"Then we bring him, leave him for last. Her high priest doesn't need magic."
I am listening so astutely it's possible I've stopped breathing.
"Is this your plan, then, to remove all magic from the fae?" Avidor asks, and I feel my chest tighten. They're talking about taking our magic so flippantly like it is not something that will change and ruin lives. "What's the point?"
"The point, brother," Amaryn snarls, "is that your beloved Shadowweaver has portions of our magic. If we want to get back to full strength, we will need to take it from the fae since hers cannot be removed. All of them have woven together inside her."
"How can you tell?" Avidor voices the question that was running through my brain.
"You could, too, if you bothered to look. It's your magic. It has your signature. Seek it out, you'll see."
A silence rolls through the room, and I hold my breath, worried that even the slightest noise or movement from me will have me discovered. After a few moments, Avidor and Solarius both swear. "You're right," the Harvest Lord says to Amaryn. "It's like nothing I've ever seen. The magics have all molded into one."
"So, now that you've seen that your magic is officially lost to you, do you agree with my plan?"
"I do," the Radiant Sunfire says, and my heart sinks. Something about having my God support Amaryn cracks a part of me that hoped my magic came from someone who was good and just. "We remove the magic from the fae here right before we leave to confront Himureal. Once we get rid of Himureal, we send the Shadowweaver back to her friends to tell them the good news and we tackle removing magic from the fae in Ytopie."
"This all hinges on us getting her out of here before she realizes we took the magic from her friends," Avidor says, but it's hard to hear him over the roaring in my ears.
"Then we do it at night," Amaryn replies coolly. "We take their magic while they sleep, then wake Viola up and say we need to go after Himureal right then."
"Why would she agree to that?" Avidor challenges. I wonder, however briefly, if he could be on our side in this battle.
I should know better than to hope.
"I don't know, I'll tell her I had a vision and saw Himureal about to do a mass execution," Amaryn says flippantly.
"You don't get visions," Solarius drawls.
"She doesn't know that."
"The Shadowweaver literally has your magic inside her!" Avidor all but shouts. I flinch, worried he's about to storm out. "You think she hasn't explored it?"
"Fine, I won't say that. We'll just have to convince her that it's a gut feeling. That we know our brother and that there is no way he hasn't felt all of us returning, and we need to strike now."
"She seems like the type to follow a gut instinct," Solarius responds, and I hear the scratching of chair legs against the floor as he stands. The night air pebbles my skin, and the way the shadows stretch in front of me makes me feel like the land is trying to tell me something.
I've gotten the information I need. There is no need for me to stick around and risk being discovered. I stand up and silently walk away, crouching inside an empty home three doors down. Moments later I hear Solarius speaking lowly to Amaryn about finding her a home to sleep in near his as they cross in front of the place where I am hidden.
Viola is pacing around the small home she and Mace have claimed as my brother watches her intently from the bed. When I close the door behind me she looks up, shock in her eyes. "You're back already?"
"They're sloppy," I say as I take a seat at their table. "Left the door open, speaking loudly. Anyone could have heard them."
"They think they're untouchable," Mace says, moving from the bed to sit across from me at the table. He looks older, the corners of his eyes turn down and crinkled, dark circles rimming them. His hair is too long and messy from running his fingers through it, and he's barefoot and shirtless.
I don't know if I've ever seen him look so vulnerable before.
"What have we done?" he says quietly, burying his face in his hands.
"We did what we thought was right," Viola says, resting a hand between his shoulder blades. She has let her white hair down and pushed it behind her pointed ears. She is wearing a loose tunic and flowing shorts, looking more casual than I've ever seen her.
Looking at the two of them together, it's obvious how they fit together. They challenge one another in a way that helps them both grow and change.
Since Viola came into his life, Mace has gone from a politician with words that oozed insincerity to someone who anyone would be willing to trust with their safety. Viola, with her sharp edges and distrust of everyone, now has a group of friends and trusts others to help her make the tough decisions.
I know I've changed too, and my path to where I am now was not pretty, but fuck am I happy about where I have ended up.
This is a family.
Viola raises an eyebrow at me, and the silence I have been sitting in. I shake my head and let out a shaky laugh. "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. I am just so in awe of how much the three of us have changed from that moment in the garrison."
"I thought you were insane," Viola says with a laugh. "The elevator opened, and he was this handsome man who looked like he was running for his life. It was quite a way to welcome me to the city."
"And then you get to me and pull a blade on me." Mace's chuckle fills the room, and Viola tucks around his shoulder to kiss him on the temple. "Who would have guessed we'd end up here?"
"I knew I'd be by your side, Shadowweaver, but I didn't think it would be like this," I say quietly. It's hardly any effort, much like using my magic, to search the realm for devotion toward my God. It glows in my mind's eye, a beautiful system of veins running towards her. "I am so honored to serve as your high priest."
"You do alright," she tells me with a sparkle in her eye. Mace swats her on the ass, and she jumps away from him, patting her thighs.
"No blades, numen," he laughs as she wrinkles her nose. "Besides, you wouldn't dare."
"Watch me!" she darts to the pile of weapons on their counter, but Mace wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her down, cementing her on his lap.
"Zeph was just about to tell us what he learned," my brother reminds her. She huffs and crosses her arms. Who knew Viola Mistflow could be playful? It's a side of her I have never been privy to, and it's refreshing to see that she is not all blades and shadows.
"Right, I guess I should've led with that," I say sheepishly. I recount what the Gods discussed and their plan for removing the magic from all fae. Viola and Mace listen with rapt attention, increasing levels of anger marring their features. When I finish, the room is silent, both Mace and I staring at Viola who is frozen on his lap.
She slides quietly from his lap and rips her shirt off, not caring she's baring herself to me. "Viola!" Mace hisses in shock. She ignores him and finds a strip of stretchy cloth that she begins to wrap around her breasts. I watch her dig through her pack, slide on a tight black shirt, and top it with a leather vest before dropping her shorts, revealing a small pair of plain black panties, and pulling on a pair of leather breeches. I don't even have time to look away to preserve her modesty, she moves so fast. She sits on the edge of the bed as she puts on her boots, then stands and begins to strap her thighs with her blades and wrap her hips with her whip.
Mace and I look at each other in shock, both of us knowing that if we say anything, we'll get our heads bitten off, so we sit in silence as she dresses. Her blackened, decayed fingers move expertly as she braids her hair in two sections down her scalp, careful to make sure it lays flat behind her pointed ears. When Viola looks at us, her body covered in the marks of the Gods, dressed and ready for battle, and her face hardened and eyes stormy, both of us rise to our feet.
"Now?" Mace says quietly, moving into action and searching for his shoes and shirt.
"Now," Viola confirms.
"Our team?" he asks as he straps blades to his upper arms. Their shorthand is practiced and natural, neither having to speak in full sentences to understand their meaning.
"Morrow and Tulip, leave Plume behind," she responds, arms crossed over her chest. A pain blooms in my chest at Plume being left out, but I know it's for the best. Emotionally, she's in no condition to fight.
"Sure about Tulip?" Mace is dressed now, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows.
"She'll kill me if I don't. Plus, she's a good source of devotion."
"Taegan and Cirrha?" I ask, looking between the two of them.
"Can they fight?" Viola asks, handing me a blade from her pack.
"Taegan is Light, Cirrha Air."
"Not very helpful in battle," she muses, tapping her fingers on her thigh. "Tell them what is happening. Get them with Plume. And Jaz. We need the devotion, right?"
"Yeah, probably. You've got a bit, but more would help." More is a necessity. What is there is enough for an equal battle, not one against three Gods. I don't tell her that. What point is there? I'll tell Cirrha to send messages throughout Krillium begging for sacrifices and devotion to Viola. If the whole realm tells their secrets, that has to be enough, right?
"Are you sure we want to do this now?" Mace asks, looking between us. "This could wait."
"No, it can't. I'm not risking it."
"You have to be exhausted," he tries again, taking her shoulders in his hands. "You need rest."
"No." Her voice brooks no argument. "I fucked up bringing them back. This is my mistake, and now I'm going to fix it." She steps from his hands after giving him a quick kiss. "Go get Tulip and Morrow. I'm going after Amaryn first."
"Solarius put her in a house near his," I tell her.
"Okay, then that's where I'll go. Go gather the others, and then come back to me, high priest."