Chapter Forty-Six
Lilith
The hairs on Lilith’s arms rose as she read the next passage in the grimoire.
What I have done is forbidden.
I embarked on my endeavor knowing its wrongness, both through what I have read here in the grimoire and the stark emptiness
inside me when I created the enchantment. My request was too great.
And yet, my power is also great.
Was great.
I defied the bounds of our gifts. The power in me wanes already, an atrophy that began the moment the incantation left my
lips. It is the cost of my actions.
And yet, seeing Edith die… I could not allow such a fate to befall Sybil.
Lilith, if you read this, you were correct: You must save Sybil.
This is your destiny. A path laid out before you by me—a path you marked as surely for me to find when you led me to this hidden room. An endless spiral through time, the two of us tangled in the same fate.
One where I lose the earth’s power, a worthy sacrifice to save Sybil. One where you must save a life or risk your very existence.
One where our legacy is at risk if I have set you up to fail.
Lilith, I am aggrieved that you must be ensnared in this destiny with me. It is my hope that you will someday read this passage.
In this world where women’s power is not revered, but denigrated, women of strength and intellect are persecuted. Murdered.
Like Sybil will be as well if she is not saved. Like we all eventually will be.
I found this room, this book, because of you, Lilith. Reading what has been so carefully written in these pages revealed so
much about who I am, where I come from. All things Sybil withheld from me. I suspect there are still more secrets for me to
learn.
Lilith, I now put down the rest of these words for you to read:
As you have learned in this grimoire, ours is a gift that spans generations. Centuries. The power of the earth has protected
the women of our family.
This forbidden enchantment has cut a swath through that force. If Sybil can be saved, our line will be protected, allowed
to continue after a dormancy stretching between the loss of my gifts and the awakening of yours.
You must find who denounced Sybil. I believe it is the only way to save her.
And if you cannot, the failed enchantment will not only wither my powers, but also my body. I will not survive the year. I will not bear children.
You will not exist.
This linking spell is rare, one that can only be done by a woman of incredible power. Mine started as far back as I can remember,
the way the earth spoke to me, how the wind blew secrets into my ear and shared the beauty of the world.
The magnitude of my gifts made Sybil afraid. I understand that now. Even now, she implores me to wear a bracelet of iron to
cut my connection to the earth.
I wear it when she will see me, but I dread the muted silence that descends once it touches my flesh. As if I am living, but
soul dead.
Despite my reduced power, I am still stronger than Sybil or any of the others. I believe several weeks will be required to
fully sever my tie to the earth.
I mourn the loss of my gifts already. But I would mourn Sybil more. I am prepared for the punishment my actions demand.
The linking enchantment is meant to tie Sybil to someone who may help her, a daughter of our line who has been born under
the brilliant, open face of a full moon. Sometimes that daughter is born within months. Other times, centuries will pass.
Given your strange attire, I presume the latter has occurred.
You have been tied to Sybil since you were born. I suspect you have seen her in your dreams, felt her in your heart. Tasted
the fear of her final moments. I am sorry for this—it is the nature of the spell.
I also suspect your mother is no longer of this world.
A mother’s sacred charge is to protect, and her spirit will have safeguarded you from the full force of your power with the earth to ensure you are ready.
When the earth claimed her soul, that shield fell, allowing you to step into your power.
And thus begins the full extent of your need to save Sybil.
Before you reach the date of her intended death.
27 August 1645
I can scarcely breathe even as I write such harrowing words.
Perhaps it is well that my powers are fading.
Now is not a time for women of the earth. Not when men seek to rob us of our strength, to pin us under their thumbs with lies
and murder.
Someone has betrayed Sybil, someone residing within Brackenmere Manor.
If you find who has spoken against her, we can understand why. My own inquiries have left me uncertain who I can trust. The
energy from the earth can only aid us so much. Having this knowledge will fortify our ability to spare Sybil from the pyre.
I assume you have received little to no education about your gifts. You will find all you need in this grimoire, the very
book you guided me toward.
When in doubt, listen to the world around you.
And my final message to you is one of sincere apology. I knew your face when I cast the spell, for I realized your destiny
in helping Sybil as well as my own in speaking the enchantment that would forever find you through time.
I apologize for the burden I settled upon your shoulders and for the peril I lay at your feet.
It is my hope that I may reunite with Sybil, and that you will step into the legacy that has been laid before you. That our
line will not fade from the imprint of time. That you will become a woman of the earth and carry our power into a new generation.
For the task you are charged with, in equal parts, I beg your forgiveness, and I thank you.
Eternally,
Jacinda