Chapter 1
Chapter One
Emmeline
Emmeline DeLeoste stood at the base of the Valyn Temple, stared up at the panther staining the glass of the twelfth window high above, and cursed the Fate it represented.
All her life, Emmeline had been taught to revere the Fates but not blindly.
No, her mother had instilled the power the celestial beings held over the Starsearcher warrior clan into Emmeline’s head during the too few years they had together.
She’d taught her to harness her abundant magic but not to bow to it.
Not to fear it.
Emmeline knew the strength her Fate ties granted her, found comfort in it when she had nothing else reliable for nearly twenty years—
Flashes of silver streaked through the seeing chamber, a web of starlight bursting as she dove in.
“How many Fate ties do you really have, Emmeline?”
“Eleven.”
Roremar gripped her tighter as the chamber exploded, the blast ricocheting through her bones, pulling at her magic.
“Don’t you see you’ve already ruined me?”
“When I go, tell the stars about me, Emmeline. Because I’ll sure as Spirits tell them about you.”
“Kiss me, Roremar.”
“Now I won’t rest until I get you back.”
The memories slammed into her one after another as she stared up at the stained-glass panther, each moment from that day on Lyra a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from.
They’d plagued her in the three weeks since.
Not one hour had passed where she didn’t think about Roremar’s lips on hers or how she’d broken down every last wall and revealed every secret to save him.
Not one moment where she didn’t wonder where in the realms he was or what punishment he was enduring after being blamed for murders he didn’t commit.
If he was still alive—
No. She shook away that thought as she glared daggers at the panther on the twelfth window.
It was all his fault. Dryvius, the Fate of Chaos and Revelry the image stood for, was the one to blame. He had used Roremar as his puppet to kill innocent women. To kill his own brother, all for some ritual they still didn’t understand.
But Roremar was alive. She needed to believe that was true and that she could find him if she was going to survive here.
In Valyn.
Emmeline turned her back on the stained glass and faced the city. From the top of the temple steps, she had a view of one of the many busy capital streets. Not that she knew the names of any of them. The week she’d spent here so far had been a blur.
This. This was where she’d fought to be for years. To get to this city on the continent and begin her hunt for her sister who’d been kidnapped over twenty years ago by the network of temple traders.
This was why Roremar had told her to let him go at the end. So she could fulfill this mission.
She had to.
Emmeline’s gaze followed the wide cobblestone street. The temple was the largest place of worship in the city, with both private Archives and the Valyn Temple Academy attached to it.
Starsearchers rushed every which way, hopping between market stalls lining the opposite side of the street.
Each vendor bore something different, from hand-blown glassware to jewelry, freshly pressed incense to poured candles, triple-bladed daggers to local artists’ work.
Shop owners called to their friends and haggled over prices with boisterous laughs, and the tavern in the alley across the way overflowed with warriors raising their glasses, purple and blue banners strung overhead.
As she stood atop the steps, Emmeline tried to commit every detail to memory, organizing the little pieces of her new city—of her new home—in her mind.
She should descend the stairs. Should visit some of the vendors and find the best bakery nearby for fresh pastries. Find an apothecary near this Academy to frequent, or test out a few different ones.
But eyes flicked up toward her from the street. Smiles flashed her way. And the instinct to flip up her hood was stifling.
They couldn’t know who she was, could they?
She’d been in Valyn for a week, and while she’d heard the gossip about the woman with eleven Fate ties swirling, they couldn’t know it was her. Breathing deeply, she stuffed down her paranoia.
If she closed her eyes, only listening to the jaunty stringed music floating on the air and the shouts of laughter, she could have been back on Lyra. It could have been the Remembrance Revels—
A blast cleaved the air, rubble and magic raining around her.
Warm, strong hands cupped her cheeks, his touch a home she never knew before.
“When I go, tell the stars about me, Emmeline. Because I’ll sure as spirits tell them about you.”
Her heart clenched as the memories sliced through her.
So real. It felt so real, Roremar’s parting plea, like he was whispering it directly into her soul, each letter clawing for the hollow he’d carved out behind her ribs.
“Ready?” a now-familiar voice said as she scampered up to Emmeline’s side and the painful memories scattered.
Emmeline faced Alana, the woman only a year younger than her who’d been assigned to help her adjust to life in the capital. She eyed her questioningly, hoisting her bag higher on her shoulder, the art supplies she’d bought rattling within.
Emmeline plastered on a bright smile, discomfort coiling in her chest. “Let’s go.”
A gleeful shriek made her pause. In the grassy, fenced-in courtyard beside the Temple, a group of young children ran with lilac streamers that matched the banners hanging around the city.
“Has the Chancellor-to-be mentioned when I’ll be starting at the Academy?” Emmeline asked mournfully.
Alana followed her gaze, the blue tint to her raven hair catching the light. She smiled as the children continued their game. “Not to me. He’s been busy with tournament planning, so I haven’t seen him since you arrived, but I’m sure he has the position set up to begin soon.”
“The tournament. Right.” She recalled being told of some event starting soon when she’d first arrived, but her mind had been so rattled between Roremar, the exposure of her Fate ties, and the hunt for her sister, she couldn’t remember what was said. “That’s what all the banners are for?”
Yesterday, when Alana walked her to a plant nursery, Starsearchers had been perched atop ladders, fastening banners to lampposts with heavy, expensive-looking ropes. They all declared things like, Valyrie’s Races, An Honor of Chancellor Rocarri, or May the Fates and Angel Bless Chancellor Rocarri.
It had snagged her interest briefly, mostly because the Chancellor, Balmour Rocarri, wasn’t officially inducted yet, but then her attention caught on the eleven-starred symbol adorning the banners representing their clan.
Eleven.
Because so many Starsearchers scorned the twelfth Fate after his supposed death thousands of years ago—a death they now knew was a lie.
After that, she hadn’t paid the banners or the tournament much mind.
But she couldn’t deny her aggravation at the whole ordeal delaying her position at the Temple Academy.
When she’d arrived, she’d expected to head straight here.
Instead, she’d been escorted to the Chancellor’s personal manor in the First District and given an ostentatious suite.
Alana, who had been appointed to assist her, moved into the rooms next door.
She’d waited six years on Lyra for her transfer. The entire reason she’d even agreed to work the murder case with Roremar had been because the Master of the Lyra Temple Academy—Roremar’s uncle, as she’d learned—had told her if she solved it, she’d be reassigned.
Not that she’d heard from Aldryn Falliare since she left Lyra. Though, she supposed with the imprisonment of one nephew and death of another, he had his hands full.
She didn’t care about this Fatesdamned tournament, though. Especially not if it was interrupting her plans. She needed to get into the Temple Academy to take advantage of the access to records the position gave her so she could start finding her sister.
“The whole event is an elaborate affair.” Alana waved a hand at the street around them as they descended the stairs. “They want it to be ceremonial but also a celebration. Seems like people are enjoying it so far.”
Tugging her heavy bag higher on her shoulder again, Alana went on, “Anyway, Rocarri’s had guests arriving since before you got here. With the opening ceremonies being tomorrow, the schedule is hectic. But we can track him down later and ask about your instructor position.”
“Thank you,” Emmeline said dully, her magic riling in her veins uncertainly.
It had been doing that since the seeing chamber erupted—even more so the past week in this city—demanding sessions.
“You were looking for Mystique ink, right?” Alana asked as they wove through the crowd, every friendly smile prodding at Emmeline like a threat. Tears welled in her eyes with each inch of exposure. “The best stationary shops are in the Fourth District, but I’m sure we can find something closer.”
Emmeline’s magic pounded faster as the bell over Valyn Temple Academy rang. The air tightened in her lungs, the shards of glass she’d become in the seeing chamber digging deeper.
“Which district are we in now, again?”
The hum of voices and music pressed on her ears.
“The Second. I know the layout is a bit confusing at first. The inner ring of districts is one through five, the outer ring is six through twelve. Though, the twelfth isn’t very safe.” Alana’s nose wrinkled, and Emmeline tried to force a laugh, but her heart raced.
The Fates whispered incessantly in her ears, amplifying the noise on the crowded streets.
“Let’s go back to the manor,” she forced out. “You said there’s a dinner tonight, right?”
“Yes, it’s probably best if we go get ready,” Alana said, nodding back toward the First District as the bell chimed again.
Another dinner, another chance for her to be surrounded by numerous faces and names and titles she could barely remember.
But…Alana had said these were the Chancellor’s guests for the tournament.
They were advisors who hoped to have a position on his council or District Governors who led in the capital.
People who may be able to help her access information on the temple traders that could lead her to her sister, or maybe…
Her breath hitched, Fates laughing through her mind.
Maybe they’d even have information on Roremar. Maybe someone knew what had happened to him, where he’d been taken when he was removed from the Trade House.
When I go, tell the stars about me, Emmeline.
She wouldn’t. Not yet, not with such finality.
The bell in the Temple Academy chimed again as if calling to her.
She wanted to join it. She wanted to rage and scream at the Fates and Falliare and anyone else who had a hand in convicting Roremar and most importantly the Fate of Chaos and Revelry for using him to do unspeakable things.
But she couldn’t. She was finally in this city she’d worked for so long to get to. She was finally in the position to look for her sister. And Roremar had given himself up for her to get here.
So, she had to bottle up her rage; to compress it and use it as fuel to do what she must; use it to become the serpent who sank its teeth into its prey rather than hiding.
Go find her, Emmeline.
When I go, tell the stars about me.
If Emmeline had to attend these dinners to fulfill her vow to save Roremar and find her sister, she would. She’d familiarize herself with everyone in the Chancellor’s manor, parse out how they all fit together, who might have information to aid either of her goals.
Before they rounded the corner, Emmeline cast a parting glance over her shoulder at the stained-glass panther, and she swore, if it was the last thing she did, she’d get revenge on the Fate who had caused this mess.
With that promise sealed in the cavernous space her heart had become, she followed Alana back to the Chancellor’s manor and began her planning.
Roremar had called her his Huntress.
She’d hunt to the end of the realms to find him.