Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
“They are the loopholes,” Sinora says over the rim of her teacup before taking a sip.
“One child per male, that was what it was always supposed to be. Only, Curses don’t work on humans, which left them free to go around impregnating witches as they pleased.
The thing is, there wasn’t a witch in Everden who wanted to mate with one before Leda went and did it.
Then Helen followed in her footsteps, but she was young, na?ve.
Perhaps she would have terminated the pregnancy once she learned what was at stake, but Jaxan made sure she went through with it.
He ran those half witch experiments, you know.
He didn’t stop until after Ember was born. ”
Then, in order to explain what she must have been Tongue Bound for, she speaks in lies, which I hear, interpret, and slowly gather her meaning.
When Sabrina was eighteen, she drank quantum magic. As a consequence, her mother and stepfather, Rex and Leda, were killed. She had the quantum magic Siphoned from her afterward, so she could etherize and demand answers from the Goddess in the ether.
The Goddess told Sabrina the Dark Witch who cast the Witch’s Limit Cursed every second child. They would all be Eights, which meant that, unlike the rest of us, they got to choose between light and dark magic, and whatever choice they made would decide Everden’s fate.
Choosing dark magic, Sinora said, would make the Witch’s Limit irreversible, no longer a Curse, but something that could never be changed.
Choosing light magic could end the Witch’s Limit, but not without consequences — tests.
To end it, a second child must become an Allwitch.
But, for every school of light magic a second child drinks, a disaster is triggered.
Sabrina refused to go through with becoming an Allwitch after what happened after she drank quantum magic. The consequence, Someone who you love will die, resulted in the deaths of Rex and Leda.
Sinora doesn’t know what the other disasters are, except for the one that was in Helen’s Vision.
If Ember drinks elemental magic, she’ll trigger a fire big enough to burn Hector Ambrosia’s entire jurisdiction, scorching Edgewood and draining Lake Artemesia.
It was the same Vision Helen shared with the Council, the day she told them Ember was dangerous, though she never mentioned it had anything to do with the Witch’s Limit.
Sabrina asked the Goddess to tell her the seven disasters, but She wouldn’t. She only warned they were designed for a half witch to prove their loyalty to magic, and that meant sacrificing loved ones and innocents.
My teeth grind. My muscles are tense, and I feel a twitch in a vein along my forearm. “Why would Helen keep this from her?” The best way to stop a Vision from becoming reality is to share it. If Helen’s so worried about Ember becoming “dangerous,” telling her is the simplest way to prevent it.
“It’s not so simple . . .” Sinora lets out a heavy sigh.
“You see, light magic dies if a second child doesn’t become an Allwitch, and Ember is .
. . she is quick to view the plight of others as her fault and responsibility.
If she knew she was the key to ending the Witch’s Limit — well, what do you think she would pick? ”
“That’s why Helen wants her sent back to the human realm . . .”
Sinora nods. “At this point, I think she would be fine with Ember staying, if Ember selects dark magic. That, at least, would spare us from seven disasters. But, mothers dying in childbirth would continue, the population of light witches will continue to shrink, and eventually, perhaps in ten — twenty — years, there will be no light magic left in the Circle of Seven.”
“Who else on the Council knows about this?”
“As far as I know, only Jaxan and Helen. The rest know Ember can end the Witch’s Limit — there’s a prophecy about it — but they don’t know how.
Jaxan keeps his cards hidden. He knows Dark Witches will reign if Ember becomes a Dark Witch.
And the Council would most certainly insist upon her becoming an Allwitch if they knew that was a possibility. ”
My throat closes up on me, and I swallow a hard gulp of tea. “Jaxan put a Death Bond on me. I die if she doesn’t go to Selection.”
Sinora nods gravely. “Smartest thing he ever did. She won’t leave you, Truth-Teller.
Truth be told, I think he could have put the Death Bond on Helen, and the outcome would be the same.
The Lens of Intentions has shown me all I need to see.
That girl will always be the first to throw herself in harm’s way.
The best thing you can do is convince her to select dark magic.
Everden is already used to the Witch’s Limit. Not much would change.”
Dark magic . . .
I saw it once in a Vision. Ember as a Dark Witch.
She looks happy as one, but I know it’s not what she wants.
Even if she did, I don’t want it. Not as long as Jaxan’s the Echelon to the School of Dark Magic.
Jaxan actually teaches his students. There are rumors about his methods, and based on how I was raised, I believe them.
Even if Jaxan wasn’t a factor, Ember has told him, again and again. She doesn’t want to be a Dark Witch.
When the time comes for her to drink the magic she selects, she has to will it to fuse with her blood, or the magic’s wasted. There’s no point in her picking something she doesn’t want. The Echelons punish every witch who wastes magic.
“Dark magic’s not an option,” I state.
“Have you considered the other ones?” Sinora prompts. “She selects nothing, you die, and she deteriorates. She selects light magic, and there’s a consequence, just like what happened to Sabrina. What if it’s you or Ash who gets killed? Do you suppose she’d like that more than being a Dark Witch?”
No. If that’s what happened, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself. I don’t know what choice she would make if she knew her options. The fate of light magic is in her hands. She could stop mothers from dying in childbirth. With light magic restored, Allwitches could return to the mainland.
But there would be consequences.
Maybe she would make the same decision as Sabrina.
Neither, and she’d let herself deteriorate so no one gets hurt.
That seems the most like her, except . .
. she stayed in Everden when she thought my Death Bond meant someone I cared about would die.
Now she knows it’s me — there’s no way she’s not picking something at Selection.
I stare at the table, my head bowed. “What am I supposed to tell her?”
“Tell her it’s an allergy. You can even tell her I said it.
Ember is allergic to light magic. But you can’t tell her her role in ending the Witch’s Limit — the risk is too great that she would take it upon herself to end it.
Just let her choose dark magic without the burden of knowing what it will do to the realm. ”
I rub along the underside of my brows, staring at the hearth.
Ember invited me, a stranger, into her house so she could help her dad.
Ember walked straight up to the gates of the Allwitch temple after Jaxan threatened to remove my tongue.
Ember refuses to swat at a mosquito. She even got herself branded trying to save Aila and Ari and Trist.
And as more witches die in childbirth . . .
As more witches deteriorate . . .
How far would she go to try to save them?
I push my chair back, shaking my head. The last thing I want is another secret I have to keep from her. But Sinora’s right. Ember can’t know she’s the key to ending the Witch’s Limit.
“If you can speak to an Allwitch,” Sinora finally says after some hesitation, “they might know another solution. They have the ancient history books. Perhaps they know more than we do.”
* * *
I leave the Blackburn estate with a tight pain twisting in my gut. As long as I have this Death Bond on my arm, she’s going to pick something at Selection. Dark magic will put light witches out of existence. Light magic, and Ember will be tested.
I’ve seen both outcomes in Visions. The path where she’s a light witch. The path where she’s a Dark Witch. Based on that information alone, dark magic is the right path, but I’m not ready to push her toward it until I get more information.
What I need is to talk to an Allwitch, but the only one I’m in contact with works for Jaxan, and she’s as bound to report to him as I am. I don’t know how far he’ll go to make sure Ember selects dark magic. What I do know is nothing good will come of him hearing I’m asking questions about it.
I head to the catacombs to ask Seracia what she knows, in a cold sweat because it’s the last place I should be going. The last time I was in the catacombs, I was sent to shut down the “Dark Witch uprising.” That was the same day Ember was branded.
I didn’t know then that it was a training exercise for me.
I figured it out after Jaxan let every Dark Witch involved go free, including Rye Cackrin, who has been threatening to kill me ever since the incident with my legs.
The night I killed his Counterpart. Not until the uprising did I realize the only reason Cackrin hasn’t gone through with it yet is because he’s been biding his time. Getting stronger. Building a coven.
He frequents the catacombs. I don’t know what he’ll do if he sees me. But I need to find out what Seracia knows about the Witch’s Limit, so I draw in a deep breath of cold air and descend the stone steps to the tunnels.
I strike a match, watching for Shadowforms at every turn. I listen for slowed breaths and focus my awareness on any changes in heat or scent, for nervous perspiring that could indicate hidden bodies. There are the usual skittering sounds. Buzzing in my ears.
Then my hearing sharpens.