“I’ve been doing my research on the Rip for the past couple of years. On what sort of creatures stalk the other side of it. They’re massive, Asha. So much so, they almost hunted the fae to extinction.”
I want to say that given such knowledge, he might want to put some thought into what such creatures might do to humans, but alas, I cannot.
“If we could have those creatures under our control, if we could raise an army of them, we could bring the fae to their knees. Their rule would be just a blip in our history. The dark ages tutors will teach future generations because they won’t have to live it. We could win our world back, Asha.”
Or hand this world over to a bloodthirsty race of beasts, a familiar voice says inside of me.
Oh, how glad I am to hear that voice.
My, my, perhaps I should be drugged by vampire venom more often.
We’ll have to add it to our daily diet.
“I know you’re thinking I’m crazy, out of my mind, but I found a way to control them, Asha. And really, it’s so simple. I can’t believe it took me so long to figure out.”
Any chance he’s going to get on with it and tell us what it is?
Doubtful. I don’t think he trusts me that much.
Indeed, Az strokes my cheek affectionately before saying, “I can’t wait for you to see it. I’m hoping the effects of my brother’s magic wear off before then.”
Well, at least he’s still calling Kiran his brother, says my magic.
I figure if that’s what we’re feeling thankful for, we’re in a pretty rough place, indeed.
“I’m sorry about biting you,” Blaise says, her voice quiet as she speaks from the shadows.
I figured she was in here somewhere. Nothing else explains a wagon with zero sun access, but I haven’t been keen on trying to communicate with her.
I’d promised myself and Kiran that I wouldn’t allow myself to be manipulated again.
I tried my best with Blaise, tried to be her friend while still maintaining a healthy skepticism of her.
But she misled me, practically molding me like clay in her hands.
“I’m sorry about all of this, really,” she continues. “Here.” Something rustles, and I realize Blaise is coming closer. I stiffen as soon as she touches me. A pair of fangs flash before my mind.
She pauses for a moment, as if reconsidering, but then she hauls me upward in a fluid motion until I’m sitting up, leaning against the back frame of the wagon. “I’ll adjust you every few hours so you don’t have to worry about getting sores. And when it’s dark out, I can take you to relieve yourself.”
I just stare at her, my mouth open anyway because of the gag, but it would have been agape regardless.
She watches me for a moment, having the gall to look sorrowful, then slumps backward against the wall. The black box hooked to her belt clatters against the floorboards.
“Nox wasn’t being punished by the queen. Well, he was, in a way, but that wasn’t the entire story.”
She goes on to explain a tale that somehow ends with Nox and Farin, once sharing a body, now banished to another realm.
Apparently that very body, as well as his sister’s, joins us in the back of this dark wagon.
“Az promised to help. Once the Rip is opened, it will create enough power to separate Farin from Nox’s body. I just want him back. He’s all I have left. I’m sorry.”
All she has left because the sniveling scoundrel has betrayed everyone else who might have taken pity on her, my magic hisses.
“For what it’s worth, I won’t let him hurt you,” she says.
She must catch the sneer on my face, because she sighs. “I know. Not saying much coming from me. I really do like you. I’m not saying that because I want you to feel bad for me. Fates know I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I just…I don’t know what I need. I guess I just wish things had turned out differently. That you and I could have been friends.”
I don’t need to be gagged to communicate that I don’t really care what Blaise would have preferred from her life.
CHAPTER 36
NOX
“So, picture the Fabric as looking something like this.”
Zora’s taken off her outer tunic and folded it several times, lining up the decorative eyelets at the bottom of the hem so that one could easily slide a string through them to the other side. “The Fabric is the, well, the fabric, and the realms are the spaces between the folds. The folds are what keep the realms separate; however”—she traces the series of eyelets with her fingernail—“the designers of the Fabric, the Fates in this case, sometimes create eyelets, intentional holes, in the Fabric as a way of moving between realms. The thing is, if several eyelets are lined up, you can actually traverse several realms in one go.”
Zora runs her palms over the ground of the chasm until she finds a long twig. “This is you,” she says, holding it up in front of her face. “You started off in one realm, but then”—she slides the twig through the eyelets so that half remains on one side of the folded tunic, the other half on the other—“your consciousness got tied into the Fabric, allowing you to slip through an eyelet. So really, you’re two places at once. That’s why you can have a body on both sides.”
“Because my two bodies are just two sides of the same twig?”
She nods in confirmation. “Really, it’s a bit more complex than that, because you’re actually woven into the Fabric, but I’m simplifying it for your benefit.”
“Much appreciated.”
“Plus, it would be difficult for me to weave this piece of twig through my coat.”
“Understandable.”
“Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes. Now you might be wondering why, on this side of the Fabric, you and Farin walk around as separate entities, while on the other side, you’re stuck in one body.” She sticks her tongue out, concentrating as she carefully peels one end of the twig in two, stopping as the twig splits at the location of the eyelet. “So on one side, you’re still in one body, but on the other side, you’ve sort of bifurcated, presumably because of how the story is woven into the tapestry.”
I nod my head, impressed by my sister’s ability to explain complex interrealm travel with such a simple set of props.
“So I’m guessing what we want to do…may I?” I ask, gesturing toward the educational contraption.
She hands it over. “It’s all yours.”
“What we want to do is cross the eyelet”—I bend the frayed piece of bifurcated twig back, folding it over on itself and slipping it through the hole, leaving the other frayed piece dangling—“leaving Farin’s portion behind.”
“And then you get your vampire body back, for whatever reason you so desire that,” says Zora.
I set my jaw, less than eager to think about that reality at the moment. I won’t lie to myself, I’ve reveled in the sunlight the past day, refusing to take for granted any moment it warmed my skin.
There’s a part of me that aches to leave it behind.
But Blaise is all the sunlight I need.
I just have to hope I’m all she needs, too.
