Thatwas why Leandra killed Day.
Eris remembered the night the scrin burned. How right before Leandra murdered him, Day looked to the stars and whispered a prayer to the god of souls.
“You’re her.” Eris swallowed. “Skyweaver.”
Skye’s silence confirmed it.
My mother.
Eris’s heart squeezed at the thought.
She hadn’t been abandoned. She’d been hidden and protected.
But if Skyweaver was here, locked in a cage, who was spinning souls into stars?
Who would save the Star Isles from the empress?
“Day’s dead,” she whispered. “Leandra killed him.”
“I know,” Skye whispered back, her eyes shining with the grief of it. “Eris, listen to me.” Her voice gleamed like a polishedblade. “You were Day’s greatest hope. I failed to stop Leandra. But you—you are a daughter of stars and shadows. You will not fail. Day knew this, as I know it.”
Eris lifted her head. Even if she weren’t locked inside a cage, how could she possibly stop Leandra?
Skye leaned forward, looking toward the door far below them. Lowering her voice, she said, “A long time ago, before you were born, I stole something of your father’s and hid it in plain sight. It must be returned to him.”
Eris frowned, thinking of the ghost in the labyrinth. Of what he told her when she asked what he wanted.
Climb the Skyweaver’s tower. Take back my soul. Then bring it here, to me.
“You took Crow’s soul,” she realized aloud.
“He wasn’t Crow then,” said Skye, glancing down into her lap. “He was... something else.”
But that means...
“He’s the Shadow God,” Eris realized at the same time Skye said, “He’s your father.”
They were one and the same.
Suddenly, the world was spinning too fast, and it wasn’t from the rotating cages.
I know him, she realized, thinking of the man with raven-black hair and gray eyes.I’ve known him all this time.
But if her parents were gods, what did that make her?
“Leandra knows what will happen if the Shadow God gets free of his prison. She’ll do everything in her power to stop it from happening. It’s why she’s been hunting you all your life.”
“The knife,” said Eris, thinking of the weapon the Namsara was carrying. “You hid his soul in your knife.”
The Skyweaver nodded. “Do you have it?”
Eris shook her head. “And they took the spindle. So even if I had the knife, I wouldn’t be able to bring it across.” She looked away. “I can’t free him.”
The Skyweaver shook her head. “The spindle isn’t important. It’s a key your father made me, when I was mortal. One that led to the place he built for me. I gave the spindle to Day because it was the only way for him—for a mortal—to cross and escape with you. Butyouare the daughter of the Shadow God. And the Shadow God walks where he wills. Day needed the spindle and the doors, just like I needed them. But you don’t. You can walk where you wish—just like your father.”
“Even with these?” asked Eris, raising the stardust steel manacles.
The Skyweaver’s mouth turned down at the sight of them. “No. Not with those. You’ll have to find a way to get them off.”
