"It was me. I stole it."
"You didn’t take it all. Why?"
"I was in a hurry." His voice sharpened. "It was right after I’d been"—a flicker of vulnerability trembled through the word—"after I had taken my vessel. I was on borrowed time, Vale knew me—knew my vessel—and he sensed something was wrong. The damned book… It contains multitudes, yet only imparts its knowledge to those whom it deems worthy. I tore out the only part I could see, in my youthful ignorance. My vessel had not yet come fully to heel at my command. I took only what I could and left the rest."
The prophecy was scattered into three parts.
What the Tenebrae had stolen, what her Vincire had taken, and what Luella had found within it.
But how did the Tenebrae have the same piece they did—the piece she’d discovered about her wings aboard the ship?
It was almost like… the Compendium was playing with her, with them all. Giving them all parts of a whole, enough to keep them in a near-constant state of confusion, stumbling in circles. Perhaps that was how it was fulfilled. With them all tiptoeing carefully around what they’d been given, trying to prevent what was already inevitable.
It was all futile.
They couldn’t win against the Fates.
"It may sound straightforward, but it does not have to be. There are so many ways to make it happen. My favorite method is simple. I will make my half-brother my prisoner, hide him so far beneath the earth that all the kingdoms will forget the dragon King’s existence. Then, I will rip out the hearts of your remaining four Vincire and pin them in a line beside your wing, where it decorates my throne room."
Luella shook her head. "No, no—youcan’t." She wanted to go, to flee, to not be a pawn in his game. "I won’t be your bait."
"Oh, but you are." He leaned close, breath cold. "Before dawn, we will arrive at the Lunar Temples, and they will be there. I would bet my life on it, and the life of a god is the most weighty currency."
"Why didn’t we—" Luella hiccuped, feeling something in her lungs catch beneath the weight of what she’d learned, combined with growing delirium. Her head tipped back, thunking against his chest. "Why didn’t we take a shadow to the Lunar Temples? Are you weak?"
"I am not weak," he hissed. "I will answer because you asked so nicely. I am choosing to ignore your barb, however, because you know in your heart of hearts that I am far from weak. There are ancient wards placed around the Lunar Temples, situated at the base of the Lunaria Mountains, which keep me from portaling there. It is not weakness, but reverence to the temple built in my honor."
Luella hummed, thoughts tripping, breath ragged. "Justyourhonor? Or was it built with the honor of your—your sister in mind as well?"
She thought she heard a whisper in the distance, so she looked and saw Az reaching for her. She blinked, and the image changed to Graves. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head roughly to dispel the haunting visions of her Vincire.
He placed his lips at her ear, stroking down the exposed column of her throat and pressing deeper when he touched the collar.
"What is it with you and this obsession with mysister? Don’t tell me you’re besotted with her, because I can assure you, she does not extend the same care to her worshipers. Who do you think it was that took away the gift of the Vincire that you nowhave? You, of all the beings in the land—a simple heirus who was so easily taken prisoner."
She’d known that already. Hadn’t she? Or at least had some idea that Vincire—ancient and revered—had been a gift rescinded by the gods. She’d assumed the Tenebrae, though. Not… the Lux.
"Why?"
"Why does a god do anything? I answered your question, now I have one of my own." He said it with reluctance, as if loath to ever ask anything from anyone.
The horse trotted over a gnarled tree root that clawed its way up from the rocky ground. She shifted back against his chest, feeling his thighs bracketing hers, and her body rebelled at the mere touch.
With one hand on the reins and the other on her throat, he asked, "How do you know abouther?"
She thought she knew whom he spoke of, but she was desperate for him to say it, to breathe the name into life. To rattle him like she was rattled.
"I don’t know who you mean." Luella’s tone was coy.
He waited. And waited. Her lids fluttered in exhaustion. For all the time that passed without him speaking, she thought he had conceded, that she had won.
The horses ascended a wide path, mottled with dirt and rock. The trees lining the edges grew scarcer, flower fields long gone, replaced by a nip to the whispery air as the mountains loomed before them. She watched the snow far in the distance, gracing their pointed tops, and she wondered what it would feel like to throw herself off of such a height, but with both wings. How exhilarating must it feel…
"Enora."
Luella stiffened, her chin dipping back to her chest, trapping the Tenebrae’s frigid fingers there, where he still held hervulnerable neck. The other Umbra upon their horses were far away, some in the back, some in front, dotting the path with their glinting silver armor.
The moon was still high, still watching, and she was so, so cold all of a sudden.
