“I see the Tapestry,” I murmured, making him stiffen. “I see... all the threads in the Weave. And I can’t...” I closed my eyes once more, though the images of millions of strands persisted, even through the darkness. “There’s so many,” I choked out. “I can’t see anything else.”
Raithe said something to Meeka, who sprang off me, the weight vanishing from my chest. Gently, Raithe drew me upright until we were kneeling across from each other, though my eyes were still tightly shut. The phantom strands still swayed across the blackness, visible even in the darkness behind my lids. Every one of them representing someone’s life, someone’s fate.
Someone’s soul.
His hands stroked the sides of my head, fingers sliding through my hair. “Look at me,” he murmured. “Try to see only me. Don’t focus on anything else.”
I opened my eyes. His face swam in front of mine, intensely beautiful, his searing gaze fixed on me. I tried to see only him,but the threads danced and coiled at the edge of my vision, an endless, chaotic pattern, impossible to ignore.
“Raithe.” I shook my head slightly, feeling his grip tighten. “I can’t... It’s not going away—”
He leaned in and kissed me.
It wasn’t a desperate, intense kiss. Just the tender, unhurried press of his lips against mine. I closed my eyes and relaxed into him, heart fluttering, every nerve set aflame.
I lost track of time, but several heartbeats passed before Raithe finally drew back, his gaze meeting mine once more. He still held my head gently between his palms, and one long thumb brushed my cheek as he gave me a small smile.
“What about now?” he murmured.
I knew the threads were gone before I looked up. The world was back to normal, though if I concentrated, I could see an ominous shimmer in the air. Quickly, I looked away, and the gleam of threads faded.
“They’re gone,” I said, slumping in relief. “I guess I have to stop concentrating on seeing the Tapestry for the threads to fade out of sight.”
Raithe nodded. “I’m glad,” he said, and I heard the relief in his own voice. “Because if that didn’t work, I was going to have Meeka bite you to snap you out of it.”
Meeka sneezed, sounding indignant. “Not bite human. Human taste terrible, probably. Worse than dead grub.”
Raithe’s expression lightened for a heartbeat before he sobered. His voice held a note of awe as he gazed at me. “You can truly see the strands in the Weave, like the goddess of Fateherself,” he almost breathed. “But how can you use this power to fight the Deathless King?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what Icando, and... I’m terrified to try. I can’t just casually mess around with the threads of Fate—what if I alter the future so much it becomes worse than the one with the Deathless King?”
Raithe didn’t tell me that idea was ridiculous or impossible. Instead, he rose, drawing me up with him. “We’ll figure it out,” he said. “Maederyss wouldn’t have given you this power if she didn’t think you could handle it. But we do need to know what you’re capable of, Sparrow. So that you’ll be ready when we face the king.”
I shivered. The thought of standing toe-to-toe against the godlike power of the one who had single-handedly destroyed my city made me sick. I had no idea what to do with this power, what Icoulddo with this power. If I could do anything at all. What good was seeing all the threads in the Weave if I was facing someone who could turn me to dust with a thought?
Taking a deep breath, I banished my fear. That day was soon, but it wasn’t here yet. “Well, before I do that,” I muttered, gazing around the vast chamber, at the steep walls surrounding us. “I think we need to figure out how to get out of here. I don’t see any doors or stairs, do you?”
“No,” Raithe said, also looking around. “Unfortunately, I think the chute we came through sealed behind us when we fell.” He gazed at the collapsed ceiling far overhead. “We might be able to scale the walls, but it’ll be slow going.”
Meeka stood straight up, tail raised and ears pricked to the sky. “Meeka hears something,” he said.
I gazed up at the hole, seeing the clouds swirling ominously through the opening. Lightning flickered, but I didn’t hear anything beyond the wind and the faintest bubbling of lava surrounding the temple.
“What do you hear?” I asked the jair’oa.
One ear twitched, and he cocked his head. “Buzzing sounds. And... wings.”
“Kysa?” I wondered.
Raithe drew in a sharp breath and took a step back, glaring up at the opening. “No,” he growled. “It’s not Kysa. We need to get out of here now.”
And then I heard it.
The buzzing sound Meeka pointed out was not the droning of rock beetle wings, but the hum of millions of smaller insects flying in a swarm. And the beat of wings was not Rhyne’s, it was the ominous thump of tattered leather beating the air.
A huge dark shadow blotted out the sky overhead, and the abomination, dripping beetles, worms, and bits of flesh, landed on the edge of the crumbled rooftop, opened its rotting jaws, and roared loud enough to make the sands tremble.
Vahn had found us.
