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‘No need to wait. I’ll serve you, my lady,’ she said, holding the dress for me. ‘This will be suitable for today. I asked the seamstress to trim the hem and add two slits on the sides so you can access your weapons. I’ll ensure the others are fashioned this way, too. And your cloak is ready for your visit to the university.’

‘I’m going to the university?’ I asked, barely holding back laughter.

‘Yes, the king asked for you to join him there once you’d awakened,’ she said, lining up all the items for me to wear.

‘Alright. Tell the stables to saddle my horse. I’ll be down momentarily,’ I said, pulling the dress from her hands.

‘Already done. Do you need my help?’

‘Danka, I can dress myself. Find the head maid and, on my authority, assign a quick-thinking maid to clean the Orc Chieftain’s quarters. She must report what they do… Oh, pick some fragile-looking wallflower; they’ll dote on her.’

I wondered whether she realised the trap I’d set. It would be interesting to see what she’d choose. Directly fulfil my order, go against it, or think for herself and find someone who looked fragile but was anything but.

There was a fine line between being smart and achieving your goals on the corpses of others. I hoped, for Danka’s sake, she wouldn’t cross that line.

The maid gave me the biggest shit-eating grin I’d seen since Irsha became my accomplice in the Brotherhood. If she passed my test and the Observers confirmed her story? Well, I’d have my first handmaiden to help manage court affairs.

Half an hour later, I was ready, bundled onto the horse with Legends of Tir ha Mor under my arm and on my way to the university while the dark shadow of a dragon flew above me.

This wasn’t the first time I’d visited Tova’s workshop, but it was the first time seeing it in such disarray. Manuscripts and schemata covered every surface, with srebrec fragments scattered among them—the room stank of sweat, ink, and desperation.

Despite standing in the doorway for several heartbeats, I wasn’t noticed by those gathered around the table as they excitedly discussed… a rod.

I took a deep breath and marched to the window, opening it wide and letting in a gust of spring wind that sent everything flying.

‘No, Sana, the papers!’ Tova exclaimed.

I shrugged as they all jumped around, grabbing whatever they could.

‘The paper will rot away from this stench. What’s going on here?’ I looked at Rey, who was holding the strange-looking rod like his firstborn. ‘What is that?’

Tova weighed down the flying papers with a hunk of ore and finally turned to me. ‘The key, of sorts. I don’t know how it works, but it turns off the pillars.’

‘How did you get it? Let me see!’ I pushed forward, reaching out.

My fingers brushed over the polished surface, and I recoiled from the ivory texture under the lingering corruption of magic. ‘Put it down, nobody touches that… thing. Gods, it’s vile.’

The only time I’d felt something that sickening was when I’d passed the pillars. The unmistakable sensation of my life draining away.

‘I’m wearing gloves, Viper,’ Rey murmured. ‘I saw what this thing did to its bearers and couldn’t risk it, but we must find out how it works.’

‘I can see where it goes in the schemata,’ Tova chimed in, pointing to the paper. ‘How does it work? What does it do? Ahhh… I need to see it for myself.’

‘The last two who saw it for themselves are dust on the wind. I need you here, Master Orenson. You are not going,’ Rey declared, and I gave him a grateful look.

‘Does this key shut down one pillar or all of them? And what about the Gates? You said the manuscript mentioned blood? Whose blood? Do you need to bleed on the rod?’ I asked, eyeing the simple white object. The structure was familiar: the marbling, the slight beige discolouration near the srebrec caps at both ends.

Alaric’s words about a part of a body becoming a key echoed in my mind, and dread slicked my skin in cold, sticky sweat.

‘I don’t know, Drah’sa. I… your king brought it here this morning. I need more time…’ Tova answered, exasperation colouring his cheeks.

‘It’s a bone,’ I said, swallowing hard.

‘What?’ Tova’s gaze snapped to me, then at the object now resting on his workbench.

‘It’s a human bone. Someone was killed to make the key…’ The hollowness of my voice mirrored the one growing inside me.

‘Are you sure?’ Rey pulled me to his chest. I leaned in, waiting for the room to stop spinning.