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“The Tin’Voris have their tasks and I have mine. I need to sway Theo.”
Her mother asked the question Ren had been avoiding.
“What if he says no?”
She sighed. “What if he says yes?”
“That’s not an answer.”
Ren reached for a dishrag. She started drying off plates. Her mother hummed a song under her breath. It wasn’t an answer, because Ren didn’t know the real answer. The Tin’Voris had asked her in Ravinia about Theo. She’d spoken boldly, but she’d also contorted her answer just enough to avoid suspicion. The moral sword had not harmed her, because in that moment, she had been telling the absolute truth. If it came down to her revenge or Theo’s life—she would choose revenge. The fall of House Brood, above all else.
But her mother had touched on her greatest fear. What if Theo weighed everything—his father’s sins against him and against Ren—and still said no? What if blood ran too deep? She had been clinging to the belief that he would accept her plan. He would choose her. Of course he would.
Her next step was to travel to Nostra. Ren had already requested time off from Seminar, who was so delighted by her work that she granted it—though with the understood promise that Ren would use her time away to brainstorm even cleverer spells. Everything was settled, but Ren knew that her mother was right. She was avoiding the real answer to the question at hand.
What if Theo said no?
If he says no, Ren thought, the Tin’Voris will kill him.
19 DAHVID TIN’VORI
Once more, Dahvid had a hood on his head.
He held tight to Cath’s hand as the two of them stumbled on, shoulder to shoulder. A pair of guards was either leading them to a party or an execution. It all felt a bit theatrical. Dahvid had wondered this before his first meeting with Ravinia’s famous warlord. If Darling had one of the largest estates in the city, why bother with hoods? It seemed likely that people knew where his home was and how to get there. So why the need for secrecy? He thought it might be an exercise in power. One more way to remind everyone of their standing before Ravinia’s uncrowned king.
A rough hand slid the hood away. Night had come in earnest as they walked. There were stars overhead, countless in number. The only other lights were twinkling along the exterior of Darling’s estate. Bodies moved in the darknesses between each of those glinting, amber orbs—and music trembled across the dunes to them.
“Just follow the path,” one of the guards said. “It’s safer if you’re quick about it.”
Dahvid wasn’t sure if that was a real warning or more exaggeration. He did know there were sand prowlers and horned crabs that preferred the rockier coastlines in the north. It would be quite a spectacle if their great scheme ended with him getting speared on the dunes by an aggressive crustacean. Cath slid her arm through his, and they started through the shadows together. They did not speak, except to point out their favorite constellations. The two of them had already established a strategy for how they’d act if they were invited to a function like this one. There were four rules:
Do not leave each other’s sight.
Do not mention the Broods.
Do not talk about his tattoos.
Flirt with each other as much as possible.
It was Dahvid’s choice to add the last one. He thought it was important. They ascended a set of wooden steps and found themselves on the first of a series of sprawling balconies. The connected platforms formed a sort of blockade between the actual estate and the distant ocean. Each shadow took on a face in the flickering torchlight. Dahvid spied other gladiators, politicians, escorts.
At the very heart of their current platform, there was hired entertainment. A man and woman were twisting around each other—their clothing tight, their movements sinuous. It looked strange until he and Cath stepped a little closer. Music flickered to life. A perfect beat that matched the rhythm of the two dancers.
Dahvid took a step back and the music faded. Now, that was clever magic. A proximity charm of some kind. Anyone who cared to enjoy the music only had to step forward, but if they preferred a quiet conversation, they could move to the railing, out of range. He thought it was the kind of magic that Ware would have loved.
Cath tugged him away from the dancers, up another flight of stairs. The second platform was long and narrow. More walkway than gathering space. Along the oceanside railing, a number of looking glasses had been built into the metal bearings. Each one appeared to be a different size and shape. Dahvid and Cath followed another couple, leaning down to glance through the lenses, one by one. The first took Dahvid’s breath away.
He witnessed a fast-moving sequence. The dunes and the ocean and the sky before him now, but in reverse. Stars faded. The sun rose and fell. The image cycled back through time, revealing storms and quieter days and ships passing off the coast. He witnessed what felt like several weeks, all in less than a minute. Dizzied, he followed Cath to the next looking glass. This one offered the most beautiful sunrise he’d ever seen. Colors so bright that they didn’t even look real. He watched the waves retreat soundlessly before moving onto the third.
His heartbeat doubled in his chest. It was a bright, clear day. Out over the water, dragons. The extinct gods of this land. He knew they were all dead and buried. But for a moment, Dahvid watched them live again. Their glittering wings beat the air before widening back out to glide over the water. If not for Cath’s touch on his shoulder, he might have sat there watching their graceful flights forever.
The last one. Dahvid expected this looking glass to somehow usurp the others. A challenge, no doubt, after traveling back through time and witnessing dragons. He bent down and was rewarded with the exact same view he could see with his own eyes. He squinted for some time, trying to discern what unique image was on display, but there was nothing.
He frowned at Cath. “What is this one?”
“It’s just the stars,” Cath replied. “I’m not sure. Maybe that’s the point? They’re magical in their own right.”
There was one more staircase to climb. The two of them found the main balcony waiting for them at the top. It was three times the size of the other platforms, and far more densely crowded. Dahvid saw, too, that it was where the brightest stars in Ravinia orbited one another.
