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"She's incredible, and I will have her. Even if I have to wait for that fucking fae that follows her around to die." I knew Avidor had an attraction to Viola, but I didn't realize it ran this deep. The weight of his words sends an unnatural chill down my spine.
"Well, just take his magic, and he'll die much earlier," Amaryn says smugly. "It's quite easy, you know."
"She'll know I did it. We'll not all be able to get away with the 'oh it was an accident' bullshit," Avidor laughs. The sound grates, the callous way he laughs about stealing magic to set up the death of my brother, forcing me to clench my fists so tightly my nails slice into my palms. It takes every bit of my power not to burst into that room and attempt to lay waste to those three, despite how much of a suicide mission it would be.
Amaryn's voice is light, without a care in the world, as she giggles, "I cannot believe they bought it. You sure this Shadowweaver is worth your affection?"
I hear footsteps and shuffling, then the sound of water pouring. "She is not stupid," Solarius's voice rumbles. "And it's not that she believes the best in everyone. She is cynical and shrewd. I would be surprised if she believed you fully."
"And yet she let me walk." Amaryn's voice rankles me, and I fucking wish I could go in there and knock her down a peg. But that is not the point of this mission, even if every word out of her mouth makes me want to rage.
I push myself closer to the door after realizing that Bloomtidehad dropped her voice, which had led to me missing part of the conversation as I breathed through my anger. "…quickly. Before she notices."
What needs to be done before Viola notices?
"She'll expect them to come with us, especially her high priest," Solarius replies.
"Then we bring him, leave him for last. Her high priest doesn't need magic."
I am listening so astutely it's possible I've stopped breathing.
"Is this your plan, then, to remove all magic from the fae?" Avidor asks, and I feel my chest tighten. They're talking about taking our magic so flippantly like it is not something that will change and ruin lives. "What's the point?"
"The point, brother," Amaryn snarls, "is that your beloved Shadowweaver has portions of our magic. If we want to get back to full strength, we will need to take it from the fae since hers cannot be removed. All of them have woven together inside her."
"How can you tell?" Avidor voices the question that was running through my brain.
"You could, too, if you bothered to look. It's your magic. It has your signature. Seek it out, you'll see."
A silence rolls through the room, and I hold my breath, worried that even the slightest noise or movement from me will have me discovered. After a few moments, Avidor and Solarius both swear. "You're right," the Harvest Lord says to Amaryn. "It's like nothing I've ever seen. The magics have all molded into one."
"So, nowthat you've seen that your magic is officially lost to you, do you agree with my plan?"
"I do," the Radiant Sunfire says, and my heart sinks. Something about having my God support Amaryn cracks a part of me that hoped my magic came from someone who was good and just. "We remove the magic from the fae here right before we leave to confront Himureal. Once we get rid of Himureal, we send the Shadowweaver back to her friends to tell them the good news and we tackle removing magic from the fae in Ytopie."
"This all hinges on us getting her out of here before she realizes we took the magic from her friends," Avidor says, but it's hard to hear him over the roaring in my ears.
"Then we do it at night," Amaryn replies coolly. "We take their magic while they sleep, then wake Viola up and say we need to go after Himureal right then."
"Why would she agree to that?" Avidor challenges. I wonder, however briefly, if he could be on our side in this battle.
I should know better than to hope.
"I don't know, I'll tell her I had a vision and saw Himureal about to do a mass execution," Amaryn says flippantly.
"You don't get visions," Solarius drawls.
"She doesn't know that."
"The Shadowweaver literally has your magic inside her!" Avidor all but shouts. I flinch, worried he's about to storm out. "You think she hasn't explored it?"
"Fine, I won't say that. We'll just have to convince her that it's a gut feeling. That we know our brother and that there is no way he hasn'tfelt all of us returning, and we need to strike now."
"She seems like the type to follow a gut instinct," Solarius responds, and I hear the scratching of chair legs against the floor as he stands. The night air pebbles my skin, and the way the shadows stretch in front of me makes me feel like the land is trying to tell me something.
I've gotten the information I need. There is no need for me to stick around and risk being discovered. I stand up and silently walk away, crouching inside an empty home three doors down. Moments later I hear Solarius speaking lowly to Amaryn about finding her a home to sleep in near his as they cross in front of the place where I am hidden.
Viola is pacing around the small home she and Mace have claimed as my brother watches her intently from the bed. When I close the door behind me she looks up, shock in her eyes. "You're back already?"
