Page 120 of The Dragon and the Dove

And still it flew.

On and on, towards the dying light.

Fontaine’s voice echoed. Blood is too often the cost of peace.

She tucked the card into her back pocket, the thorns prodding at her as she stood up. Her magic was wide awake now, a familiar heat gathering in her chest.

There is more to do, Maker.

War was coming and she could not afford to blink. Fontaine was right… some destinies weighed more than others, and it was too late to outrun hers. She would pay her cost, in the hope that it would bring victory. And beyond that, peace.

Such is the pendulum of fate.

With magic crackling under her skin, and the fate of Valterre sitting on her shoulders, she went in search of Tobias. He was down in the garden, skimming stones across the pond.

His face fell as she approached. ‘Please don’t tell anyone I’m out here. I don’t want to sweep up any more glass.’

‘Actually I have something else in mind.’ Her magic lurched, like it was reaching for him through the bars of her ribcage.

Steady on.

He blinked. ‘Your eyes are gold.’

She smiled. ‘Are you ready, Tobias?’

Stones tumbled from his fist as he ploughed towards her. ‘Born ready!’

They went together to her room.

As the sun surrendered the last of its light, and Saints’ Day loomed, Sera plucked at a thread in the grand tapestry of fate and made another saint.

Chapter 31 Valerie

Eleven tawny owls sat on a branch in the back garden of House Armand. In the midnight dark their eyes shone like a row of pearls.

‘Well, this is fucking weird,’ said Val to no one in particular. She was in the middle of her nightly walkabout, a recent habit that dulled the incessant hum of her own magic. A quiet turn at night helped her meditate before bed, and stave off the feeling that she was losing her mind.

The owls made her wonder if it was working.

Two more alighted on the branch as she approached.

Magic, purred the old voice.

‘Well, no shit,’ said Val, aloud. But what kind?

Tentative.

New.

Her own power was calm, unthreatened by the strangeness before her. While the owls stirred her confusion, they didn’t make her uneasy.

‘Impressed?’ chimed a voice in the dark.

Val turned, spotting Tobias standing under a tree. Bright teeth, gold eyes, his silvered hair like a torch in the moonlight. He was practically vibrating with excitement.

Saint, purred the old voice.

Well, obviously.