Page 31 of The Reaping Rose

“You’ve heard of the orb?” Wilder said Malachi has worn it for at least a few centuries. But if Idunn knows of the orb’s presence before that, she might understand what we’re dealing with. “What do you know about it? It’s small. A necklace. But it contains something that’s⁠—”

“Other.” Her voice is nearly a whisper.

“You’ve been around it then?”

She swallows, watching me. Her eyes assess as she reads my expression. There’s a beat of silence; her breath changes, and the only reason I notice is because of the dead quiet around us.

“Please tell me.” I shift closer, careful not to cross the runes. “What do you know about the orb?”

“That it will bring nothing but death to this realm. It cannot be contained. And if it is being wielded by another—” She shakes her head like she can’t stand the thought. Longing is heavy in her gaze.

“Another? You’ve wielded it?” I guess.

She simply nods.

“What is it? What can it do?”

Idunn closes her eyes, a faint smile playing on her lips. “The orb belonged to the gods—to Voilene specifically. It’s said she wore it for millennia, searching the stars… A gods-touched object. But as such, this realm cannot contain it. No being lesser than that of gods blood can wield it without certain consequences. If what you say is true and the realms have collided, you cannot heal what is broken with the orb fracturing what is left.”

That explains why my and Wilder’s magic, no matter how strong together, did nothing against the Well at the Rite of Blood ceremony. The orb is tearing into something that is already broken. What we wield is not enough with Malachi harnessing something so powerful.

So destructive.

“But what if we destroy the orb?” I shift a step. “Can we heal the realms then?”

Idunn breathes out a laugh. “Destroy a gods-touched object? Ah, the hope that lives in you, daughter.”

“So it’s not possible?”

“Perhaps you could…” Idunn pauses, thinking for a moment. “No.”

“What?” I push, taking a step forward, toeing the edge of the searing-hot runes that mark her cell.

“It was just a thought, but I should know better. I’ve felt what that object can do. What it did.” She looks around. “Where it sent me.”

“The orb is the reason you’re here?”

“As I said, nothing of this realm can wield such power. To do so…” She clutches her chest, her freckles glowing. “It will drive one mad.”

That explains Malachi. While I never trusted him, he slowly changed during my time at the Ley Court. It must be the orb’s doing.

“What was your thought?” I ask anyway. “You were close to the object once. You know its power. Do you have an idea on how to destroy it?”

She’s hesitant as she looks at me. “As far as I know, nothing can destroy a gods-touched object. But that’s not to say it couldn’t be nullified. Muted perhaps. With the right counterpart.”

“Like shadow magic?” I consider Hazel’s ability to drain magic from others, and how that might affect the orb.

Idunn shakes her head. “Not magic. Any form of magic will simply feed it. Even that which drinks from a source. You need the opposite for the orb.”

“What’s the opposite of magic?”

“A void,” she answers plainly. “They exist in different forms throughout the realms, usually in a realm without much magic. If not properly contained, a void can drink a realm’s power with one touch.” Idunn clears her throat. “And so the gods carved the first realm, flourishing in life and beauty. But forgetting to pluck the reaping rose. And so its darkness spread with the setting of the sun. Magic woke no more.”

“I’ve never heard that story.”

Idunn shakes her head. “It’s rare the priestesses would speak poorly of the gods. Some did once, but it seems that’s no more.”

I think back to Tempest—to the history of our realms and how many stories are left out of what was painted to be remembered by the Fae. As I’ve discovered from the early journals of the first humans on Alyssium, there is more that we haven’t been told.