Page 179 of Scars Beneath a Serpent’s Scales

“No,” she insisted. “This will be enough.”

Ignoring his puzzled expression, Emmeline closed her eyes and allowed the magic pulsing within her to expand. It shifted, starlight whirling through her veins. She was transported to that other plane, somewhere between Ambrisk and the Fate Realm, somewhere she couldn’t be touched.

And she breathed a sigh of relief at the freedom.

White flames flickered around her, a deep violet sky overhead, streaked with cobalts and icy greens and wine reds. The starfire crackled, and in its midst, a rose bloomed, a celestial form rising within.

“Anphrosia,” Emmeline greeted, throat dry as a phantom serpent slithered around her body. It isn’t real, she reminded herself, but her hands trembled nonetheless.

You did as I instructed, the Fate of Cruelty and Adoration’s voice wrapped the air, sweet and sinful all at once.

“Yes.” Emmeline licked her dry lips. “We went to the Snake Charmer. He told us of the seeds being imported onto the isle, and we found the cavern. We were so close to reaching an answer. I can feel it, but…” She paused when Anphrosia tilted her head. “You saw, didn’t you?”

I already know what transpired.

“Please, it is wrong.” Her voice cracked. “It can’t be him. I know as well as I know you that it’s not.”

You do not have the full story, Anphrosia intoned. Was her voice haughty?

“I know we don’t,” Emmeline pleaded. “That’s why I’m here. I need you to tell me the parts we haven’t gathered.”

Revealing fortunes doesn’t work that way.

Emmeline groaned, mostly because it was true. Fate paths were not so simple to spill. They had to be found and uncovered, hinted at and woven. Not simply explained with the solution to changing it.

Here is what I can say, though: With the present circumstances, blood still spills. Something that has been forgotten must be found.

“Roremar is innocent,” Emmeline breathed. She’d believed it deep in her bones, but Anphrosia had just confirmed it.

None of us are innocent. Not really. The words sounded both reluctant and gleeful, an odd combination that prickled down Emmeline’s spine.

“You’re correct,” she agreed, adding silently to herself, But he didn’t do this.

Just as she was about to pull herself from the reading, Anphrosia began again, this time speaking as if Emmeline weren’t there at all:

One heart of greed entrenched in kin,

And many dancing with sweet sin.

Until Fates become of mercy,

Their choices dictating who Reigns worthy.

Was that a poem? It had a bit of a different cadence than a reading. It was more lyrical, and a bit familiar. She tucked it away to decipher later.

“Thank you,” Emmeline said.

One last thing.

“Yes?”

You claim you are willing to give anything to save this man.

Emmeline nodded.

Be prepared to lose yourself along the way.

And before Emmeline could respond, the Fate of Cruelty and Adoration broke the connection.