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Ash’s brows pulled tight as he looked between the woman from the bookstore and me. “You know her?”

“She works at the bookstore.”

Quin crossed to the council, her peridot eyes fixed on me the whole way.

Despite the dreary cyan overcast, her dark skin glowed bronze. She looked the same as in the mall—except for her outfit.

She wore a black taffeta gown, as dark and shiny as the slab. A sparkling wrap crossed her torso and looped over her shoulders from behind, baring her shoulders and collarbones.

Golden chains attached to a headband around her hairline threaded into her springy curls, clipped with tiny multicolored gems. Ruby earrings matching the choker around her neck dripped like tears on delicate golden twine from her ears.

She looked like she belonged on the council in her extravagant attire.

It shouldn’t make sense, but it did.

She’d seemed to understand too much of my breakdown.

She’d given me the book.

Cornaith’s booming laugh made me jerk upright, attention snapping away from her. “Are you suggesting Elyrdin’s spiritual advisor is your accomplice?” He shook his head, tsking. “Foolish girl.”

“Quinfina would never harm the princes,” Ardvaen said, eyes narrowing on me.

“He’s correct,” Quinfina said. She looked around at the remaining unconscious bodies strewn across the staging area of my execution. “I hold no desire to harm my people.”

I licked my chapped lips, unsure how to defend myself. Nothing I said mattered here—same as on Earth.

But I hadn’t imagined her at the bookstore. The book didn’t appear out of thin air. How could I make them believe me?

Quinfina stopped between the altar and the six council members, eerie mist swirling at the hem of her robe.

Ezra shook off the guard, shoved past Ranthus, and planted himself at Ash’s side without looking at me. Cyn and Zeke hurried after him—Cyn behind Ash, and Zeke beside me.

Quinfina eyed the guys with a low hum. “I’m not here to harm her,” she said, tone as soft and reassuring as the day we met.

Cyn’s lip curled. “Then what are you here for?”

“To explain.”

I wish someone would.

55

BLOODLINE

RAE

“Igave her the tome, yes.” Quinfina lifted a hand when Zeke’s father opened his mouth to protest. “The book holds superficial spells incapable of harming anyone. But the heart of the book carries a special incantation from many generations ago.”

Cornaith rolled his hand. “And that is?”

“A way to move Fate’s hand.”

Zeke’s father shook his head. “You gave a human the ability to control someone’s fate?”

“Rhistel,” Caendra said, her slender fingers grasping the sleeve of his robe. “Let her finish.”

“No one controls Fate.” Quinfina extended a hand to me. “The book acted as a tool. It gave her the opportunity to bring to fruition what Fate intended from the beginning, opening the door. That is, if she needed it badly enough.”